Donations in a Difficult Year

During the Covid restriction period we have not ben able to run our usual fundraising events and the following donations have largely depended on the members who diverted their usual lunch money to the Club's charity If you would like to help our work please donate what you can.

A NEW £5000 pay-out has boosted to more than £36,000 the donations presented or pledged to a score of local and international charities during the Covid-19 pandemic by the Rotary Club of Dunfermline.

Additional grants of £500 have been made to Dunfermline Salvation Army, Dunfermline Samaritans, Fife Women’s Aid and Marie Curie, to whom the club has already contributed £5000, £2500, £2000 and £1000 respectively.

Andy’s Man Club and Talk Matters have also received £500 grants, while donations have been pledged to each of the charities championed by the runners-up in the Dunfermline High School round of the Wood Foundation-sponsored Young Philanthropy Initiative. A second £100 donation has also been made to help fund the work of the peacock sanctuary in Pittencrieff Park.

Despite the fund-raising challenges posed by the Covid-19 curbs, the club has also continued to develop its plans to celebrate its centenary in 2022.

President Alan Mutter explained, “The club has twice had to abort a reprise of its inaugural GinFest – the Glen Pavilion event which we launched in 2019 as our biggest annual fund-raiser – but we have still managed to support some 20 good causes, many of which have been severely impacted by the pandemic and lockdown restrictions.

“The club has maintained its fun and fund-raising through Zoom-enabled meetings and small fund-raising events and the council is particularly proud of the fact that the principal contributors to our benevolent fund have been the members themselves through our own internal giving.”

The club has directed the prize proceeds of their monthly 50-50 draw to the benevolent fund which has also benefited from members’ voluntary contributions in lieu of the cost of their suspended weekly lunches.

Other charitable beneficiaries since March 2020 include the following: Dunfermline Foodbank, £11878; Fife Gingerbread, £1500; Fife Young Carers, £1500; Maggie’s Fife, £1000; Dunfermline Children’s Clothing Bank, £1000; Shiresmill Therapy Riding Centre, £500; face shields, £500; Macmillan Cancer Support, £250; and Vine Church free meals.

The club has also contributed over £2100 to Rotary’s wider Polio Plus, Beirut and other campaigns, as well providing funding of £1316 to its own current international project to reunite children in Kenyan orphanages with their families.

The club has received the following acknowledgements from recent beneficiaries:

Marie Curie: “Thanks to you someone living with a terminal illness will receive practical and emotional support from a Marie Curie Nurse.  And most importantly, this vital support is given in the comfort of the person’s own home or one of our nine hospices.”

Fife Women’s Aid:  “Receiving funds from donations enables us to support women and children who have experienced domestic abuse beyond that possible with our grant funding. We often provide cash to families, when they move out of refuge, for fuel, credit on their phone or to purchase a few replacement items for their home.”

Andy’s Man Club: “By donating to AMC you are helping us to raise vital awareness and continue to support men who attend.”

Samaritans Dunfermline; “Thank you for your further donation and ongoing support.”

Dunfermline Salvation Army: “Thank you for a further cheque.  We so appreciate it and it will allow us to continue to do our work in the community. We are still being kept busy and so pleased we can help and make a difference in these difficult times.”

Talk Matters: “A huge thank-you. We are continually doing our best to help those who are struggling with everyday life by trying to relieve the stress and anxiety that their worries may bring.   This past year of lockdown has been particularly difficult for some.   However, we have managed to keep our service going by providing telephone and video-call counselling throughout.”