Rotary clubs are helping feed the hungry
It started with one Rotarian.
Ron Harris, a member of the Rotary Club of Southwest Eureka, wanted to do something to serve his community during these months of self-isolation, increasing unemployment and a growing need for food as the North Coast suffers the effects of the coronavirus. He issued a challenge to members of his club — an offer for his business, Rainbow Storage, to provide a $5,000 match to members’ contributions to an organization to help mitigate food insecurity among a growing population in Humboldt County.
That initial challenge became the impetus for hundreds of Humboldt County Rotarians from six Rotary clubs, joined by a responsive community of donors, to contribute more than $40,000 to support Food for People’s ongoing food distribution. Rotarians from the Southwest Eureka, Eureka, Old Town Eureka, Arcata Sunrise, Ferndale and Fortuna Sunrise clubs began to contribute — they wrote individual checks, their clubs provided club funding and their presidents and boards of directors earmarked Rotary District funds for the cause. The public was invited to join and responded “with the kindness and generosity that Humboldt County is known for,” said Scott Pesch, project coordinator and member of the Southwest Eureka club.
Food for People was selected as the organization to benefit from Harris’ challenge. The organization has 17 food pantries throughout Humboldt County as well as 11 pop-up mobile distribution centers that deliver food to more rural areas in the county. It is experiencing massive increases in need for assistance, according to Carly Robbins, president of the Rotary Club of Eureka and director of resource development for Food for People.
“To provide perspective … during the recession of 2008, need increased by 40%”, she said. “Now? Local need is anticipated to increase by as much as 200%.”
Noting the steep rise in the number of those who have become unemployed during the COVID-19 pandemic and are newly in need, and the needs of people who were already facing food insecurity, “We believe that helping people in this most basic way — helping them to get food for themselves and their families — was the best action that we could take that would make a difference,” said Southwest Eureka President Ken Singleton.
The Food for People Funding Project is only one focus in what has become a countywide Rotary effort to provide food to Humboldt County’s hungry through a variety of organizations that serve their communities. These Rotary efforts have provided an additional infusion of more than $10,000 of funding support to local food-distributing organizations:
• President of Fortuna Sunrise Rotary Bob Judevine’s club provided funding support for Food for People. The club also provided 1,000 pounds of Humboldt Grass Fed Beef to the St. Joseph Food Shelf in Fortuna.
• President of Ferndale Rotary Jerry Rocha’s club contributed funding for Food for People as well as to the Ferndale Community Church Food Bank.
• President Carol Rische organized her Mad River Rotary club’s funding support for the McKinleyville Family Resource Center Food Pantry. The Food Pantry serves communities north of Mad River and was experiencing significant food shortages and skyrocketing demand before Mad River Rotary stepped in to provide support enabling the Food Pantry to double the number of families that now receive food.
• The Rotary Club of Garberville, led by President Laura Lasseter, focused on mitigating Southern Humboldt’s food needs through contributions to the Healy Center Meals on Wheels, the Shelter Cove Meals on Wheels and Amelia’s.
The Redwood Regional Rotary Disaster Relief Super Fund is also deeply engaged in answering the food needs of Humboldt County. The Super Fund, which receives regular contributions from Humboldt County clubs, was established 30 years ago. Its mission, said Presiding Officer Terri Clark, “is to enable local Rotary clubs to act quickly and decisively to respond to a natural or man-made disaster.” It has contributed $25,000 to the Humboldt Area Foundation COVID-19 Regional Response Fund. That fund is providing grants to a variety of organizations helping communities deal with the coronavirus. Some of these are focused on food distribution on the North Coast including Food for People, Yurok Tribe, United Indian Health Service and Southern Humboldt Housing Opportunities.
Local Rotary clubs are finding new ways to support their communities. Traditionally, clubs have created and organized club-specific events and fundraising, but current times are creating new opportunities.
“Collaboration of this kind — combining the fundraising efforts of most of the Humboldt County Rotaries — allows our clubs to maximize our resources, to provide a targeted funding response that can have a significant impact,” said Jerry Rocha, president of the Ferndale Rotary Club.
“We all hope that these time don’t come, but when they do … our clubs will be there to raise money, to provide hands-on assistance, to support other organizations that are doing good work in hard times,” added President Al Steer of the Rotary Club of Old Town Eureka.
And it’s not too late to help. “We invite our friends and neighbors, everyone in Humboldt with the will and ability to contribute, to join us,” said A.J. Gonzales, president of Rotary Club of Arcata Sunrise.
To donate, send a check made out to “Rotary Club of Southwest Eureka Foundation” with “Food for People” noted in the memo line to Rotary Club of Southwest Eureka, P.O. Box 6054, Eureka, 95502. To contribute by credit or debit card, go to swrotary.org and click on the donate button on the website.