Members only
The Abingdon Rotary clubs have together raised around £10,000 for the Tsunami Earthquake Appeal.
Collection at Tesco 31st December 2004
Collection at Waitrose 15th January 2005
Collection at Tesco 31st December 2004
On New Year's Eve, from 8.00 in the morning to 6.00 in the evening, a team of Rotarians from the two clubs in Abingdon stood at entrances and exits to Tesco with collection buckets in order to raise funds to help those affected by the terrible flood disaster. The Tesco store itself had buckets on every checkout counter.
The response by Tesco shoppers was tremendous and showed a generosity of spirit which was a joy to see. Some shoppers were giving on the way into the store, giving again at the checkout when they paid for their goods and then, seeing a Rotarian with a bucket at the exit, would delve once more into their purses or wallets to make yet another contribution. Quite a few just turned their purses upside down and emptied the lot into the buckets, regardless of the potential embarrassment of needing some change a little later on. One lady we spoke to was so grateful to have an organisation handle her gift to the disaster relief fund because she wasn't sure how or where to send it.
And although much of the cash came in the form of £1 and £2 coins, everything from pennies to £20 notes went into the buckets - and even a few cheques. The giving went right across the age range, from young adults just setting up home together to pensioners. Neither of these groups at the extremes of the age range could readily afford to give a great deal, but they did!
Abingdon Rotary wishes to thank all the donors for this tremendous outpouring of compassion which benefited the relief fund by some £8,350 on the day, and with later contributions has risen to not far short of £10,000. We wish also to thank Tesco for their extremely strong support. In terms of world-wide giving, ours is but a drop in the ocean, but the ocean is made up of drops like this, and in local terms, the donation of nearly £10,000 from the shoppers in one store on one day is something for the community to be proud of.
Collection at Waitrose 15th January 2005
On Saturday January 15th several members of Vesper conducted a second Tsunami collection outside of the Abingdon branch of Waitrose. The designated "Rotary collection day" was actually on January 8th but every possible site around Abingdon was already spoken for. Waitrose offered us the alternative date of the 15th & the manager & staff were most encouraging and helpful.
We were not expecting the enormous sums of money which were given
immediately after the news first reached us but the shoppers were still
pleased to give support. We collected just under £600. Quite apart from the money we were delighted to be able to respond positively to many questions from people about how Rotary dealt with such funds. Vesper earned a great deal of good publicity & respect. It was all very worthwhile.
If you would like to make a donation to the Tsunami Earthquake Appeal, go to the Disasters Emergency Committee web site.