‘SERVICE ABOVE SELF’

Rotary Club members help seniors amid pandemic

WEST CHESTER » Despite the pandemic, volunteers are still helping others.

As part of the Service Above Self program, 20 West Chester Rotary members reached out by phone to approximately 1,000 seniors who are 85 years and older.

Friendly Rotary members asked how the seniors were feeling in general, whether they had enough food and medication and if they had any symptoms.

“Sometimes we forget how many people are not aware of how intense this pandemic really is,” said Wendy Leeper,

Passport Rotary Club member and director of the Chester County Bar Association.

Leeper said the lifeline was a chance to have somebody check on those stuck at home, and sometimes home alone.

“They are shut in and not allowed to go anywhere,” Leeper said. “To stay safe they had to stay in.

“Every effort we make might help somebody in some way.”

Leeper’s husband Dwight Leeper spearheaded the drive, along with Chester County contact Rob Malone.

Thursday Lunch Club Rotary member Christine Wildauer stopped at Boston Market and a supermarket to bring a senior food.

“I need food,” the wheelchair-bound senior told Wildauer. “I’ll take anything.”

Wildauer laughed when she said the situation wasn’t as dire as she had at first thought. When the Rotary member showed up at the house, the senior’s daughter said that her mother was well fed.

“I’m sure there are people out there who don’t have family and I worry,” Wildauer said. “It’s not an

“At the end of the day if you can give something back, even something small, it makes you feel good.” — Melissa Baxter

easy task to take care of the elderly.”

The Community Warehouse Project supplies furniture and household goods to those who can’t afford them.

Melissa Baxter and her 12-year-old daughter Ellie were part of a 14-member team that helped the nonprofit move to a new warehouse over a two-day period. Everyone wore masks and social distanced.

Melissa Baxter talked about life during the pandemic.

“The needs don’t change, the world doesn’t stop,” she said. “You never know what somebody will be going through.

“At the end of the day if you can give something back, even something small, it makes you feel good.

“You don’t know what people are going through.”

Ellie Baxter enjoyed working side-by-side with her mother.

“I feel like I made a difference and it felt good,” Ellie Baxter said. “She does so much to make a difference.

“I’m inspired by that.”

SUBMITTED PHOTOS From left are: Michelle Venema, president of Rotary Club of West Chester; Melissa Baxter, Rotarian, and daughter Ellie Baxter; and Jeannie McGinn, Rotarian, CWP Volunteer Liaison, taking a break while helping CWP move to new warehouse.

Annie Amoon, left, and Glenda Brion, director of Community Warehouse Project, at the new warehouse location.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Christine Wildauer, Rotary Club of West Chester, who makes calls to seniors from her floral shop.

Wendy Leeper, West Chester Rotary Passport Club, who makes call to seniors.