Mineral Wells Area News

By Amy Bearden / Mineral Wells Area News

Today the 100 Women of Palo Pinto County organization gathered at Holiday Hills Golf Club to honor a local charity with a large cash prize to continue their mission of serving the people of the county.

The idea is simple. 100 women donate $100 and gather together to present a charity with $10k on the spot.

Any local 501c3 organization can apply between January & February for a chance to be selected as one of the final three organizations. Those three groups then have to attend the event to pitch their mission to the crowd, who then votes for the ultimate winner. The winning nonprofit group walks away with cash in hand.

This is the 5th year of this remarkable event, which has poured almost $60,000 back into the community.

The three finalists chosen to present for this year’s cash prize were BackPack Buddies, Children’s Alliance Center for Palo Pinto County and the Mineral Wells Center of Life.

Each charity is equally deserving as their missions help so many in need but this year it was Amber Brooks, Executive Director for MWCOL, who sealed the deal on the cash prize after she told the crowd of women her journey from once being a client of the center, to becoming the organization’s director almost 10 years later.

Brooks spoke about losing her place to live as well as her kids, after falling on hard times 17 years ago. Just 9 years ago though, she had her life transformed with the assistance of services provided by MWCOL. She was able to turn her life around through help from the center, found housing and was able to get custody of her kids. The center was also instrumental in her boyfriend’s life, who also found help through the MWCOL, and they are now married, and Brooks has taken over the job leading the organization.

She has been the Executive Director for just a little over a year and says they have placed almost 10 people in permanent housing over the last year and provided over 4600 services for people locally in need.

Brooks and her team help feed the homeless community four days a week at the center with the help of local churches, as well as maintain a resale shop on the property that helps offset operational costs and staff salaries.

Brooks said they will take the donation they won and will use it to help purchase laptop computers for their GED training program, assist clients to help pay utility bills, stock the supply closet for unhoused clients, implement shower services, and possibly start a Christmas gift program for teenagers who have aged out of social services.

Brooks seemed stunned to hear her organization’s name called and wiped tears as she accepted the donation, claiming, “God is so good!”

There were many who also wiped their own tears as Brooks spoke about her journey from addiction and homelessness to a complete restoration of her life and her children’s lives.

Brooks is humbly paying it forward along with her team who says there are over 100 people in the community in need of permanent housing.

Today MWCOL has $10,000 more reasons to keep their mission alive through the help of 100 Women of Palo Pinto County.

Amy Bearden is the Publisher/Editor of Mineral Wells Area News and loves celebrating her favorite town by telling the stories of the people in the community. Amy has a passion for local sports, news and business development. She spent 10 years marketing a professional sports team and is now focused on growing the cultural wellness and creative arts space throughout the area. Amy has four kids, two dogs and a garden she cherishes, along with her yoga mat.