COVID-19 District Grant Project Ideas - For Your Club - Submit your Grant Application by May 31, 2020 

1.

Contact your local food bank or soup kitchen and ask them what they need. This might include specific food/hygiene items, personal protective equipment, and money to bulk purchase items.

2.

Purchase grocery store gift cards. Consider purchasing grocery store gift cards. These can be used by food banks, drop-in centres, school boards, etc. Talk to your community partners about their needs.

3.

Purchase and/or sew face masks. $2,000 will purchase the materials to make 2,000 cloth face masks. For more information on making face masks please contact Rotarian Maureen Bird at maureen.bird@rotarytoronto.com or by cell at (416) 804-3726.

4.

Donate to the Honouring Indigenous Peoples (HIP) COVID 19 Fund. “HIP is a nation-wide partnership between Indigenous Peoples and Rotarians. In 2014, Rotarians in Southern Ontario initiated an action group to consult with Indigenous People to understand what Rotarians could focus on that would make a positive impact for Indigenous Peoples in Canada. As Indigenous and Non-Indigenous partners, we are committed to working together. We encourage and support relationship building between Rotary Clubs and Indigenous communities. As we discover shared purposes, values and how to better support one another, we will be building a better country.”

More information about the COVID-19 fund is available on HIP’s Canada Helps page and from John Currie, Pickering Rotarian and Executive Director of HIP at john.currie@pickeringrotary.ca

5.

Donate to ShelterBox Canada, a Rotary International Project Partner. “COVID-19 is one of the biggest threats to humanity right now. Like you, ShelterBox is concerned about the impact COVID-19 is having on our lives and the world around us. Those living in refugee camps or in makeshift settlements are particularly vulnerable. Millions of displaced families are living in overcrowded settlements where sanitation is poor, social distancing impossible, and access to basic services is severely limited.

Providing emergency shelter and other essential items after disaster not only helps families recover but can also offer a place where families can be together away from others in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak. ShelterBox has adjusted our aid and rate of distribution to help flatten the curve of the virus globally. We are doing this by providing soap and basins as well as health education materials. We are also working to amplify our deployments to ensure more families are able to stay safe and are provided with the ability to social-isolate.”

For more information on making a donation to ShelterBox please go to the Shelterbox website or contact Tess Widdifield, Toronto Twilight Rotarian and Acting Executive Director of ShelterBox Canada at tesswiddifield@shelterboxcanada.org.