The Monadnock Region chapter of 100+ Women Who Care selected Crotched Mountain School and Village, a program of Seven Hills, as the quarterly recipient of a $9,000 charitable donation.
Crotched Mountain will use the funds to purchase assistive technology and augmentative and alternative communication tools for students with severe autism and significant intellectual and developmental disabilities.
“We are incredibly grateful to 100 Women Who Care Monadnock for choosing Crotched Mountain School & Village to receive this $9,000 award. This support will help provide assistive technology that gives our students a voice. For students with complex communication needs, that technology can help them express choices, share what they need, and connect with the people around them. We’re especially proud of our educators, Tricia Lemieux and Vicki Campbell, who shared with such passion why this technology matters. We thank the women of 100 Women Who Care Monadnock for making a meaningful difference for children in our region,” said Deborah Tighe, Director of Development at Crotched Mountain School.
According to Lemieux and Campbell, who presented on behalf of Crotched Mountain School, all students at the school use some type of assistive technology to communicate.
“Imagine for a moment that you cannot speak, and that you cannot communicate with the world around you,” Campbell said. “Imagine that you are sick or in pain, and you have no way of letting the people around you know. AAC tools go a long way toward giving these students a voice.”
Lemieux gave the example of a sixteen-year-old blind, nonverbal student who was able to communicate with his teachers for the first time after staff members were able to identify appropriate adaptive tools.
Crotched Mountain School serves children with developmental disabilities who also have experienced severe behavioral challenges that make it impossible for them to be in a public school setting.
About 60 people, including members of the group and volunteers and supporters from local nonprofits, attended the Oct. 22 meeting at the Dublin Public Library.
The Monadnock Chapter of 100+ Women Who Care includes women from 15 towns in the eastern Monadnock region. Each member pays a minimum quarterly dues of $50, or $200 a year, enabling the group to donate about $10,000 to a selected charity each quarter. Over the past 13 years, the organization has donated nearly $600,000 to local charities.
The organization selects three nonprofits each quarter to present their mission and advocate for how they intend to use the funds. Each group has five minutes to present, followed by a five-minute question-and-answer session with members of the group.
Peterborough-based Firelight Theater Workshop and Electrify Monadnock, a program of the Monadnock Sustainability Hub, were also finalists for fall 2026.
Volunteers from Pedal Together, the recipient of last quarter’s gift, also attended the meeting to update the group on the organization’s progress in expanding an accessible biking program in the region. The organization used its funds to purchase a trailer and two recumbent bicycles.
Jenine Rubin, chair of the Monadnock Chapter of 100+ Women Who Care, said the group is always looking for more members and is also currently seeking people to serve on the steering committee.
For more information or to apply for a charitable donation for a nonprofit, visit 100womenwhocaremonadnock.com.
Members of the public can support 100+ Women Who Care by donating online at grapevine.org/giving-circle/Bo0h3q4/100-Women-Who-Care-Monadnock.