In response to that humanitarian crisis, The Rotary Foundation has designated the Rotary Disaster Response Fund as the main avenue for contributions from donors around the world to support relief efforts by Rotarians.
It so happened that some weeks ago a Rotarian was intending to contribute to the noble efforts of the Ukrainian peoples with regard to the humanitarian crisis concerning their plight to flea and survive. Somewhere, in that timing of recognition readiness a local Rotary email made the rounds (copied from The Rotary Foundation messaging about the Rotary Disaster Response Fund) and suddenly an idea was born! Our Rotary member reasoned that he could combine his hope to contribute individually but make an even bigger splash by starting a matching gift opportunity…and boy did the idea take off!
By the end of that week, our Rotarian started with his own $2500 hoping to raise the additional matching amount with 10 other Rotarians giving $250 each. He contacted another Rotarian and together they made calls to the rest of the club; they had that match practically by the next day! But the word kept moving forward and by the following Rotary meeting they had $7500 in contributions and pledges! We gave that Rotarian a chance to make an announcement at our weekly club meeting and by at the end of that meeting, the growth hit an amazing $8300! And by picture time (see attached) the following week, the contribution level ballooned to $10,000!
We’re so grateful to our Thief River Falls members, they really met the challenge and we’re grateful to Rotary for providing the framework to encourage the action and level of activity we achieved.
Best regards,
Paul Burnett, President Thief River Falls Rotary Club