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The Freeport-Merrick Rotary Club has lived by one slogan for more than 75 years: service above self. And this still resonates as the group continues to save lives of those from underprivileged communities.

In fact, Rotary members had a chance to see that firsthand when two people who directly benefited from the group’s Gift of Life program met at a meeting last month. And they’re not just any Gift of Life beneficiaries — they’re the first and the most recent.

Grace Agwaru of Uganda, was the Gift of Life’s first patient back in 1975. Thalissa Raymond, 9, of Haiti, was No, 40,000.

On Aug. 14, Haiti — the Caribbean island nation ravaged by an earthquake in 2010 — was struck again by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake. With more than 130,000 buildings destroyed, more than 12,000 injuries, and close to 2,500 deaths, it is the deadliest natural disaster of 2021 so far. Relief efforts were immediate in providing help to the communities affected, many of them rural and poverty stricken.

The Freeport-Merrick Rotary Club, which has many members who are Haitian, was among the many to join the relief efforts. Having already held one successful drive, the club is still accepting donations, and has described their efforts as “ongoing.”

“The first portion of the drive has been completed,” Rotary Club member Jordan Pecora told the Herald. Pecora is the head of the club’s membership committee and  their public image committee.

For more than 75 years, the Freeport-Merrick Rotary has lived by one motto: “Service above self.” And although the pandemic has hindered the club’s usual fundraising efforts, members have continued to extend a helping hand to those who need it most.

“It’s a small club . . . but we do what we can with what we have,” said Vice President Marc Rigueur.

For 75 years, the Freeport-Merrick Rotary Club has lived by its motto, “Service above self.” 

But the Rotary has faced many obstacles since the coronavirus pandemic broke out last March. The organization, which depends on public events for fundraising and community contact, faced dissipating funds and obscurity as large events were canceled and people fell into financial hardship, said club President Florence Marc-Charles, of Queens Village.