Medway Sunlight Rotary Club Rotarian Grace Kelly, together with invaluable support from Chatham Salvation Army and Grace's "army" of volunteers, provided a welcome to those who are homeless or in crisis this Christmas.
Two days before Christmas Day a small band of volunteers cooked turkeys, peeled spuds, cut onions, peeled carrots, made stuffing and all the traditional trimmings - including of course a sack of brussels sprouts - ready for the big day!
On Christmas Day itself the doors of the Salvation Army Centre in Chatham were opened wide by Major Ian Payne and a hoard of volunteers poured in to set up the dining area whilst he and Grace supervised the cooking of all the treats ready for lunchtime service.
Elsewhere in the building more volunteers prepared gifts, changes for clothing for those who wanted it and even set up haridressing facilities. Care bags and take out supper bags were also being made up ready for those who attended.
With everything set up and transport provided for those who couldnt get there under their own steam, dinner was served to over 100 visitors throughout the afternoon with 30 take awaybags provided for those who were unable to stay and 100 packed lunches and 100 care bags all accepted by those who otherwise would have had a very sombre Christmas.
What also was provided was a little hope for those who attended and an opportunity to share company in a warm environment in all senses of the word.
A massive thank you to all those who made this event possible again including Grace, Paul, Ian and the massive army of volunteers who helped before and on the day and the donors who provided so much of the food or donated towards the event - we really appreciate it!
Make a note of next year's event - Christmas Day!
more Fancy a chance to win a money prize and to help our community projects?
more Rotary Members lend a hand to the Royal British Legion each year in their Poppy Appeal - remembering those who gave their lives for this country.
more Our Club has responded immediately to help those affected - would you like to help us do more?
more Over 3 months we received the most Asda Green Tokens at the Gillingham Pier store and won £500!
more Members and friends gathered for a very enjoyable Chinese Buffet Meal to raise funds for a children's home.
more Read Easy Medway talk to Sunlight Rotary.
more A fun family Bingo night in aid of charity - come and join us !
more We were delighted to recently be able to fund a wreath making workshop in conjunction with the Strood Children and Families Hub.
more We helped Santa tour St Mary's Island on Saturday 10th December
more It was a busy time at Christmas for MSR - just some of the very enjoyable activities we got involved in!
more We were delighted to be able to donate an 8ft Christmas Tree ready for Christmas!
more We hope that the youngsters from the Children's Home that we were able to help enjoy their time today at the Pantomime.
more We have been nominated as one of the 3 community organisations who will benefit from the next round of voting by Asda shoppers. Please vote for us!
more In memory of the late Queen Elizabeth II
more Medway Sunlight Rotary have co-operated with the Rotary Club of Carterton in New Zealand to send humanitarian aid to Tonga.
more At its meeting this morning the Club was presented with a certificate from Rotary South East and Gibraltar in recognition of 10 years of the Club serving the community and in particular for its work during the pandemic.
more Santa visited St Mary's Island on Saturday 11th December to say hi to all the girls and boys.
more The presentation of a robotic cat to the Sunlight Centre Dementia Support cafe at Christmas completed a programme of donations to six cafes to help those with Dementia.
more Another very successful Christmas Day Meal !
more "We shall remember"
more We recognise one of our members for their community work as Mayor for 2 years
more Emergency Grant aid
more BBC radio stations are co-ordinating a campaign during lockdown to make devices available to students for study.
more We have raised over £800 since we started using the easy fundraising site! That is all down to you! By registering and accessing your usual retailers to purchase goods on-line our charities earn money without it costing you a penny more!
more We are pleased to be involved with the opening of two new Dementia Cafes in Medway - everyone welcome! Every third Wednesday in the month at Atlas Place, St Mary's Island and every third Monday in the month at Rogallo Place, Horsted, Chatham
more The Living River Foundation is a local not for profit organisation set up to monitor and raise awareness to protect and improve the Thames and Medway rivers.
