Evening Rotary makes donation to the Fellowship Cup

MT. PLEASANT - Though the coronavirus pandemic has halted the Mt. Pleasant Evening Rotary's in-person meetings, it hasn't stopped the group from finding ways to serve the community.

The service organization chapter, which usually meets every Monday evening for dinner at Iowa Wesleyan University's dining commons, suddenly found themselves with a surplus of funds when they no longer had to pay for meals with the university following closures. The group has moved their meetings to Zoom and continue to congregate each week.

'Since we're not paying them, it's just going into our treasury,” chapter member Cal Litwiller said.

The 15-member club recently donated $1,000 to local nonprofit, The Fellowship Cup.

'We're small but mighty,” Evening Rotary's president, Don LeBlanc, said.

Ken Brown, executive director of the nonprofit said the donation will help offset costs for the organization. Before the pandemic, volunteers of The Fellowship Cup ran and operated the Quarter of More Store. Proceeds from the store contributed to the nonprofit's expenses such as utilities and rent for office space.

'We're losing probably about $1,000 a day everyday the [Quarter or More] store is closed. It will help with expenses. It's a lot of expense going out with the store closed. That's the biggest thing is to offset the cost of the store being closed,” Brown said.

In addition to local organizations, the Evening Rotary Club will be working with other chapters in their district to raise funds for food banks and nonprofits across the state that are providing relief and assistance during the pandemic.

'They're trying to collect $25,000 in the whole district - that's the southern half of Iowa,” Litwiller added.