Welcome to Rock Falls Rotary !
Welcome to our Club!
Rock Falls

Service Above Self

We meet In Person & Online
Mondays at 5:30 PM
Harvest Time Church
1802 Dixon Ave.
Rock Falls, IL 61071
United States of America
Club is currently meeting in person and on Zoom on the 1st and 3rd Monday of the month.
Home Page Stories
Rock Falls Rotary asks the staff at RFHS to select the monthly Rotary Student of the Month, a Senior whose character best fits the Four Way Test of what Rotarians think, say and do: 1. Is it the truth? 2. Is it fair to all concerned? 3. Will it build goodwill and better friendship? 4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned? Students and their parents were introduced at a celebration dinner at Harvest Time Bible Church at which students received a certificate of their SOM designation along with a check. (left to right): Tom Myers, Chair of Youth Committee; September: Grace Boostrom; October: Kallie Insley; November: Mayson Burns; December: Rais Tefiku; January: Carli Kobbemen; February: Claire Bickett; March: Angela Gallentine; Bob Sondgeroth, President. (Absent from photo: August: Gavin Sands; April: Akshar Barot; and May: Hana Ford.)
 
Rock Falls Rotary Club inducted a new member to their membership: Angie Howard (center), a Reading Specialist at Montmorency School. With her is her sponsor, Betty Clementz and Bob Sondgeroth, President of Rock Falls Rotary.
 
Rock Falls Rotary President Bob Sondgeroth (right) welcomed the RFHS April Rotary Student of the Month Akshar Barot (left), son of Varsha and Parimal Barot.  His selection was based on the Four Way Test of what Rotarians think, say, and do in their lives which is behind both of them on the banner.  Rotary Students of the Month are selected by the staff at RFHS based upon this Four Way Test.  Akshar plans to attend University of IL in the fall.
 
President of Rock Falls Rotary Bob Sondgeroth presents to Betty Clementz (left), Chair of RFL of Sauk Valley and Cheryl Faber (middle), Sponsorship Chair of RFL of Sauk Valley, a check for the club's sponsorship of the annual American Cancer Society event on June 8 th at Westwood Sports Complex, Building 3 from 5 - 9 p.m.
 
Pam Martinez, Executive Director (left), stands in front of the pallet of 236 pounds of food and paper products from members of the Rock Falls Rotary Club which Bob Sondgeroth, President of Rock Falls Rotary and grand daughter Raeleigh delivered as a response to the District 6420 Governor's challenge to fight hunger in Rotary local communities.
 
Rock Falls Rotarians visited area public and private schools in Rock Falls to present to third grade students their own dictionary which is age-appropriate. Shown is Rock Falls Rotarian Cheryl Faber in the classroom of third grade at East Coloma-Nelson when the dictionaries were presented during American Education Week. A total of 140 dictionaries were distributed.
 
Members and guests at the recent Rock Falls Rotary meeting took a moment to pose with the newest "ex-officio member", Twister, therapy dog at CGH which is owned and trained by Molly Mammosser, kneeling in center of photo with Twister. Rock Falls Rotarians presented her and Twister with a check for $500 to offset expenses of the week stay to be trained in how to manage a therapy dog. Twister is located at the CGH Physical Therapy Building on North Locust Street in Sterling where Molly works. Rotarians took up a collection to offset her expenses to bring Twister to our community.
 
 
The Eighth Annual End Polio Now Walk was sponsored this year by the Rotary clubs of the Sauk Valley Area: Dixon, Rock Falls, Rotaract of Sauk Valley College, Sterling Noon, and Walnut.Twenty-four Rotarians and guests braved the cold morning on October 7th to walk the Hennepin Canal in an awareness of the need to eradicate polio as a disease from our world. Since 1988 Rotary has been involved in the eradication of polio along with WHO, Gates Foundation, and other entities. In that year over 250,000 persons annually worldwide would be diagnosed with polio and for many it was a death sentence.Today in 2023 only a worldwide total of 10 cases of wild polio virus in Afghanistan and Pakistan have been recorded, so the reduction in cases has been 99.99% successful. But it is these very last cases that need to be stamped out to eradicate polio fully as a disease. We are truly that close!
 
