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2025 Duck Fundraiser

Get Ready for the 2025 Rotary Club Duck Fundraiser!!!

Movie Time is Here!

Join us for our annual duck fundraiser, where creativity meets fun! For just $100, you can purchase a duck and decorate it for a chance to win the coveted titles of Prettiest Duck, Most Popular Duck, Fastest Duck and Slowest Duck in Rockford. This year's theme is Movie Time, so get your creative juices flowing and show us your best movie-inspired designs!

Anyone Can Buy a Duck!

Whether you're an individual or a business, everyone is welcome to participate. Visit https://rockfordmirotary.club/wantaduck/ to secure your duck today!

Support a Great Cause!

All proceeds from this event will go towards supporting the many projects of the Rockford Rotary Club, benefiting our community and beyond.

Let's Make This Year's Event Unforgettable!

Share with friends and family to spread the word. We can't wait to see your movie-themed masterpieces!

Rockford High School Rotary Interact Club Sponsors Bag Decorating

Help spread 100,000 Smiles Across West Michigan!

The Rockford High School Rotary Interact Club and Kent District Library-Krause Memorial Branch are teaming up to help Kids' Food Basket reach their goal of collecting 100,000 decorated brown bags in the month of October and need YOUR help!

Visit the Krause Memorial Library and take plain bags home between October 21-25 to decorate
Return your decorated bags by October 26
What you’ll need: Crayons or markers
What to skip: Avoid using paint, glitter, feathers or stickers as they can come off in the food that will be placed into the bag

**Please keep in mind that many Sack Suppers will be going to public schools and therefore cannot contain religious or political messages.

Kids’ Food Basket provides 7,000 Sack Suppers to students in Kent County DAILY! Sack suppers are nutritious, ready-to-eat evening meals delivered right to a school or community site. Each month RHS Interact Club members volunteer at Kids' Food Basket to help prepare and pack sack suppers. These meals help ensure children have access to the healthy food they need to thrive.

Join the challenge and help spread 100,000 smiles across West Michigan!

2024 Harvest Festival Chicken BBQ

Rotary Chicken BBQ - THANK YOU!

Thank you to everyone that helped support the Rotary Chicken BBQ at Rockford's 48th Annual Harvest Festival this year! Hundreds of chicken dinners were sold at this annual event.

The Rotary Club of Rockford Michigan uses the proceeds to help fund their community projects. Upcoming projects and partnerships include:

Renovations to Rotary Park to enhance the recent addition of the all-inclusive playground equipment to continue to make this a family friendly park
Reading Rocks in Rockford to provide new books to kids to fulfill the club's commitment to help students improve their reading proficiency
Expansion plans for the Krause Memorial Library
Local Eagle Scout projects
And many more!

Rotary Youth Exchange

APPLICATIONS NOW ACCEPTED FOR 2025-26 SCHOOL YEAR

The Rotary Club of Rockford is excited to again be part of the Rotary Youth Exchange for the 2025-26 school year!

This is a three-year program for students living in the Rockford Public School District. Year one is spent preparing for exchange with a series of learning conferences, year two is the exchange year, and year three is the "rebound" year which includes a conference to debrief from the exchange experience and re-acclimate to home culture.

Cost for the program participants is approximately $8,000.00. Youth will be staying with a Rotarian family in their host country which helps keep the cost affordable to families.

To apply, click on the link to complete the application for the 2025-26 school year. Students applying must have been born after February 1, 2007 and before February 1, 2010. Applications due by September 18, 2024

Questions? Contact Jon Loux rockfordrotarytreasurer@gmail.com

3rd Annual Rotary Rocks for ShelterBox

Fundraiser for ShelterBox Ready for August 20

The Rotary Club of Rockford hosted the 3rd annual Rotary Rocks for ShelterBox at the beautiful Garden Club Park next to the dam in downtown Rockford, Michigan on Tuesday, August 20, 2024.

ShelterBox works to support communities in crisis. Right now, over 100 million people around the world have been made homeless by disaster and conflict. ShelterBox is working to change this. By providing emergency shelter and tools for families robbed of their homes by disaster, ShelterBox and Rotary are transforming despair into hope.Their goal is to see a world where no family is left without shelter after disaster.

