About Our Work in the Community

Contained in Rotary’s The Five Avenues of Service, the third Avenue states  “Community Service covers the projects and activities the club undertakes to improve life in its community.” The main effort of the Monteagle-Sewanee Rotary which is directed to improve our community, is helping the local food-banks tackle the problem of food insecurity. Another effort is to help Blue Monarch. Both of those will be expanded upon below. However, I would like to mention that there are two works in progress that we are exploring ways to provide service in the near future. Housing Sewanee is one. Since Sewanee is not an incorporated town, Habitat for Humanity is not able to have their presence there, and the non-profit Housing Sewanee fills that gap. The other is BetterFi. BetterFi is a non-profit located in Grundy County and dedicates itself as a financial institution that counters predatory lending.

Hunger in America, much less in our community, is a tough package for those of us not facing food insecurity to wrap our heads around. Yet the numbers speak. About 1 in 7 people experience food insecurity in our 4 surrounding counties.  Breakdown by County: Grundy County: 17.6% of people (approx. 2340); Franklin County: 13.2% of people (approx. 5500); Coffee County: 13% of people (approx. 7080); and Marion County: 15.2% (approx. 4340). Source: Feeding America. By the way, 5,500 of these people represent children. So the Monteagle-Sewanee Rotary club has developed a fund raiser called the Hunger Walk in which the money goes to the local food banks. The three food banks in particular are: The Grundy County Food Bank, located in Tracy City. Check out the Facebook page by clicking the button below.

The second is the CAC, or the Community Action Committee. The CAC describes itself as, follows, “The Community Action Committee (CAC) is committed to active outreach ministry in the Sewanee community and beyond. Working with St. Mark & St. Paul Parish, the School of Theology, Volunteers and Chef Rick from the University of the South, St. James, and members of the community, the CAC has a deep and longstanding commitment to the work which is continued on a daily basis.” The CAC has different aspects to its Outreach and the Hunger Walk is directed to the food bank only.

Morton Memorial Feeding Ministry is the final food bank of the three that the Monteagle-Sewanee Rotary works with. This food bank is one of the seven Ministries of Morton Memorial United Methodist Church.

Who they serve: “Blue Monarch is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit designed to serve abused and addicted women along with their children. We accept women who are currently recovering from physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse, alcohol or drug addictions, poverty and mental health issues. We accept women with children under the age of 9 and women who are pregnant.”

What they do: “Blue Monarch offers each woman a one to two-year residential program specifically designed to fit her individual needs and help her further her education, break her addictions, become a better mother, obtain a job and gain independence.” 

Right now, our involvement with Blue Monarch is in its infant stage; it is service oriented, and it involves volunteers committing to mentoring. Also right now the Covid-19 virus has far limited the ability for onsite mentoring.