Rotary Sunrise Presents Cheques to Charities
Rotary Sunrise President Mr. Alastair Paterson (centre) presents cheques to the Church of God Chapel Family Life Centre and to the Pines Retirement Home. Accepting the cheques are (L-R) Pastor Tom French, Director of the Family Life Centre, Pastor Alson Ebanks, Senior Pastor of the Church of God, and Ms. Sue Nicholson, Manager of the Pines Retirement Home. Standing to the right of Mr. Paterson is Rotary Sunrise member and New York Marathon runner Mr. Edward Solomon.
As a result of two recent fund-raising projects, the Rotary Sunrise Club of Grand Cayman presented checks totaling $17,500 to two local charities, the Pines Retirement Home and the Church of God Chapel Family Life Centre.
In a short presentation at the Pines facility on Friday, Rotary Sunrise president Mr. Alastair Paterson gave cheques for $10,000 to the retirement home, and $7,500 to the Family Life Centre, to be used for the latter's After School Programme.
The funds were raised primarily by the fund-raising effort centered on local runner Edward Solomon's participation in the New York Marathon in November. An additional $2,500 was raised for the Pines as a result of the anniversary event in honour of the movie "Cayman Triangle".
Retirement home manager Ms. Sue Nicholson gladly accepted the cheque on behalf of the Pines, saying it would go into general operating fund. "With a $15,000 shortfall of revenue every month, this is quite needed," she said.
Ms. Nicholson is perplexed at NCVO-operated facility's general difficulties in raising adequate funds to operate. "When it comes to the elderly, people just don't think about them," she said, "The elderly aren't as glamorous as kids or some other recipients of local donations. We're truly grateful to Edward and Rotary Sunrise for their support."
Though Mr. Solomon bore the brunt of the load with months of training and then running the 26-mile race on an injured leg, he credits his fellow Rotarians for raising the funds. "This wouldn't have been possible without them," said Mr. Solomon, "And I especially want to recognize Mrs. Theresa Lewis-Pitcairn, who collected over $2,000 for the fund-raiser all by herself."