On Oct. 12 behind Kings Food Market on Franklin Avenue, the Mineola-Garden City Rotary Club held a food drive to benefit “For the Love of Pete’s Pantry.” The pantry is a Seaford-based nonprofit that meets the food insecurity needs of local families with special needs necessities.
In conjunction with Rotary Service Week, Rotary volunteers had gathered at Kings in shifts from dawn until near dusk to collect nonperishable food items. The pantry will turn these items into Thanksgiving baskets to help meet the needs of families with special needs children and victims of domestic violence along with others who access the pantry for food and basic needs.
The goal had been to collect 100 pounds of food items, but Rotary organizer Diana O’Neill reports an over-the-top goal breaker with 388 items collected weighing 308 pounds.
Mineola-Garden City Rotary thanks the generous shoppers who contributed to this project’s success. Thanks also go to the dedicated volunteers and to Kings for providing the venue.
With its theme, “Service Above Self,” For the Love of Pete’s Pantry joins the many services which Rotary provides annually for the needs of our local community and beyond. Rotary President Diane Marmann reports that this was a gem of a service project and one of our best.
—Submitted by the Mineola-Garden City Rotary Club
