Page 6 - Jigsaw October 2020

Charity fundraising.......................................................................
Still raising money, the Rotary Club are now Zooming...
The Rotary Club continues to support our local food banks and our weekly meetings continue via Zoom. We now have a programme of speakers and aim to have a speaker or special activity every two weeks. Who would have thought back in January that we would be able to use technology to continue to have a stimulating programme of activity, despite not being able to meet in person? We are now looking to see how we can continue to fundraise to support a range of charities and other causes.
One of our recent Zoom speakers, Phil Godfrey, gave a very interesting talk about APS – Antiphospholipid Syndrome. APS is a life threatening autoimmune condition that can cause strokes, heart attacks, DVT’s and blood clots in the lung. In pregnancy APS can also cause serious problems including repeated miscarriages, and it is associated with stillbirth, pre-eclampsia and premature
THRAPSTON FOODBANK
This will be opening its doors on September 8th between 1pm and 3.30pm and from then onwards every Tuesday. We are based at Thrapston Baptist Church,
St Paul’s Gardens, and we thank them for allowing us to use their premises.
We have been fortunate that over 20 volunteers have come forward to help with a variety of jobs-collecting, delivering, sorting and rotating stock as well as being there on the days the FoodBank will be open. We are truly grateful for their help.
Sadly, the pandemic has emphasised the need for FoodBanks, but we hope to Bridge the Gap for those in need.
We have received many food donations for which we are very appreciative, but we will always need more. Donations
can be dropped to the church during the FoodBank opening times each Tuesday afternoon but we also have various drop
6
babies. Phil described his fundraising exploits, raising £150,000 so far for APS Support UK, including attempting to walk from the Isles of Scilly to the Shetlands, and the subsequent rail trip and speaker tour that replaced the walk after injury prevented completion.
Readers may remember that the club usually provides volunteer labour to support disabled sailors enjoy time out on the water with Sailability at Grafham Water. Although some sailing is now taking place, it is very limited with only small numbers taking part. Covid safety measures mean that many
of the regular clients, who could only sail with “buddies” to support them, cannot sail and that our club members cannot help launch boats or get the sailors into them. We all look forward to when we can provide practical support again!
off points as follows: ThrapstonCo op, Lazy Acre, Furnace Drive, Heron Avenue, Denford and Titchmarsh.
Please call 07907 343373 to arrange to make a donation or to have it collected. Items in most need are jams, custard,
rice pudding, packet and tinned soups. We thank everyone who has supported
us so far; to those who have donated money, food and time. Thanks also to Tirastan-Graffix for design work and Zephyr for printing work, as well as Morrisons for stock donations.
We cannot do this without the great community spirit of Thrapston and surrounding villages.