Welcome to our club web site. I'm Bill Pyatt, Club President for the 2024-25 Rotary year. Our club was created on January 1, 2021 when the former Wood River and East Alton clubs merged to become the Riverbend East Rotary club. Feel free to browse our newsletters, photo albums and other content you may find of interest. The club also sponsors a Facebook page. You may link to those sites below and to the right. Our club is located on the Illinois side of the St. Louis, Missouri metropolitan area. When you are in the area, please feel free to attend one of our meetings.
Member Birthdays:
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Wendell RossOctober 21
Anniversaries:
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Lori PalmerRodney PalmerOctober 23
We meet In Person
Thursdays at 12:00 p.m.
JULIA'S BANQUET CENTER
101 Eastgate Shopping Center
East Alton, IL 62024
United States of America
East Alton, IL 62024
United States of America
Our Mailing address:
POB 56
East Alton,IL 62024-0056
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Chili Dinner
EAWR High SchoolOct. 18, 2024
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Golf Tournament
Belk ParkOct. 25, 2024
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Trivia Night
Julia's Banquet CenterFeb. 08, 2025
The first run of the new Soapbox Race car down Berkshire Hill
Club foundation board president Joe silkwood shared information about plans to support community projects via a $15k per project donation.
Jamie Heilman, a member of the Elias, Kallal & Schaaf Funeral Home staff, was on hand to talk about prefunding funeral expenses and organizing your personal information to help minimize the stress on your family after your death.
2024 Business of the Year Werts Welding & Tank Services, owner Dwight Werts, gave us the history of the business which his father started in 1957. They now hav eight locations reaching from Billings, MT to Tampa, FL.
Jonas Cathey spoke with us about his business, Rachel & Co., a coffee shop in downtown Wood River (IL) https://www.rachelscoffeehouse.com/ and about the Wood River Business Alliance https://www.wrbusinessalliance.org/
Jessica Levan, a Soil Conservationist with NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service), was on hand to tell us about the wide range of services offered by her agency. NRCS is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Karen Boyd, an Oncology Navigator with the Moeller Cancer Center on the campus of OSF HealthCare in Alton, joined us to talk about some of the programs that are offered by the Cancer Center and HealthCare units.
BJC Alton Memorial Hospital representatives Rusty Ingram, Director of Business Development and Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Laura Barton, joined us to talk about recent developments at the hospital campus.
We were joined by Roxana School District Superintendent Deb Kreutzrager. She made a slide show presentation that addressed all the good things that the Roxana school "family" are accomplishing and the issues than can impact the life of a school dropout.
On Thursday we welcomed Illinois State Senator Erica Harriss. After briefly sharing her personal backstory, she covered some of the highlights of the recently concluded legislative session where 456 bills were passed.
We were joined by Melissa Erker, Director of Government & Community Relations, at the Phillips 66 refinery. She told us about recent activity at the refinery and answered a few questions.
Newly appointed Wood Rover Parks & Recreation Director Pat Minogue joined us to talk about the park district and its new recreation center. It's off to a great start. Find out about it via this link http://www.wrparks.org
RiverBend Growth Association (RBGA) Member Engagement Director Stefanie Withers joined us to talk about the RBGA sponsored Young Adult Committee program. She was joined by local high school seniors Emily and Josh.
East Alton Library Director Jeremy Staicoff was in the house and told us about the wide variety of programs that are offered at the library for both children and adults. There's no charge for any of the programs. For more info http://eastaltonlibrary.org
We viewed a live video feed from Skhumbuzo Mbuyisa-Mbuluzi, President-Elect of the Mbabane, Swaziland Rotary Club, speaking about the potential partnership medical project.
Rev. Julie Gvillo joined us to talk about the great things her "A Place of Grace" group is doing to make our community a better place. Link here for more info http://aplaceofgrace-juliegvillo.net
Nourished Revival owner Abigail Parker encouraged us to take control of our health by eating better. She spoke to the evils of "added sugar" in all of our diets. Want to know more? Link here http://nourishedrevival.com
Mark your calendars and save the date! The Riverbend East Rotary Club 5K Color Run is back, baby!” It's scheduled for June 1 at Belk Park in Wood River (IL). Registration is $30 for ages 19+, $15 for ages 12-18, and free for those 11 and under.
Retired Methodist minister Mike Smith joined us to talk about his recently published book "Teaching the Preacher to Curse". It contains 47 of Mike's mostly humorous life stories and can be purchased on Amazon. 
Club president Rodney Durr talks about our potential international project in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Africa.
Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Southern Illinois Executive Director Brianna Andersen spoke to us about the program that pairs children between the ages of 6 and 14 with an adult mentor. There is always a need for adult mentors. If you have an interest or need additional info you may call 618.398.3162 or visit http://bbbsil.org
Today's program was a double header, RobLeMarsh talked about the Wood River Heritage Council and Wood River Museum and club member Paul G spoke about his post-retirement masters history degree thesis, the Wood River neighborhood of Little Italy.
We were joined by Vince, Carol and Diane, members of the Curtain's Up Theater Company, to talk about their next production, Steel Magnolias, which will be performed on March1,2 and 3. Here's a link for more information and ticket purchase https://www.curtainsuptheater.com/index.html
Oasis Women's Center Director of Client Services Tara Holland joined us to tell us about the shelter and support services offered to women who are victims of domestic violence.
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President
President Elect
Treasurer
Secretary
Community Service
Club Service
Sergeant Arms
Club Foundation President
Club Foundation Treasurer
Intrernational Service
Newsletter Editor
Vocational Service
Immediate Past President
Mark Allison
Patti Anderson
David Ayers
Pat Boyle
Rod Croxford
Rodney Durr
Cory Gallivan
Paul Guccione
Allen Hale
Chris Herzog
Rick Hooks
Paul Hoover
Jean Kainz
Donna Karpan
Michael Kelly
Scott Levan
George Moore
Virgil Moore
Tommie Myers
Lori Palmer
John Pearson
Erin Phillips
Brad Pulaski
Bill Pyatt
Wendell Ross
Joe Silkwood
Mark Smith
Mark Speciale
Henry Studnicki
George Tyler
Mark Vaughn
Alana Yount