For the past six years, Shoreline Community Church has been helping address food insecurity among students at Ridgecrest Elementary through the Food4Kids program. This school year, Shoreline Rotary is joining that effort in a new way—bringing volunteers together each month to help pack weekend meals for local students who may otherwise face uncertainty about where their next meals will come from.
Through the Food4Kids-Shoreline program, students receive a package of six easy-to-prepare meals to help provide food for their weekends. The goal is simple but important: help ensure that students have enough nutritious food at home so they can return to school Monday ready to learn.
Beginning this school year, Shoreline Rotary will coordinate monthly food-packing events, held on the first Thursday of each month. Rotarians and community volunteers will work together to assemble the weekend meal packages. Shoreline Community Church will continue to manage the relationship with Ridgecrest and the Food4Kids program, purchase the food, and provide the space and organization needed to make each packing event possible.
The partnership also includes financial support. The Shoreline Rotary Foundation has contributed $2,000 to Food4Kids-Shoreline Community Church, providing funding for several months of the program. This combination of financial support and hands-on service reflects Shoreline Rotary’s long-standing commitment to addressing needs in the local community. The club’s community service work includes supporting programs that help local children and families, and Rotary’s guiding principles encourage clubs to work alongside existing community organizations rather than duplicate efforts.
The community is invited to help. Volunteers are welcome at the monthly food-packing events on the first Thursday of each month. Those interested in participating can check the Shoreline Rotary website for upcoming events and sign-up information.
Financial contributions are also welcome. Community members can make a donation through the Shoreline Rotary donation page to help provide weekend meals for students experiencing food insecurity. Click on the Food4 Kids card, and contribute what you can. One hundred percent of donations designated for this program are passed on to support the Food4Kids-Shoreline Community Church project.
Shoreline Rotary believes that meaningful community service is strongest when neighbors work together. By combining Shoreline Community Church’s six years of experience with the Food4Kids program, Rotary’s volunteer network, and financial support from the Shoreline Rotary Foundation, this partnership gives the community another opportunity to make a practical difference in the lives of local children.
For Shoreline Rotary, this is what Service Above Self looks like: neighbors helping neighbors, one weekend meal at a time.
