Rotary Responds

Rotary Responds (6/20/21)

The Rotary Club of Robbinsville Hamilton is taking action to help our communities fight through the hardships of this  unprecedented time by providing meals and supplies to food pantries, donating protective equipment to front line workers, and supporting organizations impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

We will continue to add to the list below in the spirit of Rotary’s motto,
“Service Above Self.”

Food Insecurity

• Using social distancing practices, volunteers packed nearly 720 cases or 155,400 non-perishable meals over the course of eight days for 28 area food banks, pantries, and community kitchens. Also provided 200
  pounds of remaining bulk food supplies.
• Collected more than a ton of food donations (2,140 pounds) from shoppers at Foley’s Family Market in Hamilton on two Saturdays as part of a Send Hunger Packing initiative. The collected food was provided to the Mercer Street Friends Food Bank along with 1,748 cans of tuna purchased with $635 in cash from shoppers, a $1,000 grant from Rotary District 7475 and $500 from our Rotary Club’s Foundation.
• Contributed $500 to an effort by Team85 Fitness & Wellness to assemble Thanksgiving meals for 1,300 families in need. Club members and friends also helped to package and distribute the meals.
• Donated $1,000 to local food pantries for meals and provided 20 cases of pre-packaged food – the equivalent of 4,320 meals – to local food pantries. Also worked with Be Kind, Inc. on two occasions to assemble 15,000 total meals for hungry families in the Mercer County area.

Protective Masks

• Through personal donations by club members, provided the Hamilton Area YMCA with 3,000 protective masks for staff to help ramp up operations. Another 1,850 masks were given to community first responders and health care workers.
• Club member Cindy Rosen and her Mercer Mask Project team created over 21,000 protective masks, 1,700 gowns, and various head coverings and ear savers, all hand-made. These items were distributed to local essential workers, long term care facilities, and the USNS Mercy, among many others.

Mental Health and Addiction

• Hosted a “Stomp Out Stigma” event and awareness walk in connection with Rotary District 7475 to help eliminate the stigma associated with mental illness and substance use disorders – conditions exacerbated by the pandemic.
• Donated $2,000 to Recovery Advocates of America and $1,000 to NAMI Mercer (National Alliance on Mental Illness) to support the live-saving work of these organizations.

First Responders

• Sponsored a Flags for Heroes display of nearly 200 full-sized American flags that provided people and businesses an opportunity to recognize front line and other essential COVID-19 workers and other heroes in their lives and communities. The event raised more than $6,000 in net proceeds to support Rotary charitable efforts.
• Used $1,000 Rotary District grant to provide bagels from Caesar’s Bagels in Hamilton to essential worker locations including RWJ University Hospital Hamilton, fire and police stations, and other places around our towns. Club members delivered the bagels on successive Friday mornings.
• Placed a thank you banner at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and brought a banner of thanks to key locations in our communities to recognize those on the front lines in the pandemic fight. Also created a video of appreciation featuring club members and the banner displays and wrote personal notes of support to nurses at RWJ Hospital that were placed on their lockers by club member and RWJ nurse, Danely Gonzalez. Enlisted the help of local schoolchildren to create the notes as an at home art class project.

Other

• Sponsored a virtual “Mercer’s Got Magic” family magic show fundraiser to benefit the Hamilton Area YMCA and other groups impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Y received $3,000 – half of the net proceeds.
• Members and friends donated more than 140 backpacks and thousands of school supplies to the Wilson Elementary School in Hamilton.
• Collected 1,395 pairs of socks for the Rescue Mission of Trenton in a month-long “Socktober” campaign.
• Collected more than 130 bikes, a dozen scooters, and various bike parts in a fall bike drive. The bikes were repaired and sold at discount prices by the BGC Bike Exchange in the Ewing-Trenton area with the proceeds
  – estimated at between $8,000 and $9,000 – provided to the Boys and Girls Club of Mercer County for youth programs.
• Provided monetary donations to Womanspace, the Miracle League of Mercer County, Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) University Hospital Hamilton’s Cancer Center, the National Guard State Family Readiness Council, Shine and Inspire, Inc., Clara’s Heart, Robbinsville Meals on Wheels and Mobile Meals of Hamilton to help in this time of pandemic.
• As part of the September 11th National Day of Service and Remembrance, provided some 350 hand-made blankets for the families of fallen military members through an association with Project Linus – Mercer County, NJ Chapter, Be Kind, and Hightstown Elks Lodge 1955. Members and friends took part in making blankets at home and donating them.
• Provided the Salvation Army Trenton Citadel Corps with 350 pairs of socks, 135 blankets from Project Linus and 200 masks from the Mercer Mask Project to distribute to Trenton residents during its Friday night Canteen route.
• With Be Kind, donated more than 650 coats, 150 hats, other cold weather gear, and protective masks to Sandro’s Coat Rack and the  Trenton Area Soup Kitchen to provide for the greater number of those in need.
• Donated 6,416 Winter Survival Kit items ranging from personal care products to cold weather gear to the Rescue Mission of Trenton for the homeless population.
• Collected 217 unwrapped toys, 200 puzzles and 65 blankets for children of families served by Womanspace, Rise and the Boys and Girls Club of Mercer County.
• Collected more than $1,700 in cash from shoppers at ShopRite on Route 33 in Hamilton during two days of Salvation Army Red Kettle bell ringing.
• Marked Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service with the start of a month-long collection drive that produced 110 pairs of pajamas to support Lala and Mimi’s Pajama Project for children in need.
• Collected 8,400 diapers and more than 10,000 wipes to support a collection by HomeFront for disadvantaged families.