• Rotary Year: 2022-2023
  • Application Date: 6/29/2022
  • Club Name: Roanoke Valley (Roanoke)
  • Project Name: Everett Werness
  • Project Total Expenditures: $6,500.00
  • Grant Amount Requested: $3,250.00
  • Describe the Project, its location and its objectives: Over the last three years, the Rotary Club of Roanoke Valley has packaged a total of 70,000 meals. Almost two years ago, we had a district grant and four other Area 8 clubs to have a major impact on our success. Last year we provided a food packaging program to support an elementary school and a community food pantry. Ultimately we were able to collect a budget that allowed us to assemble 14,000 meals with 70 people working for two hours each. One other Area 8 club was able to provide a small donation for incidental costs. We understand that our district does not encourage repeat grant requests, but fund raising has been hard, and it has been a rotary-year since that grant.

    This year, the Rotary Club of Roanoke Valley will support the same two community feeding programs in Roanoke, Virginia. Currently, the backpack program will provide food to children living in poverty for the weekends and holidays, when they are unable to receive food provided by the school system, and the community food pantry will have added capacity to offer more meals and food resources to those who need it. Our event will generate almost 16000 meals for our two supported programs. The packaging allows it to be stored for up to two years, but our numbers indicate that the supply won’t last through one school year.

    The Outreach Program will be utilized for the provision of bulk materials provided to these feeding programs. The Outreach Program is an organization that provides food staples in bulk for events to package the staples and protein supplements into bags that provide six meal portions per bag, along with preparation instructions and nutritional information. The nutritional values have been evaluated by a nutritionist and confirms the food value of this community effort.

    Our local Rotoract and Interact clubs will also be invited. The event will occur in a local facility.
  • This is the Club’s: Primary Project Application
  • Expected Start Date: 9/12/2022
  • Expected End Date: 10/29/2022
  • Expected Number of Beneficiaries: 800
  • Describe how the project will benefit the community and/or improve the lives of the less fortunate: Food pantries whether at the community or elementary school level have a direct impact on children’s lives. The current increases in food and gas costs are putting even more pressure on food access for underserved families. Our club has found this food packaging event to be a very important focus. The participation of our members links us to a community of less-priviledged. This year we have not been able to get other Area 8 clubs involved. That means that a district grant would have a significant increase in the meals that we are able to provide and the number of families that can be impacted.
  • Estimated Total Project Volunteer Hours: 200
  • Describe the Rotarian hands-on activities in the project (i.e. non-financial participation): Before the packaging event, club members will need to:
    • Confirm the date/location of the event
    • Plan the setup for the location
    • Recruit and coordinate the volunteers

    During the event, club members will:
    • Set up the facility for the event
    • Assemble meal packages
    • Participate in clean-up when the event is over
    • Help deliver packaged meals to the two organizations
  • Describe the publicity plan to inform the general public that this is a Rotary sponsored project: Press will be invited to attend the event. Our Facebook page will describe the upcoming event and will feature pictures afterward. We will have our club banner and other signage at the event. Information and photos will be disseminated to the Rotary Informer and district website.
  • Cooperating Organizations – Please list each cooperating organization, if any: • The Presbyterian Community Center provides a food pantry for the community.
    • Raleigh Court Presbyterian Church provides a backpack program for two Roanoke City elementary schools.
    • The Outreach Program, Union, IA
  • Letter(s) of Participation: OutreachProg.pdf, rcpc_hungermission.pdf, PCC.pdf
  • Project Expenditure Budget – list detail uses of funds for the project, or use the Budget Upload: see budget upload
  • Project Funding Budget – list detail sources of funds for the project, or use the Budget Upload: see budget upload
  • Budget Upload:E_DG2015_Budget.xls
  • Primary Contact Name: Fred Hoffman
  • Primary Contact Rotary Position: club past president
  • Primary Contact Email: fred@hoffdad.net
  • Primary Contact Phone: 540-353-1637
  • Financial Contact Name: Everett Werness
  • Financial Contact Rotary Position: club treasurer
  • Financial Contact Address: 
    P.O. Box 20896
    Cave Spring, VA 24018
    United States View on Map
  • Financial Contact Email: ewerness@cox.net
  • Financial Contact Phone: 5405564389
  • District Grant Project Authorization Letterclub_signatures.pdf
  • Grant Number: 2022-09
  • Grant Award: $3,250.00