Rotarians are asked to donate to the Rotary Foundation program of Polio Plus which is the source of Rotary funding the worldwide effort. Visiting Rotarians donated a total of $200 on the day of the walk to end polio. All sponsoring club donations to Polio Plus from July 1 through the end of October were encouraged to support the eradication effort which culminates on World Polio Day on October 24. At this time the total donation of Rock Falls Rotary members has been reported as $1,578.00 which will be tripled by the Gates Foundation matching monies for a total of $4,734. The other club donations have not yet been submitted to the total effort of the 8th Annual End Polio Now Walk.
Rock Falls Rotarian Gail Wright (center) is awarded the Paul Harris Fellow award +3 by Rotary Governor David Emerick (right) while President of Rock Falls Rotary Bob Sondgeroth (left) watches. This award denotes a total of $4000 has been donated by Gail to the Rotary Foundation for worldwide service to those in need. Paul Harris was the founder of Rotary as the first service club in the world.
 
 
Governor of Rotary 6420 Dave Emerick (right) inducts into membership in Rock Falls Rotary Jenn Schultz (center) of Sauk Valley Community College. President Bob Sondgeroth (left) was her sponsor into membership.
 
 
 
Governor David Emerick (left) of the East Moline-Silvis Club is the Governor of Rotary District 6420 in 2023-2024. On his annual visit to the Rock Falls Rotary Club he shared his goals for the Rotary year. President Bob Sondgeroth presents Governor with the Rock Falls Rotary flag and pin in appreciation.
 
 

Past District Governor Laura Kann, (right) presented the award of Best Polio Eradication Project in District 6420 to Betty Clementz, (middle), Chair of the Seventh Annual End Polio Now Walk held at Centennial Park on October 10, 2022, as the President of Rock Falls Rotary Bob Sondgeroth (left) looks on. Six area Rotary clubs hosted the event - Dixon, Rock Falls, Sterling Noon, Twin Cities Sunrise, Walnut and SVCC Rotaract - which created an awareness of how close the world is to eradicating polio from our world forever! When Rotary took on this task in 1988 to eliminate the disease of polio, there were diagnosed annually over 350,000 worldwide in 125 countries. Last year, there were only 9 cases of wild virus polio reported worldwide! The walk brought in $2,604.37 from Rotary club members donating to their Foundation known as Polio Plus, a sum which was then tripled thanks to Gates Foundation to the sum of $7,813.11 for the event!
Molly Mammosser (center) was inducted into the Rock Falls Rotary Club on October 2 by past District Governor of District 6420 Laura Kann (right). Bob Sondgeroth (left) was Molly's sponsor. Molly works at the CGH Therapy Center on North Locust Street in Sterling.
Welcome Molly, we look forward to working with you to do the work of Rotary!
 
Pam Martinez, Executive Director of Sauk Valley Foodbank (center), accepts the check for $3000 from Rock Falls Rotarians, Betty Clementz, Grant Chair, and Bob Sondgeroth, President, to support the purchase of the newest cooler to keep perishables from spoiling until distribution can take place. This cooler is 14' x 30' and accommodates 19 pallets of produce into it. The cost of this cooler was $73,000 in June, 2023.
The distribution of food as of 8/26/2023 has reached 15,214 families; total families served in whole year of 2022 was 15,818.
Saturday morning give-away is a drive-through from 10 a.m.- 12 p.m.; no ID is required. Clients must be in parking lot by noon to receive food items. Rock Falls Rotary wrote the matching grant with Rotary District 6420 to provide this much needed service to our community to provide fresh produce through the foodbank to those in need.
New members of Rock Falls Rotary were inducted by President Bob Sondgeroth on August 7. Shown are Joel Lego, Amy Lego who were sponsored by Betty Clementz; Michelle Brown sponsored by Shane Brown, and President Bob Sondgeroth. Rock Falls Rotary meets the first and third Monday evenings at Fellowship Hall of Harvest Time Bible Church at 5:30 p.m. on Dixon Avenue. For more information, visit www.rockfallsrotary.org.
 
The Rock Falls Rotary and the Sterling Noon Rotary are bringing you the fourth annual Broil & Boil Lunch on Monday, July 24 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Sterling Marketplace Pavilion (Farmer's Market) on W. Second Street (behind The Factory). ☀️
Broil & Boil features the Pork Chop Cookout of the Sterling Club and the Corn Boil of the Rock Falls Club into one power lunch.
Lunch is $10 dollars and features a grilled pork chop sandwich, 2 ears of sweet corn, chips, cookie and a bottle of water.
Advance tickets and pre-ordering is highly encouraged. Free delivery for orders of 10 or more is available within Sterling and Rock Falls. Drive-thru/curbside pick up will be at the Marketplace.
To purchase tickets contact any Rock Falls or Sterling Noon Rotarian.
Proceeds benefit local Rotary Projects including youth scholarships, literacy projects with local schools, Student Excellence Programs, Rotary youth exchange and several community projects and events.
 
