Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Grays Harbor awarded more than $15K from 100+ Harbor Women Who Care

Published 1:30 am Friday, March 13, 2026

The Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Grays Harbor walked away with more than $17,000 in donations at the 100+ Harbor Women Who Care March giving event at the Hoquiam Elks Lodge Tuesday night.

The Association was awarded $13,600 from the women in attendance who donated at least $100 each, plus an additional $500 from the Grays Harbor Community Foundation, $365 donated by guests at the recent 50th wedding anniversary party for founder Maryann Welch and her husband Jim, and $1,000 from a nationwide family foundation.

The $500 donation is a new wrinkle as the other two nominees, PAWS of Grays Harbor and the Pacific Northwest Music Project also received $500 each, as well as $365 each courtesy of the Welch’s party guests. The Grays Harbor Community Foundation plans to donate $1,500, $500 to each nominee, at each future giving event moving forward.

Ten women form the core of the 100+ Harbor Women Who Care organization — Welch, Molly Bold, Martha George, Diana Grigsby, Jessica Hoover, Pat Oleachea, Franzine Potts, Alissa Shay, Dori Unterseher and DonnaJeanne Williams. Potts and Shay served as the emcees for Tuesday night’s affair.

Usually, a representative from the most recent awardee attends and provides an update on the benefits derived from the donation, however, Jessica Eddington of Grays Harbor Youth Works did not attend Tuesday evening’s event.

At each 100+ Harbor Women Who Care giving event, three nominees that were decided upon well in advance and kept a closely guarded secret, are afforded 10 minutes each to state their case, and another five minutes are allotted for each nominee to answer questions from the audience.

First up — Dani Bacon, representing the Pacific Northwest Music Project, spoke about childhood and student music education, access to musical instruments and digital media production training for young people, as well as relevant field trips the project organizes for students. Bacon said that the project uses the Grays Harbor region’s rich music history as an entry point to teach young people about music and digital media in today’s ever-changing technological climate. The Northwest Music Project is the parent organization for Unplugged, a museum dedicated to honoring the life and legacy of Aberdeen-native and grunge music pioneer Kurt Cobain.

Next, Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Grays Harbor President Jeremy Holmes presented on behalf of his organization and told the assembled donors about programs to help the families of fallen law enforcement officers and members of the community through various initiatives such as the BlueBridge Alliance, scholarships and the Association’s annual Christmas Blitz toy drive for children. Holmes related stories of how law enforcement officers help people in the community, especially children, in times of need. According to the BlueBridge Alliance’s website, the program “allows officers to provide on-the-spot assistance to individuals facing immediate needs. Equipped with BlueBridge debit cards funded through local donations, officers can offer a ‘hand-up’ in bleak situations by providing food, clothing, fuel, temporary shelter, transportation, or some other form of assistance.”

Lastly, Stacie Barnum, retired Aberdeen Parks and Recreation director and current interim executive director for PAWS of Grays Harbor, explained the shelter’s history and mission and told some heartwarming and heartbreaking stories about some of the animals that have passed through the shelter. Barnum said donations would go directly to medical care for the animals in the shelter’s care.

After the vote and money counting, the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Grays Harbor was announced as the awardee. Holmes accepted a ceremonial check in the amount of $13,600, however, additional donations passed on from people who were unable to attend, and the additional $1,865 brought the grand total to $17,360.

“I’m honored to represent such an amazing Association and get this opportunity,” Holmes said. “I don’t have any solid plans in place right now to talk about what we’re going to do with it specifically, but it’ll be definitely going back into the community, helping our youth, helping people of all walks of life. We’ve talked about wanting to increase our scholarship or maybe give multiple scholarships. It’s one of those things where we can buy new backpacks and toys and things to have in the backs of our cars for kids in need, we can put it toward our BlueBridge program, we can hopefully maybe buy more presents for the Christmas Blitz, there are all kinds of possibilities.”

Welch was impressed with the attendance for the event and excited for the evening’s awardee.

“This is one of the best attendance that we’ve had,” Welch said. “I think they can do a lot of wonderful stuff with that extra funding, it’ll be fun to see.”

100+ Harbor Women Who Care have held nine giving events since 2019 with hundreds of women donating more than $150,000 to Grays Harbor County non-profit organizations. These giving events have seen an average attendance of 135 people. The list of previous beneficiaries includes Cancer Care Alliance of Grays Harbor, Coastal Community Action Walkthrough Youth Shelter, North Beach Senior Center, Family Promise of Grays Harbor, Domestic Violence Center, Camp Victory, Harbors Home Health and Hospice and Grays Harbor Youth Works.

The local chapter is affiliated with the 100+ Who Care Alliance, a network that consists of more than 650 global chapters including 100 Women Who Care, 100 Men Who Care, 100 Teens Who Care and more. The Alliance, which was founded by Karen Dunigan of Jackson, Michigan, in 2006, holds an annual leadership conference and provides resources for giving circles including best practices and media training.

The next 100+ Harbor Women Who Care giving event is scheduled for Oct. 13 at the Hoquiam Elks Lodge.