Brookings Club President Michael Gonda, left, presents a check to Feeding Brookings coordinators Bill Alsace and Jean Josephson for $1,568.16, while Rotarians who helped distribute boxes of food are in the background.
BROOKINGS ROTARIANS INCREASE $250 DISTRICT GRANT SIX-FOLD FOR COMMUNITY FOOD DISTRIBUTION
A $250 grant from Rotary District 5610 turned into more than $1,500 worth of food for Brookings area families this holiday season.
The grants were offered to clubs throughout the district specifically to address food insecurity efforts in local communities. The Brookings Rotary Club decided to apply, offering to match the grant amount from the club’s own budget, with proceeds benefiting Feeding Brookings at Ascension Lutheran Church. So when President Michael Gonda was informed his club was awarded $250, the amount available for Feeding Brookings was now at $500 with the club match.
But the project was just picking up steam. Members of Alpha Zeta Honors Fraternity in the Animal Sciences Department at SDSU, where Gonda is a professor, hosted a bake sale on November 29, with donated goodies from Rotarians and the students themselves. That project netted another $348.16. The project was now resembling a “stone soup” story, now up to $848.16.
Special collections were held during regular club meetings in November and Rotarians were generous, adding another $550, and to cap it off, the proceeds from the monthly “Thirsty Thursday” social event hosted by the Brookings Rotary Club garnered another $170. What began as a $250 grant had grown to $1,568.16.
Local Rotarians wanted to do even more, so on December 14, ten Rotarians worked with other volunteers at Ascension Lutheran, packing up the boxes of food and distributing them to families needing assistance. It is estimated by Feeding Brookings volunteers that 157 local families were helped that week by the Rotary contributions.
“This was a real community effort,” said President Gonda, who presented the check to Feedings Brookings coordinators. “We were able to take a grant from our District and increase the amount more than six-fold. Through the creativity, generosity and ‘Service Above Self’ of our members as well as a group of community-minded college students, more than 150 local families received a welcomed addition to their pantries.”
Brookings Rotarians stopped by to thank members of Alpha Zeta Fraternity for hosting a bake sale to help benefit the Club’s project to benefit Feeding Brookings. Pictured from left are Rotary Assistant District Governor Don Norton, students Hannah Flogstad and Tessa Erdmann, Brookings Club President Dr. Michael Gonda, and student Greta Adolf. The bake sale in the SDSU Animal Science Department netted $348.16.
Rotarians and guests at the December “Thirsty Thursday” social, this month held at Pints & Quarts, netted $170 to the project benefiting Feeding Brookings.
Rotarians Devon Schaefer, Deb DeBates, Don Norton and Larry Janssen were four of the “hands-on” volunteers helping Feeding Brookings pack up and distribute boxes of food on Dec. 14. Other volunteers that day were Leah Brink, Marcia Janssen, Kay Norton, Jim Klinker and Jen Olson.