DONCASTER ROTARY CLUBS HELPS WITH CORONAVIRUS NEEDS

The Doncaster Rotary Club and Doncaster St Leger Rotary Club, who are not allowed to meet during the coronavirus crisis, realised that they were not having to pay for their weekly meals at their meetings. Knowing that the Doncaster Food Bank ( a member of the Trussell Trust) is experiencing massively increased demand for food parcels in order to help many people who are at a severe financial disadvantage due to being laid off or even sacked from their jobs, the clubs members decided to try to help. Both clubs have joined a Rotary scheme which doubles the contributions from the clubs to give the local food bank credit to purchase food from a wholesale distribution network. The contributions come from members donating their weekly dinner money as well as using funds already raised by the clubs.

Doncaster Club President, Kath Doyle said. ‘this seemed a really easy way for us to support our local food bank’.

Doncaster St Leger President Ian Kerr said ‘most of our members are not in a position to volunteer for the NHS or for local charities as helpers as many of them have been told to stay at home, so this really seemed a way in which we could ‘do our bit’.

In 2018/19, The Trussell Trust’s Foodbank Network provided 1,583,668 three-day emergency food supplies and support to UK people in crisis. Of these, 577,618 went to children.

Doncaster Food Bank in the last 12 month period 1/3/19 to 31/3/20 have fed a total of 5572 people of which 3721 were adults and 1851 were children. Main reasons cited for needing a food parcel are Low Income (1085 vouchers), Benefit Delays (506 vouchers), Benefit Changes (466 vouchers).

Donations can be made by visiting https://doncaster.foodbank.org.uk/2020/03/31/donating-money-to-doncasterfoodbank/