DAMARISCOTTA — Last spring the Rotary Club of Damariscotta-Newcastle applied for and recently received a COVID-19 Feeding Our Community — Lincoln County Food Initiative — Community Navigation District 7780, Rotary year 2020-21, grant in the amount of $4,500. The club made an additional contribution of $500 bringing the total award to $5,000, the sum that was needed to staff the backbone of the Lincoln County Food Initiative, the hot, community navigation helpline from July 1 through Sept. 30, 2020, according to a news release from the rotary club.

On Jan. 11, Kate Martin, executive director of Healthy Lincoln County, the food initiative’s fiscal agent, accepted the community service funding support checks on behalf of the food initiative from Rotary Club President Roberta McLaughlin, Marianne Pinkham, Club Foundation Chairwoman and Past President Jane Gravel, owner of Main Street Grocery, whose initial delivery of meals to families in need during the last week of March quickly morphed into the food initiative.

According to the release, the food initiative is a multi-organization, community collaboration and partnership that evolved in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to make sure that community members had the meals and food supplies that they needed in order to remain food secure while adhering to the State of Maine’s Stay Safer at Home and COVID-19 Quarantine guidelines.

It’s a perfect example of community organizations, businesses and nonprofits, coming together and continuing to work together towards a common goal is currently delivering hot meals and food supplies prepared by the staff at Kieve-Wavus to more than 100 community members across all generations. For food assistance, call the hotline at 207-563-6658 to find a solution that works. Individuals also can reach out via Lincoln County Food Initiative Facebook Messenger #lincolncounty.

Rotary District 7780 Grants are small grants awarded each year on a competitive basis to Rotary Clubs in Southern, Mid-coast Maine and New Hampshire in support of a humanitarian projects either in a Rotary Club’s home community or internationally.

For more information, visit dnmrotary.org.