Latest News
2023 Big Daddy Duck Sales Underway
 
The annual Rotary Club of Rockford’s Big Daddy Duck fundraiser is kicking off this week and ducks are starting to flock into town for the big event. Rotarians are busy visiting local businesses to sell and drop off ducks for the Big Daddy Duck festivities that take place as part of the Rockford Chamber of Commerce’s 54th Annual Start of Summer Celebration, June 8-11, 2023.
 
The cost to purchase a duck is still $100 and all money received through this fundraiser is used to support the many projects of the Rockford Rotary Club in our community. Families are also encouraged to purchase a duck for a chance to win prizes in one of four contests:  Most Popular Duck by online voting, Prettiest Duck by monetary voting in the club’s Feed a Duck, Feed a Child campaign for hand2hand, plus fastest and slowest duck in the big river race on June 10 at 5 pm at the dam.
 
To order a duck, visit the www.rockfordmirotary.club and click on the “I Want A Duck” on the forms page or by calling 616-443-8110.
 
Rockford Brewing Company was the first business to receive their 2023 duck. Pictured are employees Leah T and Tyler accepting their duck for this year's contests.
Pints for Polio - Eradicating Polio One Pint At A Time
 
Thanks to everyone who came to our fist annual Pints for Polio Event at the Rockford Brewing Company. 

We were able to collect $620 dollars which will be matched by the Gates Foundation 2:1 in the fight against polio.  Through the generosity of our sponsor and evening host, Rockford Brewing Company and direct donations, we will be able to vaccinate 620 children against this disease. Each vaccination costs approximately $3.00 to administer.  There are only two countries in the world, Afghanistan and Pakistan, that still report wild polio cases so we are close to eradicating this disease.
Rockford Rotary Annual Chicken BBQ Great Success!
The annual Rockford Harvest Festival Chicken BBQ was again a great success!  People began lining up early after whiffing the delicious smell of the specially seasoned chicken as it was being prepared on the Green Egg grills outside the Rotary Pavilion.  Special THANK YOU to Herman’s Boy for donating their special seasoning for the chicken and coffee.
  
Proceeds from the BBQ are used for various Rotary projects in the Rockford Community. Projects include: promoting literacy with Little Free Libraries and Reading Rocks, helping students in need at Rockford High School with the STRIVE program, offering two college scholarships each year to Rockford High School Interact students, supporting the Life Leadership program each June to develop young leaders (high school juniors), contributing to the stage at Garden Club Park, contributing to the renovation of the Rotary Pavilion, supporting Shop With a Hero each fall, supporting Ukrainian Refugees with Rotary Rocks for Shelter Box and more. 
 
Plans are already underway for the 2023 BBQ and the Club looks forward to seeing everyone again in the fall!  Thank you to all who support our fund raisers!  We really appreciate you!
2022 Big Daddy Duck Winners
 
 
The 2022 Start of Summer Big Daddy Duck Race is in the history books!  Thank you to everyone who supported this annual fundraiser for the Rotary Club of Rockford.
 
Winners:  Decorated ducks had the opportunity to win 4 different contests: Most Popular by online voting; Prettiest by who collected the most money in donations; Fastest and Slowest in the river race.
 
Most Popular:  Graff Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram - Rockford won the most popular duck title for 2022 with 3216 votes!  That is a new record!  JH Nicholson collected more than 1900 votes for second place. Andrus Architecture was third with 1301 votes.  Thank you everyone for voting! 
 
Prettiest Duck:  Integrity Tax Group - Rockford who collected $102 for Hand2Hand. The total amount collected from all the ducks of $770 was matched by an anonymous donor. THANK YOU!
 
Fastest Duck:  Ila and Lucille
 
Slowest Duck:  Venman's Plant Service
 
Name the Duck Contest:  Momma duck's official name is now Mrs. Bella Quackers!  Congratulations to Denise Hibbard (first name) and Caitlin Brechting (last name) who submitted the winning name.
 
Special "Thank You" to these downtown businesses who hosted ducks for the online voting contest: Edge Barbershop, Edward Jones - Eva Trudell, GLIKs, Pump House, ComforCare Homecare Services and Aunt Candy's.
 
We hope to see you at Start of Summer 2023! 
Rotary Participates in Rockford Expo
The Rockford Rotary participated in the Rockford Community Expo on Saturday March 19th.  It was a fun day. Many small ducks and candy were distributed along with a few Rotary branded tape measures.  We also gave away between 150 and 200 books to kids as we  continue to promote literacy in our community. As part of the Expo we held a raffle just for fun.  We drew names and gave the winners a choice of $25 in Rockford cash or (4) meal tickets for our Rotary Chicken BBQ in September.  The winners of the drawing were:  Chris Melton, Holly Fiser and Brittany Gemke. 
 
We have notified the winners, but if for some reason you did not get our message, please call Erik Luxhoj at 920.850.0543.  Thank you! 
 
Thank you also to everyone who stopped by our booth, took some candy, chatted with us and entered the raffle.  We enjoyed talking to you!
 
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