As the chill in the air becomes more pronounced, the East Moline - Silvis Rotary Club is gearing up for another heartwarming season of their Coats for Kids program. It's that time of the year when we come together to support the young members of our community, ensuring that they stay warm and cozy during the winter months.

In the midst of collecting donations and procuring winter coats, our Rotary Club is committed to making a significant difference in the lives of children in the East Moline and Silvis schools.

This year, the need for warm coats has increased, and we're stepping up to meet that need head-on.

Get the program details here. 

 

On February 6^th, 20 members of our club began the visioning process.  It is designed to help our club create a vision and discover the steps necessary to achieve that vision. Club visioning brought together a good cross-section of our membership from the newest to the most experienced Rotarian. The process will use the talents and life experience within our club to develop a vision and goals reflecting our club’s membership. The challenge during the process was to gather many ideas and opportunities for the future from the group. To make sure that all of it could be accomplished within a limited time frame, the club visioning event was run by James Prather  from the Quad Cities IL Club and Don Ahrendsen from Ottawa.  The facilitators have been well-trained in a specific process to help the club bring out the best thinking. The facilitation team did not suggest or promote projects.

This is not a strategic planning process. However, it does provide wonderful material that can be used to either help review an existing club’s strategic plan or help in the development of such a plan at a later time. By the end of the four-hour process, our club started the process of having a clearer vision of the following:

• What the club stands for in the community;
• The club’s target membership size in five years;
• Identification of the club’s attributes;
• Top three objectives for each avenue of service; and
• Ways to improve the club’s leadership development.

The key thing to remember is that the visioning process is designed to make sure that it is our club members who are providing the input and deciding the goals, objectives, and action steps that we want to take in order to realize the vision that we have created for ourselves as a Rotary Club in their community.

President Dolleslager will recap the information that was gathered at a Club Assembly in the end of February  or March.  (Date to be determined.)

 If you would like to make a donation to the Rotary Foundation, click on the image above and it will link you to Member Access.  Once you have given your password, you can make a contribution or you can check your contribution history.  Your contribution can help prevent and treat disease, fight global poverty, and promote peace and literacy worldwide.

 

This month we hosted Job Shadow Day where UTHS Interact Students were mentored for a day by EM-Sil Rotarians and other Business Professionals in the area. The following participated:
1st Row – L to R: Jennifer VanWatermeulen, Jessi Tapia, Breanna Descourouez, Katie Johnson, Lexi Thomson, Gocal Nicoue & Laura Burrill
2nd Row - L to R: Jamie VanWatermeulen, Brooke Prior, Garrett Morgensen, Kaitlyn DePoorter, Sydnee Vallejo, Sara Gillespie, Nico Moreno, Alonso Ochoa, Abraham Salvador & Diego Ulloa
3rd Row - L to R: Bryce Verlinden, Mario Peterson, Levi Perry, Dustin Bartz, Matt Osborne, Ben Jackson, Sean O’Reilly & Katie James

Thanks to President Morrow, Jim Hughes, Angie Ashcraft and Susan Rosenthal for setting up all the appointments.

The Literacy Committee extended an invitation to local author, Gary Metivier and news anchor at KWQC-TV 6.  Gary discussed his book titled ''Saluting Grandpa'', saying: ''The next generation needs to know the realities of what our veterans have done so our country can be free.  That sacrifice and service is part of the fabric of our country, and it must be remembered and talked about among generations.''  He wrote the book, however, to raise money for the local Honor Flight program.  He got his inspiration from Andy Tolliver, a local veteran from Hampton who participated in the Honor Flight but was not willing to share his WWII experiences.  After Andy came home from the Honor Flight, to Gary's surprise, Andy shared his story with him.  From Andy's stories, Gary created "Saluting Grandpa".  
A special thanks to Tom Klingbiel for purchasing Gary's book so that we can donate it to one of our libraries.

 It ain't nothin' till I call it.

What does a mama bear on the pill have in common with the World Series? No cubs. 

April 27-29
District Conference
Dixon Historic Center, Dixon, IL. 61021 

To learn how you can become a member, click below:
http://www.clubrunner.ca/Portal/SitePages/SitePage.aspx?cid=6994&pid=98756