 
Members of the Rock Falls Rotary Club (left to right), Bob Sondgeroth, President Jeff Gray and Cheryl Faber present to Amy Lego, Rock Falls Library Director the books she had wanted for the shelves at Rock Falls Library. Every Rotary Club in District 6420 was challenged to donate a book for every member of their club to some literacy facility in their community to promote literacy. The books received in Rock Falls were from the list of books on their 'Want list"
 
Four Rotary Clubs of the Sauk Valley joined in funding the YWCA “Sweet Dreams” project in support of women and families in crisis, for receipt of beds and bedding for themselves and their children when they are ready to leave the shelter of the YWCA. Rock Falls Rotary was one of those clubs and presented to that program a total of $2700, half of which was from the Rotary District 6420 which matched the club funds of $1350. 
 
Cassandra Salmon, Director of Development and Marketing, at the YWCA, presented a program to the Rock Falls Rotarians of where their money went and how it was used. Cassandra shared the following statistics:
  • Over 7,000 hotline calls were received through the crisis hotline during the month of Dec. 2022.
  • 38 families have been helped with beds/bedding (January 2022-current) with 20 families still waiting.
  • In 2022, 1929 nights were spent in the shelter, 67 were adults and 29 were children seeking refuge in the shelter.
As families prepare to exit the shelter to transitional housing, counseling is a  major component to provide stability for sustainable life.
 
 
Members of Rock Falls Rotary present a check for $2700 to Cassandra Salmon (center) of YWCA for the Sweet Dreams project for families in crisis: (left to right) Front row: Pat Novak, Sarah Willey, Cassandra Salmon of YWCA, Betty Clementz, Grant Chair; Back row: Karen Voss, Darla Ewing, Cheryl Faber, Bob Sondgeroth, Gail Wright on ZOOM,  Jeff Gray, Rotary President, and Keith Zoeller.
Pre-school children who attend the Easter Egg Hunt at Centennial Park in 2023 will not only be able to gather Easter eggs, but each pre-schooler will also receive an age-apprpriate book, thanks to a donation from Rock Falls Rotary Club.  Accepting the donation from (left to right) Rock Falls Rotarians Jeff Gray, President and  Cheryl Faber are T.J. Henry Coloma Park District Director, and Coloma Township Park District Commissiioner Cindy Sondgeroth and Bob Sondgeroth, Rock Falls Rotary Literacy Chair.
 
Jeff Gray, President of Rock Falls Rotary (left) presents Gail Wright with the Paul Harris lapel pin denoting her donation to the Rotary Foundation of over $2,000, which is symbolized with the two sapphires in the pin. Paul Harris was the founder of Rotary in 1905  This award is given by Rotary Foundation to Rotarians who   have supported the Foundation at that level.
 
 
President of Rock Falls Rotary (center) Jeff Gray and Darla Ewing (left), Chair of Community Service Committee of Rock Falls Rotary present a check to Sundy Sotelo (right) of $250 for Thanksgiving baskets.
 
 
Community Service Committee of Rock Falls Rotary present a check of $250 in support of the Sauk Valley Food Bank to Director Pam Martinez (center) from Jeff Gray, President of Rock Falls Rotary (left) and Darla Ewing (right), Chair of Community Service Committee.

Rock Falls Rotarians collect and donate winter hats and mittens to all the elementary schools in the Rock Falls area. Often the children lose these items over the winter and need replacements. Shown presenting a box of hats and mittens is Rotarian Darla Ewing (right) of the Community Service Committee to Barb Biba (left), secretary at Riverdale Preschool of Rock Falls Elementary District 13.

The Rock Falls Rotary Club decorated the Little Red Schoolhouse and the Caboose in Centennial Park for the Rock Falls Tourism Holiday Light Display. The Holiday Light Display @ Centennial Park is open every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday November 25-December 23 from 5:30-8:30 pm.
Merry Christmas from the Rock Falls Rotary Club ! 🎄☃️
 
Cheryl Faber (right), Rock Falls Rotary member of the Literacy Committee, presents a check to Cindy Sondgeroth (left), Coloma Park District Board member, for $100 to provide books to pre-school children during the annual Easter Egg Hunt at Centennial Park within the Storybook Park, a.k.a. " the chicken park".
 
