Posted by Megan Reynolds
Volunteer Service in May
 
Thanks so much to the volunteers from our club who gave their time to work at the Central Illinois Foodbank and Volunteer for Girls on the Run! It's amazing to see the impact we can have when we come together. 
 
 
Tuesday, May 16 - Volunteering at the Central IL Foodbank
Special thanks are due to John Webb, Randy Erford, and Barry and Alec Tobias for sorting food for the Central IL Foodbank. We also thank John Web for sending these images.
 
Friday, May 19 and Saturday, May 20 - Girls on the Run 5K
Thanks to John Webb for volunteering for the Girls on the Run 5K to process race bids and pass out racing bags on the night before the event. Girls on the Run is an after school program that inspires girls to be healthy and confident using a fun, experienced based curriculum that creatively integrates running. The 5K race is their closing event and this year's run took place at Lincoln Land Community College on May 20. Thanks to John Webb for providing these images.
 
 
 
Ridgely School Micropantry and Little Library!
Work stocking our Our Ridgely micropantry and little library continues and is important at all times. As you can see from the image on left,  the Little Library needs more books. Please feel free to drop off books for the little library and any food/toiletries/cleaning supplies for the micropantry as you see fit. The families that frequent these resources are very thankful for your generous donations!
 
Vicki Megginson sent the images of the empty pantry she encountered at Ridgely School and the exciting image of the full pantry after she stocked it on March 12, 2023 (images below). We thank the Rotarians who have signed up for shifts stocking the micropantry during the New Year. If you want to sign up, let me know via email (mreynolds@uwcil.org). We need your help!
 
 
Flag Service
The Flag Service Committee installed flags for Memorial Day (May 29, 2023). Teams started installing flags on May 22 and finished with installations by the evening of Friday May 26 so the flags were in place for the holiday weekend. We are looking for more volunteers to help with deployment of flags and other aspects of this project. We have established teams of two to three people and most teams will install flags along one route. However, three teams had to take two routes each and some individuals are on more than one team. The image on the left shows Ross Hodel, Randy Erford, and John Webb installing flags on May 24. The image below shows the reward they gave themselves for a hard day's works. Volunteering for Rotary is always fun!
 
 
Please consider volunteering for this project. There is much work to be done, and it raises lots of money for our community grants program!  Please contact Marty Michelson (exdirector@rutledgeyouthfoundation.com) and John Loftus (jlloftus@aol.com) if you would like to help.