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The food drives of two community organizations, Demopolis Rotary Club and Abraham’s Consistory No. 257, resulted in almost 10,000 food items being donated to the Demopolis Food Pantry and the Marengo County DHR Food Pantry.

The Demopolis Rotary Club recently completed its 6th Annual Thanksgiving Food Drive, donating a total of 3,790 food items and $3,671 to the Demopolis Food Pantry on Nov. 26. Rotarians also donated 900 food items to Marengo County DHR Food Pantry.

The club partnered with Vowell’s Marketplace, Demopolis Cub Scout Pack 41, Parr’s Chevron, Malone’s Texaco, Langley’s Shell, Westside Elementary School, Sweet Water High School and Linden Elementary School to collect donations from Nov. 11-24.

“One of the principles of Rotary is ‘Service Above Self,’ and we feel like by partnering with the food pantry we’re fulfilling a need in the community,” Rotary President Ashley Coplin said.

She also pointed to Hunter Compton and Jason Windham as key leaders in the food drive each year. Windham introduced the Rotary Club to the idea of a food drive initially in 2013, and he said it has grown since then.

Throughout its six years, the food drive has resulted in $12,198 and 16,058 food items being donated.

The food donations provided by the Demopolis Rotary Club will be enough to last the food pantry through the rest of the year and into January 2020, and the monetary donation is enough for purchase three-month’s worth of food.

Stanhope Brasfield, purchasing agent for the food pantry, said the donations also provide variety to the food bags given out. “We look forward to this every year,” he said.

The pantry serves 200 people a week and provides each with a bag containing eight food items. The food pantry will also be suppling recipients with pulled pork for Thanksgiving and chicken or ham for Christmas.

The food pantry is housed by the Trinity Episcopal Church and is supported and operated by several churches in the community.

The Demopolis Rotary Club would also like to thank Bill Mackey of Bill Mackey Real Estate for allowing the club to use a moving van while delivering the food.

Present at the time of donation were Director of Marengo County DHR Dawn Hewitt, Rotarian Bill Meador, Rotary President Ashley Coplin, Rotarian John Webb, Demopolis Food Pantry Purchasing Agent Stanhope Brasfield, Rotarian Claud Neilson, Rotarian Sean Parker, Rotarian Loretta Wade, Rotarian Jason Windham, Bailey Hewitt, Herrin Hewitt, John Carter Wallace, Rotarian Jay Reynolds and Rotarian John Wallace.

The Abraham’s Consistory No. 257, Valley of Demopolis donated an estimated 5,000 canned goods to the Marengo County DHR to fill their food pantry. The presentation was made on Wednesday, Nov. 20. Pictured above are members of Abraham’s Consistory and Marengo County DHR.

The organization covers Choctaw, Clark, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Sumter and Wilcox counties in Alabama and Wayne County in Mississippi. Each year, two counties are chosen for a charity organization to receive a canned goods donation. In 2019, Abraham’s Consistory donated to Hale and Marengo counties. Leaders in the organization include Illustrious Robert W. Glenn, Deputy for the Orient of Alabama; Ill. Johnny L. Isaac, Commander-in-Chief; L.L. Ennis Ward, Loyal Lady Ruler; Ill. William Norword Jr., Chairman of the Canned Goods Committee. Other members include Ill. Chester Moore, Ill. James Sneed, Ill. Willie Fletcher, Ill. Harley Thomas, Ill. Kevin L. Howard, Ill. Sylvester Daniels, Ill. John Lee Rowser Jr., Ill. Calvin martin, Ill. Lurie Walton, Ill. Terry Owens, Ill. Woodie P. Pugh, Ill. Tommy King, Ill. David Walters, Ill. Alexander Bates, Ill. Lionel Hinton, Ill. Robert Bryant, Ill. Larry Bryant, Ill. Larry Coleman, Ill. Allen Williams Jr., Ill. Robert Stallworth, L.L. Sherry Moss, L.L. Mattye Terrell, L.L. Vanessa Watson, Ill. Tyrone A. Smith, and Freddie Wilson.

(This article originally appeared in the Wednesday, November 27 issue of the Demopolis Times.)