It is that time of year again when I turn to the most generous and faithful supporters of the Covington Rotary Club’s Feeding the Needy program to ask for your time and assistance. Over the years many of you have supported Feeding the Needy both financially and with your time and talent and I thank you. Your dedication has helped Feeding the Needy grow to fill a need in our community and make a difference in the lives of many. Additionally, we focus on the needs of the children who depend on the meal that they receive at school as their main source of nutrition and must do without during the Christmas Holidays.
During July of this year the demand at the Covington Food Bank spiked upward and has remained at a record high. The need in our area has grown from 300 families in 2002 when Feeding the Needy was founded, to 1580 who received turkeys from Feeding the Needy last year. This year, prior to Thanksgiving, about five hundred applications for assistance were taken at the Covington Food Bank alone. There will be many more applications from Habitat, schools, churches, Safe Harbor and hospitals over the next couple of weeks.
We need your help! We need your help preparing the packages and delivering them on Christmas morning. Once again St. Paul School has donated the use of their cafeteria where volunteers will work on December 23rd and 24th starting at 9 a.m. On Christmas morning volunteers should arrive at the cafeteria no later than 7:45 a.m. to deliver packages to the needy families. Also on December 23rd and 24th we will be printing maps at First Premium Insurance from 9 a.m. until all are printed. If you would like to register to work at the call center please sign in at www.covrotary.org. It is not necessary to register to work at the cafeteria.
Two refrigerated trucks are also needed from Sunday morning December 22 through Christmas morning if you know of anyone who might be able to provide them. We can take the trucks on Friday the 20th or Saturday the 21st if necessary.
Of course without funding none of the above will happen. The budget for Feeding the Needy is $55,000.00 and I am asking for your financial support. This project is run through the Covington Rotary Foundation which has 501C3 tax status as a non-profit so your donation will be tax deductible. Feeding the Needy has zero administrative expenses which allows every dollar to go to our cause.
I have said for years, “If you don’t think this is an important program, I challenge you to skip two or three meals for a couple of days and see how you feel and function.” Please take action and help us continue to make a difference in the lives of so many, especially the needy children, this Christmas.
Checks should be made payable to the Covington Rotary Foundation and mailed to 1730 N. Hwy 190, Covington, La. 70433. My email is jbaldwin@baldwinmotors.com and my cell number is 985-807-4203. I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
John Baldwin
