There will be an election of Directors for Rockford Rotary at our June 5th meeting.  We will be electing 3 members to serve a 2-year term as Director starting July 1, 2025.  The following members, in alphabetical order have announced their intention to run for this election: Tom Huber, Brian Martin, and Suzanne Shelain.  Those three will be on the ballot unless more candidates come forward.  There will also be a chance to nominate more candidates at the meeting.

     In order for the election to be held, a quorum of 1/5 of the active members must be present to vote.  This means that we need 19 members to show up on June 5th and vote.  Our by-laws say that we must vote by ballot so there cannot be a simple voice vote.  We encourage our members to show up and vote for these directors who will be leading the club for the next two years. 

     Our May 29th meeting will be a road trip to the new Equine Center at Lockwood Park at 5201 Safford Road.  The meeting will begin at 12:00 AM.  We will have lunch, a brief business meeting, and a program on "Help and Healing with Horses".  Following the program, we will be able to tour the indoor equine facility.  For those who want to carpool, meet at Memorial Hall at 11:30 AM and then go to the Equine Center.

     Our presenter will be Kayla Tilly who is the operations and program manager at Lockwood Park. She has a bachelor's degree in nursing with a focus in mental health and emergency medicine and am a veteran of the United States Army. Kayla took my first horseback riding lesson at Lockwood Park when she was around 8 years old and continued to ride and train recreationally throughout my childhood and into adulthood. She has taught therapeutic riding lessons to veterans and individuals with physical disabilities and has always advocated for the therapeutic nature and profound impact horses can have on people. In my spare time she also enjoys training and showing my 5-year-old horse Nellie, gardening, hiking, fishing, and enjoying the outdoors.

     This will be an interesting and informative program about this new facility of the Rockford Park District.  We would encourage members to bring a guest or prospective member to join us at Lockwood Park.  Mary Ann Norwood will introduce our presenter and act as Rotary Host. 

 

     Angela Kay Larson is a proven business leader, strategist, and marketing professional with a recognized talent for building collaborative working relationships and driving execution through leadership, coaching, and team dynamics - all toward translating business strategy into action.  Angela has experience in several sectors including manufacturing, non-profit, tourism, economic development, healthcare, and agriculture.

     Before joining the Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce in August 2024, Angela served clients through her consulting firm, Grindstone Strat3egic.  Prior to that she served as Vice President of Marketing for Woods Equipment Company, a Division of Oregon Tool where she was responsible for new product initiatives, pricing optimization, channel communication, brand awareness, and facilitation of overall business strategy.

     Earlier in her career, Angela served as Director of Marketing for SwedishAmerican Health System, now UW Health.  Currently, Angela is Chairman of the Board of German American Bank, a Foresight Financial Bank, and serves on the board of Hargrove Association Insights, a research and collective intelligence firm.

     Angela is married to a fourth-generation farmer and lives on a farmstead in the rolling hills of Pecatonica.

     Angela will bring us up to date on what is happening at the Greater Rockford Chamber of Commerce and what she sees in the future for the organization.  This will be an informative program and one you will want to bring a guest or prospective member to join us in person at Memorial Hall or via Zoom.  Suzanne Shelain will introduce our presenter and act at Rotary host.

 

 

     On May 15th, nine members of our club assembled at the Rockford Family Peace Center for our annual planting of flowers in the flower beds in front of the center.  Thank you, Mike, Eric, Paul, Suzanne, Mary Ann, Mary, Becky, Pete and Tom for your effort to make the Peace Center a bit more beautiful.  We have heard from the Peace Center that they get a lot of compliments on the flower beds.