It was breakfast with a purpose.
On Sunday, March 20, members of the Rotary Club of Southwest Queens donned their chefs’ hats and aprons and flipped flapjacks for a fundraiser to benefit Our Lady of Grace (OLG) Ministry of Care & Services food pantry in Howard Beach.
The volunteers cooked up strawberry, blueberry, chocolate, apple, whole wheat, M&M and regular flapjacks. The cost of the all-you-can-eat breakfast was $10 per person, $25 per family – half of the approximately $600 raised was donated to the pantry and the other half to assorted programs.
After last year’s first-ever fundraiser, the members decided to make the breakfast an annual event.
“Everyone was on board,” said club president Frances Scarantino.
The day also included cold and hot beverages, face painting and games for the children.
All costs were covered by the Rotary, with the school hall and kitchen donated by OLG.
The Rotary raises money for numerous other fundraisers throughout the year – last month they held a comedy club event to raise money for kidney disease and they annually raise over $1,000 for “Polio Plus,” a campaign to eradicate polio.
The club also donates a monthly stipend to the food pantry.
Coordinated by Jeanie Ruvolo and Kathy Pascarella under the guidance of Father Anthony M. Rucando, pastor of OLG, the pantry has definitely seen an increase in the number of people in need of their services from last year.
The pantry is run entirely by volunteers from the area and serves approximately 350 families a month by providing them with enough food to get them through the day – breakfast, lunch and dinner items. Some months, the pantry is used by close to 500 families, according to Ruvolo.
“Shelves are a little bare – we are running out of food like cereal and milk because more and more people are in need of help,” said Ruvolo. “This event puts to rest the misconception that there is no need for a pantry in this community.”
