Wenatchee High School Interact Club Feeds The Unhoused at Wenatchee Rescue Mission
Five members of the Rotary-affiliated club fed more than 100 unhoused folks dinner on Jan. 31, a day after WRM staff saved a man's life with Naloxone
On Wednesday, Jan. 31 a group of five Wenatchee High School students and Interact Club members served dinner to more than 100 unhoused folks at the Wenatchee Rescue Mission in South Wenatchee.
It was Delany Micesell’s first time serving at the WRM, and it was an eye-opening experience for her.
“One of my biggest takeaways was just kind of coming to the realization that these people are just like – they have lives, they have stories. They’re not just people on the street,” she said.
Interact is a youth service club affiliated with Rotary International, and each club has a Rotary mentor. The WHS Interact club has about 25 members, and its mentor is Rotarian and community volunteer Laurie Flarity-White.
Flarity-White said the folks the students served were all kind and grateful, and enjoyed seeing some fresh faces. They even gave some “sage advice,” she said.
Without Naloxone and the quick actions of WRM staff, there would have been one less person at that dinner. On Jan. 28, one of the folks the WRM serves overdosed on an opioid-based drug and would have died without the life-saving medication and the WRM staff member who administered it in time, WRM Executive Director Scott Johnson said.
“…Our staff saw the guy, gave him Narcan and brought him back,” he said. “And he’s in here eating with us tonight.”
Johnson said it’s the third overdose death they have prevented using the drug in the last month.
You can hear Micesell’s account and learn how much the experience meant to her in this short video I produced featuring an interview with her, Flarity-White and Johnson here:
If you would like to learn more about the Wenatchee Rescue Mission and perhaps support their work, here’s a link to their website.
If you would like to learn more about the Interact Club and our local Rotary clubs that support it, here’s a link to Wenatchee Rotary’s website.
Powerful. When we interact we learn so much: from anyone.