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“Service above self” is the motto of any Rotary Club. One Rotary Club, with the help of businesses, churches and community members, gave a day of pampering and gifts to 30 women effected by Hurricane Matthew that hit Bladen County back in October 2016.
The South Brunswick Islands Rotary Club held “A Day of Hope” at the Elizabethtown Presbyterian Church to reach the hurricane victims in Bladen and surrounding counties.
Cindy Reed, President of the South Brunswick Islands Rotary Club, said the idea came from club member, Martha Warren.
Warren lived at least 18 years in Bladen County, according to Reed, and is a Mary Kay Representative.
Warren said, “I knew if we could get to the women, we could get to the families.”
Another fellow Brunswick Rotarian, Michael Abushakra, a jeweler in Brunswick County, heard Warren’s idea and came up with an idea of his to help their local Rotary reach out in the communities effected by Hurricane Matthew. He made necklaces with North and South Carolina Strong symbols and sold them. He donated all the proceeds to the Rotary Club’s hurricane victims outreach service program.
Warren said her Club rushed to have the event before Thanksgiving so they could help the victims have a nice meal.
The non-profit was able to give $50 food gift cards to 30 people affected by the storm. The women who attended also received Mary Kay products, a Bible and other gifts donated by local businesses and non-profits.
Mrs. Becky Raynor was the guest speaker for the event. She shared personal trials and hardships she experienced in life. She shared experiences about her husband in a coma and her handicapped daughter among other things.
Raynor explained to the group, “It’s not so important to know the master plan, as it is to know the master planner. If God be for us, who can be for us.”
Raynor quoted a book titled, ‘Hello, Goodbye Window’. One of the main characters in the book would walk to a big window everyday and say, “Hello world! What have you got for us today?”
Raynor continued, “He didn’t say all things work to the ease and the prosperity to those who love God. We have all faced hard times. He is working for our spiritual good.”
Raynor reminded everyone in attendance, “Just as God brought us through pain and suffering He will lead us to days like this.”
The Rotary Club is planning on holding another, “A Day of Hope” event in Lumberton around Valentines Day. The necklaces are $80 and may be purchased at Brynnelizabethjewelers.com.
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