Members of the Chippewa Valley After Hours Rotary Club will get together this evening (Tuesday) to assemble Thanksgiving meals that will be on the tables of local families in need on Thursday.
The club’s second annual Thanksgiving Dinner Drive will wind up providing traditional holiday meals to 30 families this year, a major increase over the 19 families it helped in the program’s first year in 2016.
Funding for this effort came from last June’s “Taste of the Valley” event in Phoenix Park, which the club hosted for the second time with two partner organizations, the Eau Claire Leader Telegram and the title sponsor, PESI, Inc.
As the benefactor of this fundraising event, the Rotary Club aimed to provide hunger assistance in the Chippewa Valley, according to a press release from the organization. The Thanksgiving Dinner Drive is the largest recipient of those fundraising dollars to date.
“We are thankful to PESI, the Leader Telegram, our vendors, and everyone who attended Taste of the Valley for allowing us to help local families have a normal Thanksgiving,” said Rotary Club President Andy Neborak. “We will continue to utilize our fundraising from Taste of the Valley to make an impact locally where we can.”
The holiday meals will be put together by club members at the Eagle’s Club in Lake Hallie. Deliveries will take place later this evening and on Wednesday morning. Meals will include turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberries, rolls, and pie.
Plans for Taste of the Valley 2018 are underway, with an announcement of the date expected soon.
Rotary is a worldwide service organization made up of more than 1.2 million people, with the goal of providing humanitarian aid and helping to build goodwill in the world. Rotary’s global mission is to fight to end polio, while the mission of the local After Hours Rotary Club is to eradicate hunger and serve residents in the Chippewa Valley.
The club meets at 7 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays each month, at the Eagles Club in Lake Hallie. Members also participate in one or two service events per month and the club holds a monthly social event for members and potential members. Further information about the club and its service projects is available at www.cvafterhours.com.
PESI is a nonprofit Eau Claire company, formed in 1979, that provides nationwide continuing education for professionals. It works with experts in a wide variety of fields to create seminars, conferences, videos and books geared to the needs of adult learners.