Latest News
World Polio Day 2020 - October 24th
Rotary has done an awesome job ALMOST eradicating Polio. It is really, really close to being a thing of the past but there is still more work to do.  Our club will have a small fund raising activity on October 24th.  Stay tuned and watch for us out in Rockford. 
 
Here is a video with 5 ways to eliminate Polio.
 
2020 Chicken BBQ a Great Success
The 2020 Rotary Chicken BBQ was held over the weekend of September 25th/26th.  We didn't know how it would go because of COVID, and the weather is always a huge variable.  Well, everything went really well. The weather was beautiful, the awesome people of Rockford came out and enjoyed the car show, art show and some BBQ chicken downtown.  We cooked over 1000 chicken dinners in two days on our 4 green eggs.  Thank you to everyone who stopped by to encourage us and buy some chicken.  We really appreciate it!  We did run out of meals. For that we apologize.  If you bought a ticket ahead of time but didn't get a meal, please stop by Knape Industries on 10701 Northland Drive in Rockford. We will be happy to refund your ticket. 

Thank you again for all who helped make this year's BBQ a big success! See you next year.
2020 Duck Race - Where to Pick Up Your Duck
Thank you again to everyone who participated in the 2020 Duck Race!  We sold 132 ducks and had a lot of fun selling, displaying and racing them.  Know that your donation and participation in the race helped support important programs in Rockford like STRIVE (high school student mentoring program), the Rotary Pavilion Refurbishing (look for this soon - we are currently finalizing the plans), the High School Interact Club, Shop with a Cop, Hand2Hand (food for at risk kids in our schools), the Life Leadership Program (for young leaders at Rockford High School) and more.  Thank you! We can't wait until next year! 
 
If you want your duck back, please stop by Knape Industries at 10701 Northland Dr. in Rockford to pick it up.  
 
 
2020 Duck Voting
We have a winner! The PJF duck was voted the Most Popular Duck in Rockford! Their duck received 1130 votes which is a ton! Second place went to Choice One Bank with 560 votes. Third place was North Kent Connect duck which just barely edged out Rogue Valley Vet and Gorillatechs. The PJF duck (shown below) will receive a traveling trophy that they can display at their place of business for a year. Thank you everyone who participated! Please come see the ducks race rain or shine on August 8th at 4 p.m. in downtown Rockford at the dam. The ducks will start at the dam and race to Sowersby Park. The race usually takes about 16 minutes, but recent rains could shorten that time. Come out and see all the ducks. Thanks again!
- Rockford Rotary
 
 
You can view some of the decorated ducks here: DECORATED DUCKS GALLERY.   If your duck's picture is not shown, please email it to us at eluxhoj@luxhojconsulting.com.  We will be happy to post it as soon as possible. 
Meeting alert
2020 Duck Race Results
A big thank you to everyone who came downtown to see the duck race on Saturday!  We had a lot of fun, and it was a very close finish.  
 
Here are the results:
Fastest Duck - Car Care Center Cedar Springs - this was an extremely close finish.  Car Care was third with about 60 feet to go. Then the leader (West Michigan Investigations) inexplicably went dead in the water and Care Care caught the current.  The duck touched first and then went under the barrier. We had to lunge for it to stop it from going down river.  It was an exciting finish with a lot of spectators cheering on the ducks.  
Slowest Duck - Sable Homes.  They edged out Heather J. Cadorette's Tiger King duck for last.  
 
The Prettiest Duck in Rockford (determined by the amount of money collected in the duck's donation jar while on display downtown) is Integrity Tax Service's duck.   
 
As previously announced, the PJF duck was voted the Most Popular Duck in Rockford. They are a multi-year winner of that title.  
 
You can see all the ducks and duck winners here:  CLICK.
 
Thanks again for everyone who came down to watch the race, donated and or participated. We had a great time with the event and look forward to a bigger field of ducks next year.  
 
Stay safe!
 
Bottle Return Program
June 2, 2020
Rockford Rotary is holding a Bottle Return project.  If you have returnable bottles and cans in your garage, please consider donating those to our club. We will return the cans and/or bottles and put the money back into the community.
 
 
We will have a semi-trailer setup at Knape Industries at 10701 Northland Dr. NE, Rockford, MI on a future Saturday - please check back here to see when that is. We will collect bottles and cans right before the stores re-open their return centers. You can drop off returnables between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on that date. If you have questions, please call Jim Tol at 616-328-3642 or email him at jetnet1@att.net.  
 
 
Thank you for your support of Rockford Rotary. We look forward to seeing you around town once the lockdown is lifted. Please stay safe and healthy.
All the best – the Rockford Rotary Club
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WHAT WE DO
The Rotary Club of Rockford Michigan sponsors or hosts several events throughout the year. 
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WHAT WE DO
We support several local and international projects throughout the year. 
 
STRIVE
Rockford Rotary sponsors and actively runs a program called STRIVE that pairs adult mentors with senior high school students.  The students are identified by the schools as being in danger of not graduating. Many of them simply need more help and/or an involved adult to get them over the hump and keep them motivated.  We award scholarships to the students for different things like highest GPA, most improvement, etc.  It is a very rewarding experience for mentors and students alike.
 
The Big Daddy Duck Race
Rockford area businesses purchase ducks and decorate them for the race.  We build a float each year and display the ducks in the parade.  We also give out candy which is a lot of fun!  The 10" ducks are on display in our booth at the Start of Summer Celebration in downtown Rockford. People vote for their favorite duck by placing coins or bills in the jar next to it.  We count up the money and award a "prettiest duck" trophy to the winner.  Saturday evening of the Start of Summer Celebration, we put the ducks in the water in front of the dam and race them to Richardson-Sowersby park.  We award a trophy for the "fastest" duck.  The money raised goes to local programs including sponsorship of the summer reading program at Hillview in Rockford. 
 
Reading Rocks in Rockford
Reading Rocks in Rockford started as a Rotary event and we created the event to encourage literacy in our town.  Recently, the Rockford Library has taken over the event and hosts it in early June.  The goal is to get kids excited about reading and to keep them reading all summer.  Authors of children books attend the event and interact with young readers.  We help setup tents the event, and we staff the Hook-a-Book tent each year.  At Hook-a-Book, young readers receive a free book just for throwing their fishing line into the "water" and reeling it back in.  It is a very rewarding service experience for Rotarians.
 
Youth Exchange
Our club supports an inbound and outbound international exchange student - often yearly.  Our current inbound student is from Brazil.  We find host families and support the student any way that we can to enrich both the community's and the student's exchange experience. 
 
Life Leadership Conference
Each year we sponsor 6 or 7 Rockford High School students to attend the Life Leadership Conference sponsored by the Rotary International District 6290.  Students are chosen for their leadership potential and scholarship.  Interviews take place in the spring of each year.  To read more about the conference follow this LINK.
 
POLIO Plus
Rotary International's longtime goal has been to eliminate polio worldwide.  We are in fact very close to doing that LINK. We support the district and international Rotary organization's effort in the fight against polio. 
2020 Duck Race Sponsors
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How to Volunteer as a Senior
Millions of elderly people—those 65 and older—volunteer every year, but given this population is higher than 48 million (and projected to reach 80 million by 2050), there is plenty of room for growth here.