Belfast Rotary Club donates $15,500 to ten local food agencies
Joining Belfast Rotary Club president Kristine Wentworth (back row in white jacket) and treasurer Beth Sterner (front row, left) on June 21, are volunteers and staff from food programs receiving $15,500 in Rotary Club donations. They include Cherie Merrill and Mary Brand from Belfast Soup Kitchen, Jon Karr from Greater Bay Area Ministerium Food Cupboard, Sue Crane and Andrea Maloney from Jackson Food Pantry, Mary Guindon and Tanya McGray from No Greater Love Food Pantry, Irene Blood and Patti Wright from Northport Food Pantry, Ralph Harvey from Searsport Congregational Methodist Church Food Panty Center, Donna Kelley from Waldo Community Action Partners, Bonnie Kein from Waldo County Technical Center, and Vincent Hugh Saggese, Damian Whitmore, Rapheal Gray and Rio Greeley from the Game Loft. Little River Baptist Church Food Pantry also received a donation. (Photo courtesy Belfast Rotary Club)
Joining Belfast Rotary Club president Kristine Wentworth (back row in white jacket) and treasurer Beth Sterner (front row, left) on June 21, are volunteers and staff from food programs receiving $15,500 in Rotary Club donations. They include Cherie Merrill and Mary Brand from Belfast Soup Kitchen, Jon Karr from Greater Bay Area Ministerium Food Cupboard, Sue Crane and Andrea Maloney from Jackson Food Pantry, Mary Guindon and Tanya McGray from No Greater Love Food Pantry, Irene Blood and Patti Wright from Northport Food Pantry, Ralph Harvey from Searsport Congregational Methodist Church Food Panty Center, Donna Kelley from Waldo Community Action Partners, Bonnie Kein from Waldo County Technical Center, and Vincent Hugh Saggese, Damian Whitmore, Rapheal Gray and Rio Greeley from the Game Loft. Little River Baptist Church Food Pantry also received a donation. (Photo courtesy Belfast Rotary Club)
BELFAST — The Belfast Rotary Club donated $15,500 on June 21 to ten local food pantries and cupboards, a soup kitchen and other local agencies that provide Belfast area children, families and adults with thousands of free meals and groceries each week.
Gifts of $2,000 each were given to the Greater Bay Area Ministerium Food Cupboard, Jackson Food Pantry, No Greater Love Food Pantry, Belfast Soup Kitchen, Northport Food Pantry, Searsport Congregational Methodist Church Food Pantry Center and Little River Baptist Church Food Pantry. Checks for $500 each went to Waldo Community Action Partners, Waldo County Technical Center and The Game Loft.
“The Belfast Rotary Club has been doing this for many years,” said Club treasurer Beth Sterner, in a news release. “Supporting these food programs is a very easy choice for all of us. Each agency mirrors Rotary’s motto of ‘service above self’ and together they help so many people.”
Outgoing Club president Kristine Wentworth added, “They make our community a better place and we are grateful for their service.”
Volunteers and staff from nine of the ten programs attended the lunchtime ceremony, providing Rotary Club members with valuable information about the growing need for free food in Belfast and Waldo County, according to the release. As COVID-19 emergency programs come to an end, many federal and state food subsidies have also ended or been cut back. At the same time, the demand for donated food in and near Belfast continues to grow. All the recipient agencies made an appeal for more volunteers from the community.
Support for food programs is one of Belfast Rotary Club’s major charitable projects. Others include emergency community support, a pledge walk for Rotary International’s Polio Eradication project, and holiday gifts of winter clothing, boots and toys for more than 200 Waldo County children. The Club also awards $80,000 in scholarships each year to graduating students from Belfast Area High School, Searsport District High School, Mt. View High School and the Waldo County Technical Center.
Belfast Rotary Club will donate nearly $150,000 to the community this year. Its next major fund raising and community event is Belfast Harbor Fest on the Belfast waterfront August 18, 19 and 20.
Belfast Rotary Club will celebrate 100 years of service in 2025. The 70-member group, which meets every Wednesday at noon at the Belfast Shrine club, is one of the largest and most active on the midcoast. For information on joining Belfast Rotary or to make a tax-deductible donation in support of the Club’s year-round service and charitable programs, go to belfastrotary.org.
