Rotary After Hours Steps in at the Community Action House Food Club
For the Holland Rotary After Hours Club, service at the Community Action House Food Club is more than a project on the calendar. It is a practical, hands-on commitment to neighbors in need and a reminder that even a smaller club can make a meaningful difference close to home.
Our club has been involved with Community Action House for several years. That partnership is documented at least as far back as 2022, when Holland After Hours Rotary helped provide accessibility equipment (an electric shopping cart) for the Food Club, and today the club continues to serve there as a regular monthly service project on the fourth Thursday of the month. (hollandrotaryafterhours.org)
The Food Club is not a traditional food pantry. It is a member-based grocery model that allows individuals and families to choose the food that best fits their needs in a welcoming, dignified setting. They pay a small month fee for their membership in the food club and for the purchases they make. Community Action House says the Food Club serves more than 1,500 member families, representing roughly 3,000 to 4,000 individuals each month.
Food reaches the Food Club through a well-organized rescue and recovery system. Community Action House’s Lakeshore Food Rescue partners with food retailers, volunteers, and nonprofit partners to collect surplus food that is still safe and usable. Volunteer drivers use the Food Rescue Hero app to pick up donations, and teams also recover food from the Holland Farmers Market. In a 2024 update, Community Action House reported that 70 volunteers completed more than 1,200 food rescues over the prior year. (volunteer.communityactionhouse.org)
That is where Rotary After Hours comes in. Club members sort food, stock shelves, work at checkout, and help with bagging. These are not glamorous jobs, but they are essential ones. They help create an orderly, welcoming experience for families and keep healthy food moving efficiently from donor to shelf to table.
Even food that cannot be distributed is put to good use. Community Action House reports that unusable food is composted through Eighth Day Farm, a Holland nonprofit urban farm that also grows food for the community. Eighth Day says it grows food that nourishes people locally and in 2025 donated $11,700 worth of produce, plants, and compost to food pantries, kitchens, and community or educational gardens. It is a powerful local cycle: rescued food feeds families, scraps become compost, and compost helps grow more food for neighbors in need. (communityactionhouse.org)
The Holland Rotary After Hours Club may be modest in size, but at the Food Club it demonstrates something important: service does not have to be large to be transformative. Sometimes it looks like sorting produce, stocking shelves, greeting guests at checkout, and quietly helping a community care for its own.
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