CareerSource Gulf Coast partnered with The Rotary Club of Panama City Beach and Saint Dominic Catholic Church on Tuesday, July 21, to provide food to over 140 families in Bay County.
“This is the third distribution we have been able to host since COVID-19,” said Kim Bodine, Executive Director of CareerSource Gulf Coast. “With so many individuals unemployed, or having employment disruptions due to COVID 19, affording necessities is still a major concern for many households. We always want to do all we can to help our community, especially when folks are in need.”
“The Rotary motto is ‘Service Above Self’, said Jeremy Hinton, President of the Rotary Club of Panama City Beach. “Rotarians from multiple clubs in Bay County embodied that motto today by partnering with CareerSource Gulf Coast and St. Dominic’s Catholic Church to provide a needed service to our community.”
The distribution, sponsored by The Rotary Club of Panama City Beach and Saint Dominic Catholic Church, was held in the parking lot of the recently closed Panama City Mall.
Between these three organizations, in addition to volunteers from Alignment Bay County and the Tyndall Spouses Club, we had 17 individuals came together to distribute 10,000 pounds of food to Bay County people in need.
Less than three hours later, the food had been distributed and 120 pounds of rice was donated to the Panama City Rescue Mission.
The food distribution was funded through a grant operated by Saint Dominic; this grant aims to assist those in need within our community.
We know that “God created mankind in his image” (GN 1:27), which endows each of us with a dignity given by God himself, regardless of our present circumstances,” said Mark Gutcher, Parish Manager at Saint Dominic’s Catholic Church. “To honor this dignity, Jesus gave us this simple guidance to follow, “For I was hungry, and you gave me food...”. In our ongoing attempt to answer to this question, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?” our efforts must live up to this ideal “whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” (MT 25: 35-40) This is why we help.”
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