By Foday Moriba Conteh
As part of their efforts towards enhancing the quality of care residents of the King George VI Memorial Home are treated with, Rotary Club of Freetown has on Saturday 25th February, 2023, donated food and non-food items including bags of Parboiled rice, Cooking Oil, Palm Oil, Onions, Tomato paste, Maggi Cubes, Peak Milk, Sardines, Baked Beans, Bottles of Mayonnaise. The handing over ceremony took place at the Catherine Maurice Jones Hall, King George VI Memorial Home at Grafton.
The King George VI Memorial Home is the only special support home for the aged in the country, and has been in existence since the 1960’s. Formerly located at Kissy Dock Yard during the Second World War, the Government of Sierra Leone relocated the Home to its present Grafton location.
According to the Vice President of Rotary Club of Freetown, Kweku Fraser, the donation is done annually, adding that the gesture which includes the provision of food and material support to the Home is part of their service role to specific communities.
He revealed that the donated items which cost approximately NLE 20,000.00 included Parboiled rice, Cooking Oil, Palm Oil, Onions, Tomato paste, Maggi Cubes, Peak Milk, Sardines, Baked Beans, Bottles of Mayonnaise, Luncheon Meat, Bottles of Honey, Bathing soap, Toothpaste and Toothbrushes.
Kweku Fraser furthered that Rotary Clubs around the world engage in various charitable and service-related activities and Rotary International, one of the largest service organizations in the world, was started to “provide service to others, promote integrity and advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through the fellowship of business, professional and community leaders.”
He said while the donation to the Home is an important element in the activity, members pay special attention to the aspect of care for the residents of which he stated that members of the club look forward to this “hands-on” encounter each year with residents, as it provides a concrete expression of their care for humanity well beyond the weekly contributions for the Home raised each week.
The President used the opportunity to inform the gathering that Rotary started through the vision of Paul Harris and a few friends in Chicago, Illinois, USA in 1905 and recently celebrated the 118th anniversary of its founding and that members are drawn from a diverse background of professionals who then exchange ideas and support projects around the world, while forging meaningful lifelong friendships, furthering that members have a long track record of addressing challenges in their communities around the world and their support to the Home is just one of many examples of Rotary’s work in Sierra Leone.
Receiving the items on behalf of the Home, the Administrator of King George VI Memorial Home, Joyce M. Sesay, expressed appreciation to the Rotary Club of Freetown for the donation which she described as very important towards enhancing the welfare of the residents.
She said the King George VI Memorial Home is the only value residential Home in the Western Area adding that the Home accords all the respect to its residents and that the Home is currently housing 38 residents.
Joyce M. Sesay noted that the Home is challenged with having necessities which includes lack of a medical facility, lack of a vehicle etc.
The official handing over ceremony of the items was done by a Senior Rotarian of the Rotary Club of Freetown, Hellen Nylander which was followed by a sumptuous lunch of which Members of the club cooked and served food to the residents.
