Rotary Club of Wellington provides “hands on support” for the Back to Basics Charity
Only weeks into its 2013-2014 year, the Rotary Club of Wellington is already
engaged in its first community service project. Beverly Perham, the executive director of “Back to Basics”, a charity the Rotary Club supports asked for some “hands-on” assistance. The Club normally donates money to the charity every year and honors it at its annual holiday luncheon. This year the club members decided to donate their time and help assemble and package 8000 school uniforms for the “Back to Basics” School Uniform program. Many club members donated more than 12 hours each at the warehouse providing Beverly with the needed support to complete this project and ensure that the uniforms were ready for distribution. “Back to Basics” annually donates these 8000 school uniforms to underprivileged school children in many schools in South Florida.
“Back to Basics” and Beverly Perham have provided school uniforms to under
privileged children in South Florida for the past 29 years. The mission statement of “Back of Basics” is “to raise the self-esteem of children, which directly relates to their learning, by providing the basic necessities of uniforms, sneakers, socks and underwear”.
Originally, Beverly did all of this work in her own home. You could imagine how this project probably consumed her. In 2010, with the help of members of The Rotary Club of Wellington she was able to relocate to a warehouse in Wellington to better complete the work at hand.
Funding for “Back to Basics” is all privately donated and 100% of the money donated goes to the cost of the school uniforms and the other basic items. The budget for the program is approximately $75,000-$100,000 annually. The program is funded by many local churches, business, charitable organizations like the Rotary Club of Wellington, and some anonymous donors. Up until this year a very large donor to the program has been the Andy Roddick Foundation. Because of this loss of funding, the charity is looking for other ways to raise money for its needs.
The program which began in 1984 initially supported only 26 school children. With the community’s help, private donations, the support over the years from the Rotary Club of Wellington, and the life-long labor of love of Beverly Perham, “Back to Basics” is now serving the underprivileged school children of South Florida with 8000 uniforms and other basic necessities.
For more information on “Back to Basics” or how to get involved with the many future community outreach projects of the Rotary Club of Wellington, please contact Maggie Zeller at [email protected] or (561) 715-9262 or Membership Chair, Jasmine Velez at [email protected]
PRESS RELEASE BY BOB SALERNO, PUBLICITY DIRECTOR OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF WELLINGTON (561) 512-8247 – [email protected]