By ALISON PANNELL
Rotary Club Of Los Alamos
The members of the Rotary Club of Los Alamos offer sincere thanks and encores of applause to the more than 60 volunteers who helped us pack 31,782 servings of pasta and tomato sauce on Saturday, Nov. 11 for The Food Depot food bank in Santa Fe for our Club’s fourth Meals of Hope project.
In celebration of Rotary International’s Economic and Community Development service theme, the Rotary Club of Los Alamos invited the community to join us in a broad community-wide effort. We extend special thanks to our wonderful community members and to Crossroads Bible Church, 97 East Road, whose administrators Kirk Christensen and Victor Rutherford generously arranged for us to use their large basement workspace. The church has opened its doors to this project each year since 2020.
Our thanks would not be complete without a standing ovation for the LAHS Interact Club, Rotary’s teen service organization. More than 30 enthusiastic members shared their weekend with us to help alleviate hunger among our neighbors in Northern New Mexico. Their team spirit energized all of us!
The process is as follows, the dry food in bulk was purchased from Meals of Hope (MOH), a Florida-based food-packing organization that “inspires and empowers communities to come together to end hunger.” After the packaging was complete, the food was picked up by The Food Depot on the following Monday. The individual bags, each containing servings for six individuals, have been distributed to Northern New Mexico food pantries, including LA Cares.
As in years past, this project was funded by generous donations from the community’s annual support of our fundraisers, Crab Fest and Brews, Band and BBQ. Additional funding came from a Rotary District 5520 grant, a return on investment Rotarians made three years ago when giving to The Rotary Foundation.
The Club also received over $300 in donations from the public towards the cost of the project. Those who were unable to attend, but would like to support the work of the Rotary Club of Los Alamos, are encouraged to make a tax-deductible donation to Los Alamos Rotary 1312, a 501(c)3 non-profit foundation, at PO Box 986, Los Alamos, NM, 87544. Please write Meals of Hope in the memo line.
The need at our food pantries and at all food pantries has done nothing but explode since COVID. “We realize the reality is that there are more people that are needing to get food assistance today than ever before,” MOH CEO Stephen Popper said.
As one Los Alamos resident expressed with appreciation, “We are often so isolated from all the people in town who really do need this help. Many thanks to Rotary for contributing to this much-needed service.”
And, we Rotarians thank all of you from Los Alamos, White Rock and Santa Fe, from Rotary, and community members for your significant efforts to alleviate the hunger that touches the lives of so many of our most vulnerable neighbors in Northern New Mexico.
Rotary Club of Los Alamos:
For information about the Rotary Club of Los Alamos, contact Club President Tim Bullock, bullocklaw@gmail.com or join us at our weekly meetings on Tuesdays at noon at Cottonwood on the Greens restaurant at the golf course.
“The mission of Rotary is to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, good will, and peace through our fellowship of business, professional and community leaders.”