A group of community-minded volunteers don’t want citizens of Timmins going to bed hungry.
The Rotary Club of Timmins-Porcupine has donated $12,000 to seven local organizations involved with food insecurity.
Groups receiving a portion of the donation include The Timmins Food Bank, The South Porcupine Food Bank, The Anti-Hunger Coalition, The Lord’s Kitchen, The First Baptist Church, Project Love and Spruce Hill Lodge.
“We’ve been giving money to food insecurity programs for several years,” said Marc Durocher, president of the Rotary Club. “We just believe in helping our residents in most of need and those with food insecurity certainly fall under that umbrella.”
The club in involved in several fundraising activities year-round to finance donations and other projects.
“We are involved with the Timmins Charity Gaming Association, we have a Lobsterfest coming up to raise funds, we sold Beer For A Year draw tickets earlier in the year,” said Ross MacIvor, director of Community Service for the Rotary Club. “We raise a large amount of money for the community to give back.
“It (food insecurity) has been a growing need in our community. It’s a project we’ve picked up and support.”
Giving back to the community is a long-standing tradition of the club.
“It’s been going since 1949 (in Timmins),” Durocher said. “We’ve got a lot of long-term members. We’re approximately 20 members and growing.
“We’re always looking for new members.”
They said Rotary not only looks to improve its local community, but the global community.
“Our main objectives is world peace, understanding and helping our communities, both local and international,” Durocher said. “Our whole thing is about hands-on service, serving our community.”
“Polio has been a project Rotary has been involved with since 1985,” MacIvor explained. “We’re one of the original groups involved in that. We’re big supporters of that program. We’ve still got a couple of countries left in the world to deal with to eliminate all cases. I think we’re under about 40 or 50 cases this year. But as long as there is one active case, we’re not out of the woods yet.”
For MacIvor, being part of the club was a family tradition.
“I was asked to join,” he said. “I had family members, a grandfather, an uncle, a cousin who were active in Rotary, a brother who was active in Rotary.
“I saw the need and enjoyed the community work, contributing to the community and making Timmins a little better place.”
“For me, it was an opportunity to do hands-on service, both in my local community and internationally,” Durocher added.
The next big fundraiser for the club is Lobsterfest-To-Go. Seafood lovers have until Sunday, May 21 to place their orders here with the pickup date being Friday, May 26, across from the Dante Club on Cedar Street South, from 3-6 p.m.
Customers can order a half dozen or a dozen lobsters from Nova Scotia, or a pound of scallops.
Also available is a Surf and Turf Meal Box, which includes four Nova Scotia lobsters, two tenderloin steaks from Dabrowski’s, one Rotary Lobsterfest cabernet or merlot, two cans of beer from Full Beard Brewing, a family size spring mix salad and a family size potato salad from Pick of The Crop, two maritime cheddar biscuits, two cheese cake desserts from Vicky D’Amour, and two Lobsterfest bibs.
There also is Lobsterfest in a Bag, which includes one Nova Scotia Lobster, a green salad from Pick of The Crop, two buns from Golden Crust Bakery, one maritime cheddar biscuit, a butter tart from Vicky D’Amour and one Lobsterfest bib.
