Burgess Hill rotary club’s support for community groups with help from German Rotary Club Gevelsberg

The Rotary club will give money to a variety of groups that help the community, in response to the pandemic.

The money will be used to help the organisations continue to provide key support services to the community, during a time when they have experienced a significant decrease in income or increase in demand.

The donations were made possible by funds from the Rotary Club Gevelsberg in Germany, which Burgess Hill Rotary was able to match with a grant from the Rotary Foundation charity.

Many Rotary clubs have links with clubs in other countries and Burgess Hill has a close relationship with the club in Gevelsberg, taking it in turns to visit each other annually and maintaining social contact throughout the year. They are currently staying in touch through video calls.

James Gartrell, a member of Burgess Hill Rotary Club, said: “We are delighted that by working together with our friends in Germany we were able to make these donations to support the Covid-19 response in our local community.

“As the crisis broke, we had promptly revisited our programme for the remainder of the Rotary year and these latest donations have been made in addition to others totalling almost £4,500 made by Burgess Hill & District Rotary to provide support at this time.

“These were: £1,200 to St Peter & St James Hospice, £600 to Chestnut Tree House, £600 to Safe in Sussex, £300 to KidsOut, £362 to ShelterBox, and £1,400 to School in a Bag.

“These donations were made possible through our previous fund raising and we thank the community for their support at our various events.

“Members of Rotary, known as Rotarians, are people of action, having fun while providing our time to support our local and international communities.

“If Rotary is something you would be interested in joining please contact us via the contact form on our website at www.therotaryclub.co.uk to find out more.”