Report by: Club President Margaret Martin

The Rotary Club of Ewell has been supporting local charities and the wider community for over sixty years. The Covid 19 pandemic has called on all our resources and members to help where we can, and to make a difference. Below you will find out about some of the things we have been doing.

Supporting the NHS

The club responded quickly to the call from the NHS and immediately purchased laundry bags for nurses at Epsom Hospital. These bags are important as they enable the nurses to secure their uniforms before leaving hospital and so reduce the risk of infection. As demand for got even higher, we started making laundry bags and also scrubs for the NHS. Several members got their sewing machines out to make the scrubs and bags, with John D producing an impressive 23 gowns, 29 caps, 6 scrub suits and 103 bags.

Our Rotarians also responded to a “call of help” for face and hand creams for NHS staff whose hands were red raw due to the continued washing of their hands and use of face masks.

Supporting the Epsom and Ewell Foodbank

The Epsom and Ewell Foodbank have provided over 4,700 three day emergency food supplies in 2020. Ewell Rotary were supporting the Foodbank before the outbreak of Covid 19 but sent additional funds to purchase more food as the number of people using the Foodbank increased significantly.

Supporting NESCOT

The Rotary Club of Ewell support NESCOT in many ways during normal times, several Rotarians serve on the Board of Governors, we support awards and prizes and have helped students with interview skills. When Covid broke out we were able to purchase a laptop for a student who was shielding on health grounds, enabling them to continue with their studies online

Supporting the Local Community

The Rotary Club of Ewell has members of all ages, whilst some are retired a large number still work (often more than one job). Rotarian John B is a Disc Jockey in his spare time and to brighten the spirits of local residents on VE Day he played war time songs in his street, by 8pm there were about 70 neighbours dancing in the street. John had already set up a What’s App Group for his street early in the lockdown by posting a pamphlet to over 60 houses asking if they needed help during lockdown. He set up a shopping system with his neighbour and arranged priority shopping with his local supermarket and shopped for several households who were shielding. The messages of thanks to John were heart-warming, they expressed their joy and happiness and said that he really had brought people together. One of his neighbours gave £100 which was donated to the Foodbank.

The Rotary Club of Ewell want to thank the NHS for their continued effort in fighting this crisis and caring so well for their patients. One of our Rotarian’s wives was admitted to Epsom Hospital with COVID 19 and because of the skill and dedication of the staff at Epsom General Hospital soon returned home.

We will continue our support of the local community during this dreadful crisis.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Rotary Club of Ewell please contact Maureen Kilminster.

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