



The clothes were collected and sent by Rotary Club of Sunshine, NY while the food was bought by the money donated by club members. Father Philippe collected the items for despatch to Haiti where the distribution will take place under the supervision of the local Rotary Clubs and the archdiocese.
The Rotary Club of Sunshine NY organized the program in Haiti as a part of its Clothing and Food Drive 2023.
The clothes were collected during February and March and packaged in New York. Some twelve bags of gently used clothes, were collected and donated by club member Shimul Ismail and her16 year old daughter Nora,.Together they carefully sorted, organized and packaged the clothes for sending to Haiti.
Nora and her Mother Shimul were lauded at the club's meeting held in early March, where club president Aziz Ahmad, and Charter President Bina Ahmad specially mentioned Nora's contributions and thanked her. The Club also thanked Father Philippe, who went through a lot of effort to collect the clothes and purchase the food items and have them shipped in 2 barrels to Haiti for distribution among the distressed people.
The Club has already collected more clothes and those will be distributed in the Bronx and Ozone park areas in NY very soon.
Earlier, the Rotary Club of Sunshine conducted another food and clothing distribution program in collaboration with Westchester Rotary Club. Held on February 9 at Poughkeepsie in the outskirts of New York, this program was also a successful one. More than 50 people collected containers of freshly cooked food and several dozens of clothing items were distributed among people mostly from Afghan and Syrian refugee camps. Westchester Club President-Elect Maher Pathan, along with a few volunteers actively completed that distribution drive. Maher herself cooked the food and distributed them among unprivileged people in that locality.

Rotarian Maher Pathan was describing her experience of the food, grocery and clothing distribution program jointly organized by Sunshine NY and Westchester NY Rotary Clubs held on February 9 at Poughkeepsie in the outskirts of New York.
Under privileged people, mostly from the housing for Afghan refugees came and collected the food and clothes.
"They don't get enough food to eat, they don't have warm clothes to wear i

"Initially we brought food for 25 people. But later when a larger number of people gathered, we cooked again. Sister Mazida helped me to cook more food and we distributed them among the needy people", she added.
"Lots of exciting things happened on the day. .We cooked the food ourselves. So that everyone gets to eat some home cooked, warm and healthy meals. All the collected clothes were in fine condition and I made sure they were hygienic enough to wear."
Two elderly women came who have no family. Among them one lost her son in deadly gun violence. There is none to buy food for this woman.
We bought some groceries and dropped them off at their houses in the camp, Maher Pathan said.
The onlookers and the people who stopped by were appreciating this noble endeavor by Rotarians.
"Everyone liked the biryani and said that they wanted to eat again. I promised them that someday soon I will cook more biryani and distribute among them", said Maher Pathan.

Turkey and Syria were struck by a devastating earthquake on 6 February that has killed tens of thousands of people, destroyed thousands of homes and other structures, and left people across the region without shelter in bitterly cold winter weather.
The Rotary world responded to this catastrophe immediately. RI President Jennifer Jones activated our disaster response efforts, communicated with the affected districts, and encouraged governors in those regions to apply for disaster response grants and share information about their relief efforts so that Rotary can amplify the calls for support.
Rotary's project partner ShelterBox has an emergency response team assessing the needs in the region and how it can respond. That team is communicating with Rotary district leaders. Our service partner Habitat for Humanity International is also working on its response. Many Rotary members are asking how they can help.
Our Sunshine Club has set up a fundraiser that channels donations directly to the Rotary Foundation's Disaster Response Fund. Donating via this fundraiser ensures that the donations are appropriately utilized, and no fees are deducted from your donation. Scan the QR code on the right with your phone or click on the link to donate. Sunshine donation to Rotary Disaster Relief for Turkey & Syria

JOIN A PROJECT
Change your community with us by volunteering on a local project.

PARTNER WITH US
We work with groups and organizations of all sizes to accomplish even more.

DISCOVER NEW CULTURES
Discover and celebrate diverse perspectives with a global organization.