Three new 100 Mile Rotary Club members are taking the lead in organizing the South Cariboo Starfish Pack Program.
Designed to provide at-need children and their families with food during the weekend, the Starfish Pack Program is being championed by freshman rotarians Petra Gentry, Jenna Estabrooks and Cassandra Stenerud. All three of them have joined the club within the last year and are looking forward to making it more involved with the community.
"The rotary club, after a couple of quiet years coming out of COVID, we're really turning up the community involvement," Jim Carter, the 100 Mile Rotary Club's president, said. "We all joined rotary because the idea is we want to do good in our community. This is exactly why we are rotarians, is to do events and causes like this."
In addition to being the newest members of the group, all three of the Starfish Pack Program's organizers were all recruited by longtime rotary club member Gisela Janzen. Gentry, a realtor for RE/MAX 100 Mile, admitted with a smile when she first heard about the club she thought it was some kind of model plane club.
"I was super excited about it after it was explained to me. I showed up at a meeting and realized it had nothing to do with airplanes and decided to continue on with joining," Gentry said.
Estabrooks, who works at Stolz Gallant Accountants & Advisors, said she had wanted to get involved with the community and saw the club as a great opportunity to do so. For Stenerud, RBC's branch manager, the rotary club provided her a way to stay active in the community after her children aged out of Big Brothers and Big Sisters, which she had been involved with up until this year
"I think rotary has a stigma, one, that it's for men only which is not the case anymore or professional only. We look to have members from all vocations. It's what you can lend to rotary," Stenerud said.
Since joining the club, the trio has done their best to bring new ideas and energy to the club. Gentry noted that rotary club had been kind of just "chugging along" before they joined and they've made an effort to promote the club and its activities more on social media.
Gentry remarked that the Starfish Pack Program has been a project the club has wanted to take on for years now but up until this year had never gotten enough momentum to do so. When Janzen brought it up to her and the others in April, they immediately seized onto it, noting there is a real need for this program in 100 Mile House
"There's definitely a need. Growing up I was low income and a program like this would have helped me very substantially," Gentry said. "When Gisela brought it up I immediately grasped onto it.'
To get off the ground Gentry, Estabrooks and Stenerud reached out to the Abbotsford Rotary Club, which first established the program, for pointers. After determining whether they would have enough funding to run the program, they reached out to School District 27 who put them in touch with 100 Mile Elementary School principal Crystal Dawn-Langton, who agreed to run a pilot program at her school this year
How the program works is relatively simple. At the beginning of each week Gentry, Estabrooks and Stenerud go shopping at Save-On-Foods using one of five pre-prepared menus, which they rotate through to keep things fresh. After buying the food they bundle it all in bags and drop them off at the school where Dawn-Langton then gives to the children in need to take home to their families over the weekend. It includes enough food for two breakfasts, two lunches and two snacks.
This is done to ensure these children are properly fed when they're not at school and to keep the identities of those using the program anonymous. None of the rotary club members know the identities of the recipients.
"The kids are completely anonymous to us. We get a number, we don't get a name," Estabrooks remarked. "We just shop, pack and drop off."
After working out a few kinks with the program, Gentry said they got the Starfish Pack Program off the ground on Nov. 17. Initially they were prepared to help up to 40 kids but so far they've only had 12 kids. Estabrooks said the programs roughly cost $800 to $1,000 per kid for a year, or $25 a pack per week.
"It's definitely very difficult in this current financial climate to stay on target with those prices. We have to pinch our pennies so much," Stenerud said.
If all goes well, however, the 100 Mile Rotary Club plans to expand the Starfish Pack Program to more schools in the South Cariboo next school year, Gentry said. This will rely on a mixture of starting new fundraisers to help raise the money, but also increasing the visibility of the program among parents who may have trouble making ends meet.
"We know the demand for more kids is there, but having them accept the help or come forward (is difficult)," Gentry said. "We don't want the schools targeting someone saying 'you need it' but them actually coming forward and becoming part of the program."
Any parent with children at 100 Mile Elementary School in need of help can enrol their child in the program by talking to Dawn-Langton. Meanwhile, anyone looking to donate to the Starfish Pack Program or join the 100 Mile Rotary Club is welcome to talk to Stenerud, Gentry, Estabrooks or any other club member.
"If you're wanting to see something in the community rotary is an excellent place to voice what you're hoping to see it gain momentum," Gentry said.
Carter said the club currently has around eight members but added they are always looking for new members. He noted that half of their membership have joined in the last few months, meaning the club is younger than it has been in the past.
"So the club is younger, more vibrant and energetic than ever. We're really optimistic for the upcoming year in how much more we're going to be doing and how much visibility we're going to have in the community," Carter remarked.
