While the Rolling Meadows Rotary Interact Service Club wasn’t able to host their annual in-person food drive this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the club instead came up with the idea of a gift card drive to keep it less risky and safer overall. 

Members of the club chose an area to drop off envelopes they made containing information about the gift card drive,  including what requirements they had to meet to participate. There were plenty of places to sign up so everyone could participate. 

“ We put the envelopes together ourselves and picked a section to drop off the envelopes in mailboxes. We asked them for gift cards from places like Aldi, Jewel-Osco, or Walmart to donate,” said Junior Bernie Goodwin.

The people would then take these envelopes and go buy gift cards and donate them to those people in need of food during the holidays. Even though it was something different from the food drive the club is used to hosting, it still was a good way to help out the community and make a difference. 

“Even though we didn’t have the food drive, it was definitely still nice to do something for the community and also nice that we did gift cards because that way, people can choose their own food to buy,” said Goodwin.

The Rotary Interact Club put on a great fundraiser and charity event for those who aren’t fortunate enough to have food on their plates every night. This is one of the many service projects the club participates in this year. Students who need service hours or just want to make a difference and be apart of something bigger than themselves should consider joining. 

“Rotary interact is a great club for gaining service hours. It gives you the opportunity to give back to your community in various ways such as planning food drives and other activities. You can choose which service projects to do, so it’s only as time-consuming as you’d like it to be,” said Junior club member Dominic Maloberti.

The club has plenty of other projects in store for the future. Including one currently to help the cause of COVID-19. They also have big plans for service projects in the spring to help people outside of the United States in need. 

“We had plans to sew masks for families who receive help from the food drive,” said Senior Club President Stella Frangiadakis. “The plan consisted of 10 students pre-cutting fabric then passing it along to the 4 students who could sew with a sewing machine.”