Since 2012, ShelterBox and Rotary have been official Project Partners in disaster relief.

Donations collected at the event and from sponsors totaled over $5,000! Donations are still be accepted! Scan the QR code to donate securely online or by check made payable to Rockford Rotary Club, PO Box 347, Rockford, MI 49341 with ShelterBox noted on memo line.

Photo credit: Paul Jensen

The Reverend Jesse Ray, known for his unique Americana Rock and Roots sound, kicked off the evening of music. Photo credit: Anna Sink

Roosevelt Diggs

Rockford Rotary President Derek Reed presented ShelterBox Rep Bill Tobin with a check reflecting funds from the 2023 event.

Roosevelt Diggs closed the evening and invited Rockford's own Sean Krampe to join them on stage as lead singer for one song.

2024 Jim Tol Memorial Duck Race Awards Luncheon

Winning Duck Sponsors Honored at Luncheon

The Most Popular Duck, by online voting,was awarded to Dependable Fire Protection. Their winning Duck was designed by Peyton Gaylord, daughter of the owner. Joining her to accept the award were Abbie and Afton Scott and Anne Gaylord. Presenting the award were Rotarian Duck Committee Co-Chairs Erik Luxhoj and Bill Knape.

Great Lakes Hospital for Animals captured the award for Prettiest Duck with monetary voting in the "Feed a Duck, Feed a Child" campaign by visitors to our Start of Summer booth. Their duck raised $58 to beat out their 163 decorated competitors at this year's event. Accepting the award are Grace Freels, MiKayla Johanson, Courtney Roberts, Courtney Bohlinger, and Rylee Roberts.

A total of $600 was collected at the "Feed a Duck, Feed a Child" fundraiser for Hand2Hand. An additional $500 donation was made by an anonymous community member to bring the total to $1,100 for the group. Hand2Hand works to combat weekend hunger for local Rockford students.

Traveling trophies and certificates were awarded to each winner in 4 categories. Taking honors in the big river race were Re/Max United-Rockford as the fastest duck and Edward Jones-Chris Carlson as the slowest duck.

2024 Fastest & Slowest Duck

2024 Big Daddy Duck Race

Congratulations to the winners of the 2024 Big Daddy Duck Race! Fastest Duck honors go to Re/Max United.

The Slowest Duck award winner is Chris Carlson of Edward Jones.

Thank you to all the businesses and individuals who supported this year's event!

2024 Most Popular Duck Crowned!

2024 Most Popular Duck Contest

Voting for the 2024 Most Popular Duck in Rockford ended at 8 p.m. on Friday June 7th. Congratulations to the winner of this year's title for Most Popular Duck in Rockford: Dependable Fire Protection! They captured the title with 4086 votes! That is almost 1000 votes more than last year's winner (ChoiceOne). You can view the complete voting results here: VOTING RESULTS PAGE. You can view the decorated ducks online here: DECORATED DUCKS PAGE. And you can view the ducks in person at these businesses in downtown Rockford: Gliks, Edward Jones-Aimee Ohlman, Ila & Lucille, The Edge, Everywear, The Local Basket Case, and Farmers Insurance. There are also ducks on display at Rockford Barber Shop.

Big Daddy Duck Race 2024

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR DUCK

https://rockfordmirotary.club/wantaduck/

For more information, email eluxhoj@luxhojconsulting.com or call Erik 920-850-0543

Can Drive to Support Local Youth

2nd Annual Pints for Polio

Join the fun this World Polio Day
as we partner with
ROCKFORD BREWING COMPANY for the
2nd Annual Pints for Polio!

When: Tuesday, October 24

Time: 11 am - 9:30 pm

GET YOUR NAME ON THE SUPER HERO WALL OF FAME!

You can be a Super Hero by joining in the fight to Eradicate Polio! Get you name on the wall of fame with your donation

PAINT THE DAY PURPLE!

Rockford High School students and advisors will be on hand from 3-9 pm for the Purple Pinkie Project! For a minimum of $1 donation, have your pinkie nail painted purple in solidarity with children around the world who are being immunized against Polio.
Only 2 countries have a wild polio endemic - Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Each dollar received to END POLIO will be matched 2:1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation! Where else can your dollar make a life changing affect on a child's life? DONATE TODAY!

Rotary Chicken BBQ September 22-23, 2023

It's September and that means Rockford's 47th Annual Harvest Fest is just around the corner.

Once again the Rotary Club of Rockford Michigan will be serving a delicious BBQ Chicken Dinner at the Rotary Pavilion on Friday, September 22 and Saturday, September 23.

For only $13, the meal includes1/2 BBQ chicken, potato salad, baked beans, roll/butter and beverage of your choice (pop, water bottle, coffee).

Serving times 11:30 am - 6:30 pm each day (or until we run out of food!)

Drive up service available in front of the Rotary Pavilion on Courtland Drive.

Tickets available from any Rotarian or place your request at rockfordmirotary@gmail.com

Support Rockford Rotary Club at Jeep Night

JEEP Night August 31 Benefits the Rockford Rotary Club

45 Jeeps attended at the celebration of the Jeep Lifestyle and community event at Flo's Woodfire Pizzeria to kick off the long Labor Day holiday weekend.

The evening's goal was to bring the Jeep community together for drinks and food while giving back to the community. Flo's donated $5 to the Rockford Rotary Club for every Jeep in attendance for a total of $225! Rockford Rotary members were able to share our club's activities and provided dashboard ducks for all in attendance.

Rotary Rocks for ShelterBox Music Festival

Rotary Rocks for ShelterBox Music Festival a Success!

Thank you to everyone that attended this 2nd annual event held August 22, 2023 at beautiful Garden Club Park. The evening was perfect for listening to the great sounds of:

- Jack Droppers and the Best Intentions
- Low Phase
- Roosevelt Diggs

Fan favorite Roosevelt Diggs won the band competition by garnering the highest number of "votes" via donations for the night. But the big winner was ShelterBox, an international disaster-relief organization. The event raised over $3,100!

Donations are still accepted for ShelterBox at https://juke.band/event/rotaryrocks

For more information visit: https://www.facebook.com/RotaryRocksRockford

75th Anniversary Community Celebration

A Ribbon Cutting at the newly remodeled Rotary Pavilion was held on July 11, 2023. The Pavilion is a central meeting place in downtown Rockford and hosts several events each year. Thank you to the Rockford Chamber of Commerce and it's members for their support of the Rockford Rotary Club and their participation in the event. Following the ribbon cutting, community members also joined in to help our club celebrate our 75th Anniversary of serving strong in Rockford and around the world by enjoying cool treats and prizes by spinning the prize wheel.

Welcome New President Wendell Wilson

Welcome 2023-24 Rockford Rotary Club President Wendell Wilson.

We look forward to his leadership as we continue to serve not only the community of Rockford but worldwide as part of Rotary International.

Congratulations to our Duck Contest Winners

And the winners of the 2023 Big Daddy Duck Contests are . . .

Prettiest Duck: The Tilted Tulip (monetary voting for hand2hand)

Most Popular: Choice One Bank (online voting)

Fast Duck in River Race: Subway - Algoma Avenue

Slowest Duck in River Race: Altr'd Thread Co.

Thank-you to everyone in our community that helped make this a fun, successful event!

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 54^th 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!

Rockford Rotary joins with Rockford Lions to Support RHS Band

Rockford Community Can Drive to benefit the Rockford High School Marching Band

Event coordinator/contact: Deb Davis, Rockford Lions Club member, 616-723-1178

What: Rockford Community Can Drive

When: Saturday, February 19, 2022 - 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Where: Parking lot at Great Lakes Ace Hardware

643 Northland Dr NE, Rockford, MI 49341

Why: The can collection trailers for the Rockford Lions, Rockford Rotary and the Rockford High School Band were all robbed on Saturday, February 12, Monday, February 14 and Tuesday, February 15 (Three different locations; multiple robberies each day)

The Rockford Lions and the Rockford Rotary are teaming up to host this can drive to benefit the Rockford High School Band in replacing their lost revenue from the robberies. The Band is gearing up for a trip to the Rose Bowl Parade in 10 months and we want to give the Rockford community the opportunity to help us turn this negative incident into a positive event!

Community members are invited to drive through the drop off area between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. and volunteers from the Lions, the Rotary and the Rockford High School Band will be on hand to accept their donations of returnable cans and bottles.

Spokespersons for the Rockford Lions, and the Rockford High School Band and Boosters will be available for comments at the event and prior. Please contact Deb Davis for further information.

Please note: While the owners of Great Lakes Ace Hardware are supporting this effort with the use of their property for this event, no spokesperson will be available regarding this event. Thank you for your attention to this detail.

Rockford Rotary Kicks off 2022 Duck Race

We kicked off sales for our 2022 Duck Race February 8th. The duck race will take place at the dam in downtown Rockford at the Start of Summer Celebration on June 11th. Race time is 5 p.m. The ducks will be displayed in downtown business windows starting May 31st with online voting for the most popular duck starting the same day. Trophies will be awarded for the Most Popular Duck (online), the Prettiest Duck (most money in the jar at the booth) and Fastest and Slowest duck (river race). If you are interested in purchasing a duck for this year's race, you can sign up HERE.

Last year 206 area businesses decorated ducks. We are shooting for 325 this year, so sign up now and get to work on that duck!

Prettiest, Fastest and Slowest Ducks

We had a great duck race weekend. Thank you for everyone who came out and watched the race, voted on ducks, enjoyed the duck shoot and was able to visit our free book giveaway. We had fun interacting with all of you. The parade was a lot of fun as well! Thank you also to all the businesses that sponsored a duck. The duck race would literally not happen without you. Thank you!

Rockford Rotary to Giveaway Books at SOS 2021

Promoting literacy is very important to our club. We started Reading Rocks in Rockford and normally have our Hook a Book tent at that event to giveaway age appropriate children's books. Reading Rocks was not able to be held this year due to COVID. In lieu of that event, we will be giving away free age appropriate books to kids at our booth at Start of Summer. Please stop by our booth (in front of the Rockford Hemp Co in downtown Rockford), vote for the duck you think is the prettiest (drop some money in a jar to help your duck win), participate in the duck shoot and have your child draw a duck to win a free book (everyone is a winner). We look forward to seeing you on June 12th!

Rockford Rotary Helps Plant Trees in Memorial Park

On May 1, 2021, Rockford Rotary helped other volunteers and the City of Rockford plant 27 trees in Memorial Park behind the Community Cabin in Downtown Rockford. The tree planting is in celebration of Arbor Day and is in line with the City's ongoing sustainability program.

Rockford Rotary 2021 Big Daddy Duck Race

We have been selling Big Daddy Ducks throughout the spring and have close to 200 entries for the 2021 race. We will race the ducks this year on Saturday June 12th @ 5pm as part of the Start of Summer festivities. It will start at the dam in Rockford and end in Richardson-Sowerby Park on the other side of the bridge. Please come down and see the race. It is always a lot of fun, and it is something that you don't see very often (large rubber ducks - many of which are decorated in all different ways - floating down the river). Come see the ducks before the race as well. We will display them all day on the 12th. You can pick a favorite duck and vote for it with money. The duck with the most money in its jar at the end of the day will win a trophy for the Prettiest Duck in Rockford. Look for announcements on this website and our facebook page about voting online for each duck. Online voting starts on May 31st. We will award trophies for the fastest and slowest ducks in the river race. Any person or family or business can enter the race. To enter the race, you need to make a donation of $100 to Rockford Rotary. It is still not too late to purchase a duck. If you would like to purchase one, simply fill out our duck request form HERE. We will get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you for supporting Rockford Rotary!

Rockford Rotary Can Drive Nets Big Check for City - Thank you Rockford!


	Due to the generous support by the Rockford community of the Rotary Club of Rockford’s fundraiser, Rotarians Jim Tol, President and Erik Luxhoj, Secretary were able to present a check for $30,000 to Rockford City Manager Thad Beard and Mayor Ed Ross to help fund the new Stage at Garden Park.