The Rotary Club of Morinville began its SKIP THE LINE bottle drive program as a response to the impact that the Pandemic had on small non-profit groups in the community.
These groups fill a need on personal, one-to-one support of people in need. The groups are small and tend to fall through the cracks when Government Grants overlook their cause. Often, fundraisers such as bottle drives, bake sales, etc., are their resource. The pandemic reduced that ability.
The Rotary Club of Morinville has experienced success with its Bottle Drives pre-pandemic, raising over $5000 for the Jessica Martel Foundation and $8,000.00 for the LAVlll Military Memorial being installed on the Leisure Center site.
In partnership with the Morinville Bottle Depot, our team created the Skip The Line donation program, where people could drop off their bags of bottles without waiting in line or waiting for the count. During slow periods, the staff have counted the donations and provided a monthly total to the Rotary team, which in turn has donated to the groups who have made applications for support.
To date, the support has seen:
Friends of the Library – $432.45 (Children’s crafts program)
Morinville Youth Basketball – $564.25 (Support of their drive and supplemented with community donations)
Morinville Marvelous Moms – $400.00 (Support of their Adopt a Child Golf Tournament fundraiser)
Morinville Food Bank – $250.00 ( Donations raised from Skip the Line drop offs)
Morinville Girls Basketball – $365.95 (Support of their drive and supplemented with community donations)
Four Winds Dance Academy Parents Fundraising Assn – $300.00 (Support of their drive and supplemented with community donations)
Rotary has conducted several small bottle drives to maintain a balance in the fund to be able to “top-up” requests for support of activities by the groups themselves.
Rotary will test a “Virtual” bottle drive this Saturday, November 13, at Sobeys and the Bottle Depot. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Social media will be the primary driver to the community to challenge them to come out and “Flash Mob” donations to community services.
It is hoped that if this shows success, it can become another tool/resource to help these groups, and subsequently, our community.
Saturday, November 13, at Sobeys parking lot and the Morinville Bottle Depot. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Alan Otway
aotway@telus.net
