At its weekly lunch on July 1, the Haddonfield Rotary Club distributed $17,000 in grants to seven different organizations across the county.
The winners include, $3,000 to Social Responsibility Through Me SRTM, $2,000 to Little Feet, $3,000 to Upstream Alliance, $2,000 to Scouting America Garden State Council, $1,100 to the Animal Welfare Association (AWA), $1,900 to the Cathedral Kitchen Culinary Arts Program and $4,000 to Urban Promise Ministries Inc.
The grant money from the Rotary Club will go to support different programs for each group.
At the Cathedral Kitchen, the money support the investment in four adjustable tables to help with teaching; for the AWA, the money will be used to pay for a pilot program at the Haddonfield Public Library that provides stuffed animals and reading material to children ages 5 to 11; for Urban Promise, the money will be used for a boat building program for kids aged 12 to 18; at Little Hands Little Feet, the money will be used to pay children’s clothes; at Upstream Alliance, the money will be used for education programs in Camden; at Scouting America Garden State Council, the money will be used to support a youth program; and at Social Responsibility, the money will be used to pay for a summer camp for 30 children in Camden.
Sharon Reel, the chair of the Rotary Club Foundation’s grant committee, said the past few years, they’ve only given out around $12,500 in grants, but this year they made an effort to increase it.
Noreen Flewelling, the vice president of development at Cathedral Kitchen, accepted the grant and said that she appreciates all the work the Rotary Club has done with their organization.
“I want to thank the Rotary Club of Haddonfield not only for this grant, but for your many years of partnership,” Flewelling said. “Your continued support of a cookbook for every culinary arts training graduate is a meaningful gift that reminds our students of what they accomplished and the bright future ahead of them.”
Kendyl Fauscette, who works in animal care for the AWA, accepted the money on behalf of the association and said that they might include a visit from the group’s education live rabbit, Mama Bun.
“This initiative is intentionally designed to be flexible and scalable with the goal of expanding into additional libraries and community spaces if successful,” Fauscette said. “Our hope is that this becomes a model for combining literacy support with humane education in a way that benefits both children and the broader community.”
Fauscette speaks about the impact that the Rotary Club’s grant will have on the Animal Welfare Association.
The Rotary Club and Cathedral Kitchen have worked together for over a decade, with the club providing cookbooks to graduates of each of three classes that the kitchen holds every year and several club members volunteer with the kitchen.
John McCarvill, the special project coordinator for Social Responsibility Through Me, said the money from the club is more important this year because of the decrease in federal funding.
“This grants helps us with these services [as] the federal government is shutting down the grant system and it’s getting harder to get money,” McCarvill said. McCarvill went on to share how the competition for state and federal grants is getting tighter as a variety of groups compete for the same pool money.
Reel said this year’s winners made her feel the most pride she’s every felt.
“For me it was one of the best Rotary meetings ever,” Reel said. “I’ve been on the committee for grants since we started the committee. And to me, this is what it’s all about. I never felt prouder or happier to be a Rotarian than I do in this moment in time. So thank you, all of you, for coming.”
Reel, who has been with Rotary since 2013 and on the committee for just as long, said that this year was the best because everyone was able to come accept their checks in person.
“I’ve done this so many years, but we never had them all come at once,” Reel said. “It was the first time. They usually get mailed a check and then piecemeal they come. But to me, it had so much more of an impact for them to hear firsthand exactly what the funds were going to … it just really made me proud.”
Kevin Callahan with UrbanPromise (left to right) Sharon Reel, Joseph Hoguet with Upstream Alliance, Pat Flynn with Little Hands Little Feet, Myrisila Vazquez with Scoutreach, John McCarvill, Noreen Flewelling, Kendyl Fauscette and Patrick Linfors, Rotary Club vice president.