Bob Sondgeroth (left) presents to Carrie Melton (right) , Executive Director of April House in Morrison, a check for $250 to support the forensic interviews of children in Whiteside County. From July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022 - 170 interviews of children were conducted at April House of which 30 were children from Rock Falls.
 
 
Rock Falls Rotary donates $250 to the Rock Falls Fire department for their annual fire prevention materials distributed in schools in the fall. Presenting the check is Bob Sondgeroth, a former fireman and President-pro-tem of Rock Falls Rotary (right) to Ken Wolf, Deputy Chief of Rock Falls Fire Department.
 
Six Sauk Valley Rotary Clubs – Dixon, Rock Falls, Sterling Noon, Rotaract of SVCC, Twin Cities Sunrise, and Walnut joined together to sponsor the Seventh Annual End Polio Now Walk on October 8. The walk which was open to the public began at Centennial Park in Rock Falls and continued along the Hennepin Canal to Rock River at which it turned to return through the downtown Rock Falls along First Avenue until back to East 11th Street and Centennial Park. The walk is an awareness of Rotary’s goal to eradicate polio from our world through donations to vaccinate children around the world. In 2020 all of Africa was declared polio –free. Just 9 cases of wild polio have been reported worldwide in 2022 in just Pakistan and Afghanistan. Progress is being made!
Prior to the walk a short update on polio was given by the Foundation Chairs or Presidents of each sponsoring club; those speaking included Jeff Gray and Mike Albert of Rock Falls, Jennifer Heintzelman of Dixon, Peyton Ward and Mackenzie Sisson of Rotaract of SVCC, Nick Lareau of Sterling Noon, and Jan Pistole of Walnut. Forth-three persons were in attendance at the beginning of the walk for a photo.
Donations were accepted that day from the public and all six Rotary club members were encouraged to donate to Polio Plus in the next six weeks to the Rotary Foundation through their local club. The totals are now in. Total amount raised from our efforts of the Seventh Annual End Polio Now Walk was a total of $2,604.37. The Gates Foundation will triple that amount in matching funds so the actual amount in total from this walk to eradicate polio is $7,813.11.
Thank you to Alex Paschal of Shaw Media, T. J. Henry of Coloma Park District, Tom Katz of WSDR, and Sauk Valley Food Bank for their support of our event.
 
Bob Sondgeroth, Rock Falls Rotarian, read Dr. Seuss stories to second grade students at East Coloma-Nelson School as a part of the Rock Falls Rotary volunteer reading program on March 2, birthday of Dr. Seuss. Students were from the two second grade classes of Katie Merrell and Rebecca Repass.  Dr. Seuss, would have been 116 years old, were he still alive today. March 2 is the National Education Association Read Across America Day in the United States to honor Dr. Seuss, born Theodor Seuss Geisel, who was an American artist, book publisher, animator, and poet best known for his Cat in the Hat books. 
 
Brandi Spreeman (right) was inducted into the Rock Falls Rotary Club on Monday evening, February 7. She was presented the Rotary pin and certificate from her sponsor, Bob Sondgeroth (left). Rock Falls Rotary is a service club that meets twice monthly at 5:30 p.m. on the first and third Monday evenings. Due to covid restrictions, meetings have been via ZOOM.  
 
The Rock Falls Rotary Club is currently selling raffle tickets for their $100 Monthly Raffle drawing. Each month beginning with March 2022-February 2023, one ticket will be drawn and the winner will receive $100. All tickets are eligible every month, which means you could win more than once. Tickets are $20 each and available from any Rock Falls Rotarian or can be purchased through the Rock Falls Rotary Venmo Account. If using Venmo, please put "Raffle Ticket" in the comment section. You can purchase as many tickets as you like for $20 each.
 
Hurry, deadline to purchase is February 21!
Chosen by staff at Rock Falls High School based on the Rotarian Four Way Test of the things Rotarians say, think, and do are two of the Rotarian Students of the Month: Lydea King (left), daughter of Lance and Jeannie King, as November Rotarian Student of the Month and Mallory Pinske, (center) daughter of Kevin and Mandy Pinske as the August Rotarian Student of the Month withBob Sondgeroth, Youth Committee Chair, (right).
 
 
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