As my year as District Governor comes to a close, I find myself reflecting on one overwhelming feeling: gratitude.

 

Thank you.  Thank you for your passion, your service, your generosity, and your commitment to Rotary. Whether you organized a service project, mentored a student, welcomed a new member, sold raffle tickets, attended a district event, or simply showed up week after week to make your community a little better, you made a difference.

Please join District Governor Melissa McCormick, District Governor-Elect Tina Curtis, and the Rotary Club of Walnut as we celebrate the Installation of District and Club Leaders at Camp Aramoni, hosted at the beautiful Bricks & Stones venue. The morning will include a breakfast gathering, the installation program, and an optional hike through the scenic grounds along the river. We hope you’ll join us for a meaningful celebration of leadership, fellowship, and the year ahead in Rotary. Register

As we approach June 30, now is the time to review your club goals and achievements in Rotary Club Central. Rotary International's Club Excellence Award recognizes clubs that:

 

Set goals in Rotary Club Central
Achieve at least half of those goals
Report their accomplishments by June 30
Remain current on Rotary International invoices

Rotary International has released AI Guidelines for Members, providing guidance on the responsible use of artificial intelligence tools in Rotary communications, marketing, and club operations. As Public Image leaders, we encourage you to review these guidelines and share them with your clubs, especially those using AI tools to create social media content, newsletters, presentations, and promotional materials.

The Rotary Club of Quad Cities Illinois collaborated with Friends of Hauberg Civic Center for the 2025-2026 District Grant. They purchased over 100 apple trees planted April 26, 2026 on the grounds of the historical Rock Island Hauberg Estate. Food insecurity and demand of pantries is a concern. 

ROCK ISLAND, Illinois – Ten individuals and community organizations were recognized by the Rotary Club of Rock Island at its annual awards ceremony during its April 28 meeting. The honorees included students from Alleman Catholic High School, Rock Island High School and Augustana College; the Rock Island-Milan Education Foundation and Modern Woodmen of America; and Rock Island Rotary members Bud Phillips and Sue Rector.

The Fieldcrest Interact Club had a busy 2025-2026 school year.  Some of our short term projects we worked on this year include in September, we worked with the FHS Dance and Volleyball Teams to honor our students who have experienced childhood cancer. Along with both the other organizations, we planned several Go Gold for Childhood Cancer! Activities. This included making Go Gold! packages for all the students in our district with gold ribbons, gold beads and chain links for the students to decorate in honor of students with cancer.

Congrats to all our District EarlyAct, Interact and Rotaract Clubs for your AMAZING Service Above Self ! We annually SHOWCASE projects submitted to us -- and hope to have even MORE next year -- sharing all the great service young leaders and volunteers are able to accomplish to benefit our schools, communities, and our world!

 

Please check out this year's SHOWCASE and share it with your Club, AND your local EarlyAct, Interact and Rotaract leaders! For those Rotary Clubs who do not presently sponsor a Club, be INSPIRED! Our District will help every Rotary Club develop as many youth Clubs as we can -- truly beneficial to ALL concerned!

Our annual Foundation dinner was held on April 21st. Part of the evening includes entertainment that helps drive donations for our matching District grant. 

On Saturday, April 25th, River Cities Rotary along with Riverdale High School Interact, United Township Interact and Moline High School Interact packaged almost 9,000 meals for Kids Against Hunger! Over 70 people worked together to provide nutritious meals for those in need. To date, Riverdale Interact has packaged over 54,000 meals for people around the world.

Mount Carroll Rotary turns 40 on June 30th! To celebrate our anniversary, the club will be catering a meal to our first responders in Mount Carroll. We have invited the Carroll County Sheriff's Department/Carroll County 911 Dispatch Department, Mount Carroll Police, Mount Carroll Fire and Ambulance Departments and Mount Carroll City workers. 

ROCK ISLAND, Illinois — The Rotary Club of Rock Island Foundation has awarded Tapestry Farms $10,500 to make upgrades to an urban urban orchard it purchased last year in Rock Island’s West End. The grant was announced at the club’s weekly meeting on May 12.

The annual Polio Plus auction to benefit Polio Plus yielded recently $5,595, the highest amount ever achieved in the 35 years of club history. Thank you to all members-way to go Kishwaukee Sunrise. As a benefit, the club celebrated member Becky Beck-Ryan as the newest Paul Harris Fellow+1 on July 9, 2026.

The Kishwaukee Sunrise Rotary Club is proud to announce the first of two awardees of our annual Community Grant for Children, Youth and Families (CYF Grant). Started in 2017, the CYF Grant was designed to award grant money to non-profits in the DeKalb County area who have a project aimed at helping children, youth and/or families. Each year the club hosts the "Taste of DeKalb" event in September to raise funds for the grant - always with the goal of raising $10,000. Most years that goal was achieved but this year we were able to award $8,000. Since its inception, our club has awarded over $74,000 to non profits in DeKalb County!

 

Get ready for one of the tastiest competitions of the summer! The Rockton-Roscoe Rotary Club invites Rotarians, family, friends, and community members to the 2026 Rib Fest on Saturday, July 25, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Viking Lanes parking lot in South Beloit (IL).

Five Quad Cities-area organizations have been awarded a combined total of $8,025 in community grants from the Rock Island Rotary club. The grants were presented at the club’s regular weekly meeting on June 2.

The Rotary club of Toluca is very proud to announce the recipients of our 2026 high school senior scholarships. Pru Mangan and Lucas May each received a $1,500 scholarship at the Fieldcrest High School Honors' Night in May. Pru and Lucas are both active members of the Fieldcrest High School Interact Club. 

The Rotary Club of Toluca will be hosting "Beat The Heat Bingo" again this summer. Our goal is to bring community members together for some fun and fellowship, as well as collect donations of paper goods for the Toluca Food Pantry. Each participant is asked to bring up to 4 paper products in exchange for up to 4 Bingo cards.

Saturday, June 6th proved to be perfect weather for Princeton Rotary's 5th annual ShrimpFest & Brew Hullabaloo. Between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m., Rotary Park came alive with grilled and fried shrimp prepared by Rotarians. This year, alligator bites and cheese curds joined the menu and were a hit!