The Russellville Rotary Club was pleased to present its annual grant project to the Logan County Foster/Adoptive Parent Association at the Child Abuse Awareness Event on April 18th. Each year the Russellville Rotary Club has the opportunity to apply for grant funding from Rotary District 6710 to put toward projects in this community. The Club’s goal is to identify a need that it is able to meet using the resources raised within the local club and the district fund matching and develop an annual project based on that need. A requirement of the grant funding is there must be hands-on Rotarian involvement in effectuating the project and bringing the resources directly to our local community.
For the 2022-23 year, the Rotary Club partnered with the Logan County Foster/Adoptive Parent Association in what has been called the Rotary Backpack Project. The project aim was to provide the Association with backpacks to have on hand and available to give to children who are placed into foster care with little to no notice, and may not immediately have the daily essentials they need.
As the Russellville Rotary Club is celebrating 100 years of continuous existence and service this month, it prepared 100 backpacks to give to the program with age-appropriate items in them for younger children as well as teenagers. The backpacks are filled with toiletry items as well as comfort items, to hopefully bring a smile at a time that is often filled with fear and uncertainty for a child.
The project had several generous donors which helped in making it a success. Rotary Board member, Elizabeth Teel, stated: “First, thank you to Rotarian, Shane Hayes, and Gerald Printing for donating the backpacks and shirts that are included. Shane is an asset to our club and was integral to this project coming to fruition. Also, thank you to Rotarian, Edna Hughes, and Lewisburg Banking Company. Edna secured multiple donations for the project and also helped shop for the items included in the backpacks. We want to thank Fruit of the Loom for a very generous donation of clothing items that are included as a part of this project. Also thank you to Drobocky Othodontics for donating 100 toothbrushes and packages of toothpaste, which are in the backpacks. A very special thank you to the Auburn Junior Rotary Club. These members collected stuffed animals to donate to this project. I am so proud of these young Rotarians who are upcoming community leaders, always looking for ways to serve and lead even as Elementary and Middle school students. Finally thank you to Rotarians Polly Steenbergen, Brooke Waldrup Amanda Simon, and Mark Reynolds for their help in coordinating the project.”
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