The Tribune

By CARA BETHEL

cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

For almost 40 years, the Rotary Club of East Nassau has been a constant presence in the Fox Hill community, feeding not just the stomachs of persons in need but their souls as well.

The organisation’s Fox Hill Run has been the longest-running continuous community service project since Rotary adopted the idea in 1975, co-ordinator Corrine Laville told The Tribune.

The original project had been implemented by Rev John Silverstone of the Methodist Church. When he was transferred to Freeport, the RCEN took the project over.

Rotary members make the run to the community every two weeks, providing much-needed groceries to about eight families.

“We buy the dry food items such as grits, sugar, corned beef, canned milk, rice pasta and tuna in bulk from Rotary members with wholesale containers and we have a storage facility at Stor it all. Every other Saturday, a group of us meet up at 7.30am to bag the groceries and then we make the two-hour ‘run’ through the community,” Ms Laville said.

During that time, it is like visiting family, she explained. “We have become a part of their lives and they have become a part of the Rotary family. They wait eagerly for us and we share not just the food, but our lives as well. For example, we have one man who loves to talk about the news headlines, another is very concerned about the country’s crime level and another is the person who can tell us all the happenings and who’s who in the community.”

Throughout the morning, they visit persons who have been referred to them by area churches.

“There is a young man who was in a car accident, an older man who is legally blind, a bone cancer survivor who is an amputee with two kids, we have another household where we used to help another elderly man and when he passed, we knew the family still needed help, so we continued to help them. We have another woman who is now in her 90s and is the person longest-served on the run and there is another woman who has some health challenges but the sweetest disposition - and when we give her her bag, she then redistributes it to other people who may need something as a pay it forward. And we have helped many others who are no longer with us.”

Ms Laville added that every new Rotarian is required to make at least one food run. “It is a good way for us to get to know them and it’s a way for them to give back to people who need assistance which is really what Rotary is all about.”