The Northern Illinois Food Bank (NIFB) started in 1983, when Sister Rosemarie Burian had a vision of bringing people together to solve the problem of hunger. She found people who shared that commitment, and they worked together to start Bethlehem Center, which later became Northern Illinois Food Bank. From humble beginnings, that team, many other leaders, staff and volunteers since then, have innovated again and again toward the goal of ensuring everyone in Northern Illinois has the food they need to thrive. There is more work to be done to achieve that goal! We are all neighbors, and we can each work toward Sister Rosemarie’s vision of a hunger-free community!

     At Northern Illinois Food Bank, we focus on delivering food and healthy eating services to the Northern Illinois community. As part of the national Feeding America network, we serve our neighbors in 13 counties by providing 250,000 meals per day.

     Kathy Is a retired Clinical Social Worker having had a private practice for many years.  She is married to Bob and has two stepsons and 5 awesome grandchildren. 

     Kathy will talk about the history of the Rockford Reads program and we will hear from some Rockford Reads volunteer readers about the joy they get from just reading to 2nd graders.

    This will be an interesting and informative program especially for some of our newer members and also a refresher course for our members who have been around for a long time.  You will also want to bring a guest or prospective member so they can see one of our important community projects. 

     Bob Presman who was one of the founders of Rockford Reads will introduce Kathy and might share his experiences reading to the children.  

Hello Rockford Rotarians,

 

     Thank you again to our own Bob Pressman for an excellent presentation.

 

     Don't forget to register for Downtown at Dusk on Thursday and bring potential future Rotarians.

 

     Remember, YOU are the magic of Rotary, share that magic with the world.

 

Thank you

 

 

 

Basic Responsibilities – Serve as project organizer/coordinator for other club service projects such as the following:  providing a meal for guests at Carpenters Place or the Veterans Drop In Center, including determining date(s) to provide a meal, buying the food, publicizing the volunteer opportunity and getting club members to sign up to help with serving the food.

 

Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful in conjunction with the Environmental and Sustainability committee - coordinate and get volunteers for a collection event (could be done on a continuing basis).  

 

 

 

CONTACT for more info or to take on coordination of one of these projects – Becky Rundquist, becky.rundquist@gmail.com

 

 

There are a number of parts of the whole.  This may involve a few meetings to be determined by those who want to be involved. 

 

     First, we need a good pool of candidates. According to program rules, candidates must be nominated by a member of the Club. Only a few may be Rotarians themselves. The rest must be from the Rockford community. If you want to help, please talk to the nonprofit organizations with which you are familiar. Who are the outstanding volunteers in their organizations? Let’s see how wide we can cast this net. Try to include both large organizations along with smaller ones.

     When we have compiled a good number of applications, there needs to be a committee to review the applications and select the winners. For those who nominate a successful candidate, they will do the introduction at the awards ceremony.

     The applications for both individual candidates and the Mary Stuart Carruthers award are available on our website. Look under the Membership tool bar near the top of the home page.

 

 

     Third, we need volunteers to plan and run the lunch and program on March 13, 2025 which includes many individual elements such as:

 

     Determining & Executing Program Elements.  Like last year for the ceremony, Mayor McNamara was invited to attend, say a few words, and hand out the awards.

 

 

 

     Track of reservations so we have enough food.

 

 

 

     CONTACT for more info or to take on one of these pieces of this event – Dave Byrnes,   david.byrnes941@gmail.com

 

 

     Yes, this volunteer position is in preparation for becoming Club President next year.  There ia a conference you would attend to train for the President’s position, learning about Rotary International and Rotary Districts and how our Club works within that structure. 

     If you’ve ever even thought about this as a possibility please talk to Mike Foreman, Pete Rundquist, Eric Moe, Linda Johnson, or any of our other previous Club Presidents and they can give you insight into what would be involved.       This is a great opportunity for anyone looking to serve the community and further your leadership skills at the same time. 

 

 

We concentrate our efforts in order to maximize our local and global impact. Our most successful and sustainable projects and activities tend to address these causes, and all The Rotary Foundation Weekly Messages (August 2022) humanitarian projects, scholars, and vocational training teams funded by The Rotary Foundation’s global grants work toward specific goals in these areas of focus:

 

     • Peacebuilding and conflict prevention: Rotary encourages conversations to foster understanding within and across cultures. We train adults and young leaders to prevent and mediate conflict and help refugees who have fled dangerous areas.

 

     • Disease prevention and treatment: We educate and equip communities to stop the spread of life-threatening diseases like polio, HIV/AIDS, and malaria. We improve and expand access to low-cost and free health care in developing areas.

 

     • Water, sanitation, and hygiene: We support local solutions to bring clean water, sanitation, and hygiene to more people. We share our expertise and work alongside community leaders and educators to make sure our projects succeed in the long term.