The six Chippewa Valley Rotary Clubs are donating a total of $6,700 to Feed My People Food Bank and Sojourner House to help offset the costs of providing COVID-19 relief here.
The funds come from a $4,200 disaster relief grant that the clubs received from the Rotary Foundation and $2,500 in donations from the clubs themselves. Funds were made available by the foundation to the more than 35,000 Rotary clubs worldwide, according to a Rotary press release.
“All of our clubs fully understand the difficulties and hardships that this pandemic has caused for so many people,” said Michael Kloss, Assistant Governor for Group One, which consists of the six Chippewa Valley clubs.
“Even when times are good, many people struggle to keep their families fed and a roof over their heads,” he said. “I hope that our help through the support of Rotary International will ease the pain for some and foster others more fortunate to help in any way they can. This is our community family, so we need to show that we all care and do what we can.”
The clubs will allocate $3,500 of grant funds to the food bank, along with $1,500 in additional club funds. In addition, local Rotarians will volunteer at the pop-up pantry hosted by Feed My People on Friday (May 22) at Lakeshore Elementary School in Eau Claire.
The remaining $700 of grant funds, along with $1,000 in additional club funds, will be allocated to purchasing food and supplies for the Sojourner House alternate location at Hobbs Ice Center. Sojourner House has moved its operations there to provide adequate space for social distancing.
Local Rotarians will volunteer at that location at a time to be determined.
The six Chippewa Valley Rotary clubs often collaborate on projects like this one, although each club has its own mission and focus for service. The six clubs, and their meeting times, are:
- Chippewa Falls: Tuesdays at 11:45 a.m.
- Chippewa Valley After Hours: first and third Tuesdays at 7 p.m.
- Eau Claire Morning: Thursdays at 7 a.m.
- Eau Claire Noon: Thursdays at noon.
- Menomonie Sunrise: Thursdays at 6:45 a.m.
- Menomonie Noon: Wednesdays at 11:45 a.m. (first through fourth Wednesdays) and Monday at 5:15 p.m. (second and fourth Mondays).
More information on each club can be found by clicking its name link.