Check Out Our District’s EarlyAct/Interact/Rotaract
Showcase 2018-19 !
Our District can be VERY proud of our FOUR EarlyAct Clubs, TWENTY FOUR Interact Clubs, and soon-to-be THREE Rotaract Clubs – ALL doing amazing things within their schools, community and world! Our District Youth Services Committee invited all clubs to showcase a project for this month’s Newsletter. NINE Clubs responded and are featured here! (click the read more button). Congrats to Ottawa Township HS Interact, Bureau Valley HS Interact and Rochelle Township HS Interact, whose Clubs are selected to each receive a $100.00 award in this round, for use toward your next project! ALL others were truly outstanding as well! Stay tuned for more opportunities to Showcase your Program and to qualify for future awards!
Aquin Interact, sponsored by Freeport Rotary, showcases what a small school (100 students total) can do to have a HUGE impact their community! Aquin Interact's Fall canned food drive collected an amazing amount of food to help those in need, as you can see in this picture!
Keith Country Day Schools Interact Club, sponsored by Loves Park Rotary, held their annual Giving Tree Project during the months of November and December, collecting new and lightly used winter essentials to give as a donation to Rock House Kids, a faith-based charity serving children at risk and in need. The donation this year consisted of 50+ items, which included hats, gloves, scarves, ear muffs, pants, and coats – a project that brings warmth to those in need while also warming the hearts of volunteers and donors as well.
Business is Picking UP in Mendota for Mendota High School Interact Club…
Mendota Rotary President Roger Anderson joined some of Mendota Interact members preparing to pick up liter from ditches on Illinois Route 34 – a project they “take up” each Fall and Spring!
If life hands you apples, make APPLESAUCE! Ottawa-Marseilles Rotary Interact students collected "apple sauce snack packs" for a local program that sends food home with 500 families in need in the area. The Interact students take turns on some Saturday mornings, collecting food and monetary donations outside of a local grocery store.
Putnam County Jr. High Interact Club is barking up the right tree with their collection for Illinois Valley Animal Rescue, IVAR, an area no-kill animal shelter. Their awareness of important causes includes a global effort as well, purchasing a water purification system for a school in Kenya as part of Rock Island Rotary’s LifeStraw initiative. The Club has 70 members out of 198 students at the school. Learning, networking, and making a difference – that’s Service Above Self!
Putnam County High School Interact knows how to “draw” in a crowd! They host two Red Cross blood drives annually, inviting community members and challenging students to donate to help save lives AND earn $250 to $500 in scholarship funds donated by Red Cross based on total units collected at Interact and NHS Blood Drives during the year. The Club drew a total of 24 units in the Fall, and another 23 units in the spring drive, including 15 student donors, 5 of whom were donating for the first time!
The Rochelle Township High School Interact Club created a brand new EarlyAct Club at St. Paul Elementary School, meeting with them once a month to help establish their Club. The EarlyAct Club then helped RTHS Interact to put on the annual Student/Faculty game – a fundraiser that netted $1,300 donated to “Exploit No More,” an organization out of Milwaukee taking action to help end human trafficking. Attached is the picture of the St. Paul EarlyAct Club and the RTHS Interact Club together – now THAT’S INTERACTION!
Sauk Valley Community College is an even MORE beautiful campus thanks to SVCC Rotaract, sponsored by Dixon, Rock Falls, Sterling and Twin Cities Sunrise Rotary Clubs! The Club planted tulip bulbs around campus in the late fall, and actually saw their work blossom this Spring surviving late snows and torrential rains! In the project’s second phase, Rotaract members planted two more shade trees (having planted two others each of the past two years), AND cleaned up garbage and debris along the Sauk River waterfront this Spring!
Waste not, want not! Bureau Valley High School Interact members, sponsored by Walnut Rotary, spent Earth Day doing their share to help in an all-school effort to quantify and divert recyclable materials and food waste to produce nutrient-rich compost while reducing the amount of waste otherwise filling the landfill. Partnering with the School’s German Club and Life Skills class, students have joined the EPA’s Food Recovery Challenge, providing access to data collection resources, assessing current waste data to set goals for the coming year, and enabling the school to compete for awards based on sustainability, community involvement and growth in collection numbers.
The Riverdale High School Interact Club, sponsored by River Cities Rotary, volunteered at the Riverbend Foodbank, a network of more than 300 organizations in 22 counties, providing food for those in need. The Club helped pack lunches on 4/23. Interact members packed over 200 meals for the homeless in Davenport.