Skip to content

North Delta Rotary donates over $19K to local groups

Donations to Surrey Food Bank, Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society and others
24315129_web1_210225-NDR-M-ND-Rotary-volunteers-prepping-Starfish-Back-Packs
Rotary Club of North Delta volunteers Don Pateman, Alan Seabrook, Tony Upton, Neil Inglis and David Brown assemble Starfish Backpacks for distribution to local students facing food insecurity. (James Smith photo)

By John Shepherd, special to the North Delta Reporter

This month, the North Delta Rotary Club approved $10,500 in donations to local community groups, in addition to $8,900 disbursed in January.

“Our club wanted to get funds out into the community to organizations such as Scout groups and Surrey Food Bank, where it can do some good,” said club president Alan Seabrook.

“Thanks to ongoing funding from the Community Gaming Grant Program, we are able to provide stable funding to North Delta groups. Community groups have cancelled numerous fundraising events over the past year and face additional costs due to COVID-19.”

In addition to these grants, the club provides 16 scholarships each year to graduating secondary school students in North Delta.

“We are thankful that our funding source approved our annual funding request a month earlier than normal.”

In addition to funding ongoing community programs and small capital projects, the provincial program also provides funding to service clubs through its Community Donations program. Eligible service clubs then act like local funding sources, responding to requests for small amounts of money from organizations such as Meals on Wheels or the Volunteer Cancer Drivers’ Society.

“The program guidelines are extensive, providing criteria that service clubs must follow when reviewing funding requests,” Seabrook said.

The club’s donations committee performs due diligence to ensure that funding requests are eligible for gaming funds. The committee then makes recommendations to the club’s board of directors, who decides which organizations are funded and for what programs.

Last spring, the club partnered with Surrey Rotary Clubs to make a joint donation to the Surrey Food Bank. The joint donation qualified for a Rotary District Matching Grant, which increased the amount that could be donated to the food bank.

Rotary’s mission is to connect people who work together to solve community problems, provide humanitarian aid and promote goodwill and peace. Rotary clubs exist all around the world, and Rotary International has over 1.2 million members.

John Shepherd chair’s the donations committee of the Rotary Club of North Delta.



editor@northdeltareporter.com

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter