Southwest Durham Rotary Club has performed and supported service projects across Durham, the Triangle and even the world! Below is a list of the projects and organizations we’ve worked with recently.
2024-26
- Caring House – ongoing
- Backpack Buddies and Forestview Snack program – ongoing
- Familes Moving Forward
- A Lotta Love
- Reality Ministries
- First Responder treats
- MLK Day of Service mealpacking project (original founding club)
- Supported the creation of the Free Flow Club at Jordan High School
- Holiday drive to stock the teacher supply closet at Jordan High School
- Habitat for Humanity
Families Moving Forward
Families Moving Forward, located in downtown Durham, helps families in the crisis of homelessness find their way home. They provide temporary housing, case management, skills education, and connection to community resources to help parents and children thrive in stable homes. The goal of this project is to create a fun, happy, and inspiring space for the children and their caregivers; a place for playing games, doing homework, and respite.
Alongside a team from A Lotta Love, a team of 15+ Rotarians, family members and friends turned four rooms into homes – volunteers cleaned the spaces, put together furnishings, hung curtains/décor/art, and made beds with new linens. Bathrooms were outfitted with new linens as well. We provided a space for healing for these families in desperate need of love, safety, and support.
Reality Ministries
Over the course of the Rotary year, volunteers provide dinner and fellowship to individuals of Reality Ministries. Reality Ministries is an organization whose purpose is to bring together individuals with and without developmental disabilities to experience belonging and kinship. The dinners take place at Reality Ministries, which is located in downtown Durham, NC. The building is equipped with a high capacity kitchen adjacent to a large seating area.
In addition to providing meals, the volunteers have the opportunity to join in fellowship with the individuals of Reality Ministries, which helps foster a positive collaboration within our local community. Volunteers join individuals during their meal to chat about their days, their future plans, etc. After the meal Reality Ministries has a short program during which volunteers are welcome to join in sharing, singing, etc. We feel that by not only providing a well-rounded meal but also fellowship, that these events will continue to promote and foster a positive community building experience between individuals.
Backpack Buddies
Each month 1-2 members join members of the Rotary Club of Durham Sunrise to pack weekend meal care packages to be distributed to students at Forestview Elementary School. Volunteers also deliver the packed meals to the school twice a month.
Forest View Elementary School Snack Project
The Rotary Club of Southwest Durham provides supplemental funding to a project led by the Rotary Club of Durham Sunrise to provide morning snacks to children at Forest View Elementary School. The snacks are provided to students that are food insecure, allowing them to focus on learning rather than on an empty stomach.
Food Pantry Riverside High School (ongoing for the last two years)
The Rotary Club of Southwest Durham provides supplemental funding to a project led by the Interact Club of Riverside High School to stock a food pantry at Riverside High School.
Caring House (ongoing for several years)
Members volunteer to cook and serve dinner to guests at Caring House. Caring House is a “home away from home” for up to 18 Duke patients and their caregivers, often for months at a time. The guests look forward to a nice meal after a long day at the clinic or hospital.
INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS
Guinea: Clean Water and Sewage Disposal Project
The Rotary Club of Southwest Durham contributed funding to a project led by the Rotary Club of Cary MacGregor to build 3 latrines with ventilation and a septic tank for boys, girls, and teachers where none were available. This project increased safety and improved around the school. A water well and storage tank were also built for community use to improve health and convenience by reducing the incidence of infectious diseases such as dysentery. These improvements were implemented in the local school of 300 students in the community of nearly 3,000 residents.
Jamaica: School for the Deaf Project
The Rotary Club of Southwest Durham contributed funding to a project led by the Rotary E-Club of Raleight International.
The purpose of this project was to enhance and support the educational environment at the club’s ‘adopted’ school the Lister Mair/Gilby High School for the Deaf (LMG) in Papine (Kingston), Jamaica. The needs of this school are many, and the club continued to build upon their work done at the school over several years. For the 2024-25 Rotary year they will focused on:
1) Renovation of a shower facility for girls after PE class. This will enhance personal hygiene and self-esteem, promoting confidence and readiness to learn.
2) Replace an air conditioner in the computer lab to safeguard the computer equipment purchased in 2023-24 and support learning in a comfortable environment.
3) Construct a roof over an outdoor stairway to the second-floor. During the rainy season, deluges make access to 2nd floor classrooms dangerous/impossible.
4) Staff recognition activities that encourage and support the staff, who are deeply committed to the students, but gravely under-resourced.
5) Other projects will be conducted as time and finances allow. Items under consideration include supplies for vocational learning classes & painting/beautification of the school.
2023-24
MLK Day of Service mealpacking project (founding club)
Caring House
Backpack Buddies
Forest View Elementary Snack Project
Food Pantry Riverside High School
Reality Ministries
Habitat for Humanity
Wrenn House
The Wrenn House is the only homeless, runaway, and crisis intervention program and shelter for youth in the Triangle, located on W Morgan Street in downtown Raleigh.
Six years ago, the shelter was in bad condition. It was worn down – not a suitable place for children in crisis. It was broken, mismatched, institutional, and sad. A Lotta Love Inc, whose mission is to transform shelters and crisis centers in NC to create safe, dignified, and emotionally inspiring spaces, completely renovated the Wrenn House into a place of healing thanks to a grant from the NC Community Foundation and its connections with contractors and companies in the Triangle.
The result was a comforting, functional shelter. A Lotta Love maintains a close relationship with The Wrenn House, and visits twice yearly to update as needed. A Lotta Love approached the Rotary Club of Southwest Durham to address a room in the house that was under-utilized, and ultimately volunteers from SWDR renovated the space.
The young people would benefited tremendously from having the space transformed into a place for group sessions, meetings, and intake procedures.
The goal of the project was to create a fun, happy, and inspiring space for the children and their caregivers; a place for playing games, doing homework, and having a place for private meetings with staff as well as with parents/guardians. A Lotta Love will provided the design plan and our our Rotary Club came in to help do the work together with Lotta, the Founder of A Lotta Love.
The Wrenn House served 121 youths in crisis last year in their facility. By providing them with what A Lotta Love calls trauma informed design we recognize that the children and the staff will feel safer, more prepared, and hopeful for a better future. The space will serve as a hub for coming together and healing. The space will be updated yearly by A Lotta Love.
Alzheimer’s Caregiver Luncheon
Caregiver Recognition Luncheon for families affected by Alzheimer’s Disease and other memory disorders. Rotarians will work together to organize an event to recognize caregivers for their tireless dedication to their loved ones and to give them an opportunity to relax and enjoy an afternoon of great food and entertainment.
Rotarians will come together in support of families affected by Alzheimer’s Disease and other memory disorders. Members of the Rotary E-Club of District 7710, Durham, Southwest Durham, Durham Sunrise Rotary Clubs and the Interact Club of Riverside High School will organize an event in honor of the tremendous impact caregivers make every day in the lives of their loved ones. Caregivers and loved ones will be treated to a catered luncheon with a program, live music, and fellowship. Rotarians will also solicit a variety of raffle prizes for the event. The event will be held at the Jewish for Good Center in Durham in partnership with the Duke Dementia Family Support Program, the Durham Senior Center, and the Memory Café at Jewish for Good. The objective of the event is to recognize caregivers for their selfless dedication to their loved ones. This project is important to our community and to Rotary because more and more community members and Rotarians’ lives are being affected by this disease every year. While there are some treatments to slow the disease process and promising ongoing research into a cure, there is currently no cure; and that can be very difficult for patients and their families to face.