In the South East of England, Bexhill Rotary Club took a trip to Bexhill College in order to receive over 100kg of supplies for Bexhill Foodbank that had been collected by staff and pupils of the college.
Members of the club were able to give a talk at the college about what Rotary is doing for the local community with the help of Honorary Member and Counsellor Lynn Langlands.
After Bexhill College’s supplies were delivered to the foodbank, it was All Saints School Nursery’s turn to present a collection of supplies to the Rotary club.
Pupil’s and staff, as well as the children’s parents, donated the supplies and, as the Rotarians came to collect the supplies, the children got to show off the decorated boxes and cards they had made for the foodbank.
Bexhill Rotary weren’t the only Rotary club supporting their local foodbank over the holidays as, further up the south-east coast of England, members of The Rotary Club of Folkestone Channel spent three days in their local Tesco’s encouraging customers to donate to Shepway Foodbank.
Folkestone Channel Rotary collected plenty of supplies for their local foodbank during their Tesco’s campaign.
Wendy Lenhert, Food Operations manager at the Folkestone Rainbow Centre, delivered a touching message to Channel Rotary after their Tesco’s campaign, saying: “People that have never before been effected by hardship, are finding they need to use services like ours.
“Yet peoples generosity has been truly overwhelming, it’s so wonderful to witness everyone doing as much as they can to help each other. And your team have given the most precious gift of all, your time.
“We honestly cannot thank you enough, the time you gave to us for this event will feed hundreds of adults and children and put some beautiful smiles on faces.”
It’s also not just been food supplies that Rotary clubs have been providing to those in need.
Up in Shropshire, Shrewsbury Severn Rotary Club continued the tradition of gifting the children of The Grange School with a book in time for Christmas.
170 books were distributed amongst the school, with Santa visiting the classrooms to deliver the gift-wrapped books himself!
Head Teacher of The Grange School, Charlie Summers, said: “Once again, we are grateful to Shrewsbury Severn Rotary Club for their continued support which is much appreciated by the children as well as the staff.
“The continual support from Rotary is greatly appreciated, not only at Christmas time, but throughout the year.”
In Derbyshire, The Rotary Club of Long Eaton along with their Interactors helped The Long Eaton School plant a Scarlet Willow tree as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy campaign.
Rotary Club of Long Eaton Eco-Interactors planting a Scarlet Willow with the Lord Lieutenant Of Derbyshire, Elizabeth Fothergill CBE.
The Queen’s Green Canopy is a project encouraging trees to be planted across the UK during the planting season of October 2022 to March 2023.
It was originally created to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee and, in the wake of her sad passing in 2022, the project has been extended in order for people to plant tree’s in honour of Her Majesty.
The planting took place on the grounds of Long Eaton School and was officiated by the Lord Lieutenant Of Derbyshire, Elizabeth Fothergill CBE.
Long Eaton Interact President, Kate Anderton, was joined by fellow Interactors Ivy Collier and Bailey Grant-Bethell as the planting also marked the school’s 25 year celebrations of being a Keep Britain Tidy ‘Eco School’.
Despite the frozen conditions on the day, that did not discourage the students, staff or Rotarians completing the planting with the help of of Rob Attwood and EBC Tree Warden Martin.
It seems Rotary is helping young people all over Great Britain and Ireland at every age become more involved with fundraising, perfectly demonstrated by the Acorns RotaKids Club at Crosfields School in Reading.
I am amazed at the enthusiasm and creativity of these young children. We can all learn something from their fund-raising expertise.”
Together, the small group of children organised and ran a school Christmas Fayre to raise over £1000 for Ambitious about Autism.
It took just over a month for the RotaKids to organise the whole event, putting on an amazing day where attendees could buy cakes, books, drinks, toys and Christmas decorations as well as photos with Santa.
The Rotary Club of Reading Maiden Erlegh supports Acorns RotaKids Club as well as another RotaKids club at Winnersh Primary School.
Rotarian Robin Edwards, who is the lead Rotarian at the Crosfields RotaKids meetings, said: “I am amazed at the enthusiasm and creativity of these young children. We can all learn something from their fund-raising expertise.”
Richmond Rotary President Jos Huddleston presenting a cheque for £500 to Thomas Gibbons.
Finally, up in North Yorkshire, Richmond Rotary Club helped a local Scout achieve his goal of representing Richmondshire at the 25th World Scout Jamboree in South Korea.
Thomas Gibbons was set the goal of raising £4,000 in order to be chosen for the Jamboree and Jos Huddleston, the President of Richmond Rotary Club, was happy to provide a check of £500 in order to help Thomas complete his fundraising task.
Thomas will be one of the 3,240 young people from the UK to join nearly 50,000 people at the event.
Jos commented: “Thomas has shown such commitment to raise funds and prepare for this life changing experience, and Richmond Rotary Club is delighted to support him.”