more Unable to come along to our events or activities but want to help the many good causes that we help to really make a difference in the community?
more This morning's speaker was from Tools with a Mission - a charity that collects donated tools, refurbishes them and send them across the world to help create livelihoods in poor communities.
more We were delighted to be able to provide Home-Start Medway with Christmas presents for the families they support. If you would like to see some of the wonderful work they do head over to their website - https://www.home-start.org.uk/
more The Invicta Dynamos Ice Hockey Club kindly allowed us to collect again at their last home game of 2019 .
more For a number of years we have worked with the Tea Leaf Trust in Sri Lanka to improve the lives of the tea pickers - read their latest annual report to see what amazing things have been achieved.
more Medway Sunlight Rotary Club has been planting thousands of purple crocuses to highlight the campaign to rid the world finally of Polio.
more Medway Sunlight Rotary Club was recently pleased to be able to provide a new shed at the Snapdragons Centre in Cliffe Road, Strood to store outdoor toys and equipment.
more It has been said that Medway Sunlight Rotary Club has more murders than Midsomer but they are always popular!
more Thank you to the supporters of the Invicta Dynamos Ice Hockey Team - who donated £73.22 to our collection on Sunday 23rd Dec at their last home game of 2018
more For the fifth year running Medway Sunlight Rotary, led by Grace Kelly, provided a hot dinner for the homeless and those families in crisis along with warmth, clothing and someone to chat with on Christmas day.
more Medway Sunlight Rotary Club have sponsored 5 places at this year's Crisis at Christmas - the first step out of homelessness
more Instead of our usual Thursday morning meeting we raided Countryside Properties' development at Rochester.
more Our friends from Harmony Choir are holding a Christmas Concert on Saturday 1st December to raise money for our Christmas Day Meal for homeless and isolated people. Thank you for your support Harmony!
more Members of Sunlight Rotary combined a tasty bar b que and a cheque presentation in the woods
more wHoo Cares wants your input about transport on the peninsula - Medway Sunlight Rotary are helping them investigate whether a community run transport service is needed to fill any gaps in transport provision on the peninsula - please complete the survey
more Medway Sunlight Rotary Club were delighted to help the Chrysalis chair exercise group when they needed help with publicising their work.
more On Saturday 21st October just before storm Brian blew in, members of Medway Sunlight Rotary Club planted 3,000 purple crocuses on the Stones Roundabout on St Mary's Island in recognition of the Rotary "End Polio Now" campaign.
more An opportunity to meet all the new students at Mid Kent College
more Many, many thanks to Phil Taylor CEO of ArclorMittal Kent Wire Ltd for carrying out repairs to the main gates at the Rainham Oast Community Centre.
more Sunlight Rotary members braved the cold to collect outside Tescos in Strood on Friday 10th February 2017.
more Details of next year's Dragon Boat Challenge have been sent out to all those who took part or expressed an interest - make sure that you don't miss out!
more Rotary helps at the St Mary's Island Community Fair
more Our latest challenge for the intrepid! Walk on 15ft of broken glass or be a coward and laugh at those who do! All in aid of Rotary Children's Hospice Holidays and other Rotary Charities.
more Ann Livings (Medway Sunlight Rotary) and Geoff Waters and Paul Wintle of Medway Rotary Club conquer their personal challenges and reach the summit of Snowdon.
more The winner of our magnificent Dragon Draw prize - a day wined and dined on the Solent- tells us about her experience.
more Fun at the theatre
more We are 3 years old!
more Looking back on a busy year
more The Come and Sing held at St Matthew's Church, Drewery Drive was a great success
more It was Bill, it was Bill!
more The founder of Peter's Place spoke at our Project Night in October - read more .....
more details of this month's successful project night
more Members of Medway Sunlight Rotary helped to remove 20 shopping trollies and other rubbish from a section of the River Medway
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