Rotarians ‘moved’ by response to Nepal collection

West Worthing Rotary Club organised the collection at Tesco Extra in Durrington over four days.

Rotarian David Langley said: “Like everyone else, the Rotarians in West Worthing Rotary Club were horrified with the news of the earthquake in Nepal, and the devastation and loss of life caused.

“The reaction of the public was such that we collected the astonishing amount of £2,500. We were amazed at the generosity of the shoppers and at times, there was a queue of people waiting to put money into our buckets.

“Contributions ranged from large value bank notes down to young children giving us everything they had in their purses. Collecting there was a moving experience for us.”

Several people asked where the money was going to, and how the club would know none of it would disappear before it got there.

Mr Langley said: “The answer is quite simple. We use a relatively small charity called Impact, whose head office happens to be in Haywards Heath.

“Impact has branches in many countries in the developing world, and we last used them at the time of the Philippine typhoon disaster last year. We found that the money we sent to them two days after the disaster was immediately spent on emergency aid.”

Soon after news of the earthquake broke, the club sent Impact a token amount to set the ball rolling, and two days later, received a reply from the appeal’s medical director. He said Impact volunteers in Dhuwakot were working round the clock to pack, transport and distribute medicine, shelter, food and clean water for those affected.

The charity distributed hundreds of tarpaulin tents and blankets, food and water purification to families. Impact Nepal has a mobile operating tent which is being used as a field hospital and volunteer doctors have already treated 450 injured people.

Mr Langley said: “This is a charity which we fully trust and we know can deliver immediate aid where needed. We believe the people of Worthing who so kindly gave us their money would like to see it used immediately to alleviate suffering, rather than be stored for the future.

“We found it gratifying that those giving were happy to trust Rotary to do the right thing in ensuring the money was used responsibly. It was also nice, when we thanked people for putting a donation in our buckets, that many replied ‘no, thank you for doing what you are doing for these people’.”

For more information or to make a donation, contact David Langley on 01903 535900.