Quad Cities Rotary eNews (Jul 15, 2026)

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Service Above Self

Mondays at 6:00 PM

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2930 18th Avenue
Rock Island, IL 61201
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We had the privilege of having Past District Governor, Dave Emerick, to complete the installation of our new Rotary President, Bill Abel. Many congratulations to Bill! We look forward to a great year under your leadership.

The Mathias Sculptures located east of the stage at Schwiebert Park in Rock Island

Dawn Wohlford-Metallo, Visual Arts Director of Quad City Arts

Local Biking Legends Honored

Dean and Deb Mathias are local legends in the Quad Cities. The Blue cyclist in the sculpture is Dean, and can be recognized by the absence of a seat, in addition to the color. He found it beneficial as he trained for marathons, ultra-marathons, and 100 mile runs. The couple has been very focused on community building and meeting people. Their passion for biking stretched to active membership in the Quad Cities Biking Club and advocating for bike safety. Dean even handed out tire patch kits at the unveiling of the sculpture. He has been seen handing out protein bars to cyclists while he assists with broken chains or flat tires on local bike paths. Their dedication to the community is selfless and long-standing. The “bike to work week” has also been a passion. They have been offering free breakfast to individuals using the bike path that week for the commute.

Along the couple, there is a young girl, representing the future. Ahead of her is a male and female representing the Criterium. It also includes a BMX and mountain biker to fully represent our local biking community. Moline artist, Paul Lange, designed the sculpture. The formation has been imbedded in concrete and will soon be surrounded by a sustainable pollinator garden. Bronze was considered, but the design committee ultimately decided that the color represented them best. Fabricated metal was painted with powder coating in Coal Valley and it expected to last 25 years.

The design phase included how they would arrange the riders. They used paper cut-outs at scale to more easily develop the ideal positioning of the riders instead of cumbersome finished sculpture pieces.

Funding for the project has been completed, thanks to public crowd funding.

Quad City Arts has been managing the Public Sculpture program since 2008. Check out their website to see the various works of art across the community. Some are only temporary, some are for sale or purchased by private entities but loaned to the community, and some, like the Mathias Sculpture, are permanent.

Quad City Arts Public Sculpture Program

Happy Dollars of the Week

Andy is happy that everything went well for the JDC parking project and his daughter's visit to Texas went well.

Dave Emerick went to the International Convention in Taipei with his daughter and toured Japan afterwords. It was 95-100 degrees and humid. He is grateful to do Bill's installation.

Sue was happy to have a surprise opportunity to babysit her granddaughter on Sunday.

Dawn (guest) is happy to be part of the local sculpture project. She is also an artist.

Randy paid $20 on behalf of a visitor at the JDC parking lot. The visitor wasn't even there to attend the event. They saw that Rotary was involved and he said his father was a Rotarian years ago. He honored him with a donation.

Randy was personally happy about now being an official e-biker with his wife.

Bill was happy about celebrating 52 years of marriage. They celebrated with a delicious meal at Rudy's.

Marcy was happy to attend the Luke Bryan concert at Vibrant Arena.

Amber has had a very busy month of work and pleasure activities. She had a nice visit at a Lake in Minnesota and completed her yard work.

Kathy is happy her mom seems to be on a good path. June was very difficult. She is home recovering. She said she would deny it if asked (shhhh don't tell her it's in writing), she had fun participating in the JDC parking project this year.

Christie got home last night from Northern Wisconsin camping and kayaking trip.

Paul asked Karen what he was happy about. She suggested tonight's moment is to celebrate that he does not need to wait on her anymore after her surgery. And, she is now driving herself where she needs to go.

Wayne had a great trip to Gulfport MS. He met his daughter there and they enjoyed fireworks at their hotel. Last week his brother-in-law's mom passed away. They had a good wellness check on Diana's brother this week.

Terry was sad that his life is not as exciting as the “youngsters” these days. He is happy about new seal coating on his driveway and air conditioning.

George is happy his grandson is able to attend the Home Run Derby in Philadelphia and is the Gatorade hydration kid. His favorite granddaughter is coming for a two-week visit.

$ 65 was raised.

Club Business

We did a recap of the JDC.

Thank you to everyone who volunteered and to those who also brought in additional friends and family. We were able to fill 68 shifts. That would not have happened without the help of “Friends of Rotary”. The Downs got a little “interesting” when another organization was also assigned to our shifts. They were moved from the “Circle” by the clubhouse. It all ended up working out. The shuttle service was not as organized from the Jewel Lot. This is not our responsibility, however, we were there to witness some concerns. Drivers didn't seem to have any guidance from organizers. High traffic times didn't have enough cars available to transport people timely. We earned $3,648. This was about $100 more than last year. Well done Rotarians! The biggest fund raiser of the year is now complete. Next year's classic will be June 30-July 4th.

It is time to start working on our District Grant matching fundraiser. We will be doing our gift card tree once again. Raffle tickets will be sold at one ticket for $5 and five tickets for $20. We would appreciate each Rotarian selling at least $100 worth of raffle tickets. It's a pretty easy sell. The winner will receive approximately $350 worth of gift cards. Please contribute at least one $25 gift card from a local restaurant or other popular store. Try to stay local so we can support local small businesses. You can bring it to our next Rotary meeting.

Bill will be distributing our budget via email. Please review. We will take a vote for approval of the 2026-2027 at our meeting, after it has been distributed. Questions can be directed to Bill and Randy Skipton, our Treasurer.

Partners in Wine Tasting, collaboration with the Rock Island Child Advocacy Center, will be September 24th. Please pencil that into your calendar. It will be at the Old Oaks again. Rotary will be assisting with registration and busing tables. Andy's daughter, Alex, will be entertaining again. There will be a live auction. They are looking for auction big items, such as trips or excursions. Someone has already donated a plane ride. They need sponsors and silent auction items. Cost for attendance is $60 per person. Divine2Soul will be catering. This is our second largest fundraiser of the year. Your participation is appreciated.

October 24, 2026 - World Polio Day Polio Walk will include 36,000 Rotarians across 11 states and Canada. More Details to come. Save the date!

Jul 20, 2026

Mary Ann Stewart

AARP free income tax preparation service

Jul 27, 2026

Deb Steele

Friendship Force

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Join Date

Marcy O'Brien

July 1, 2021

5 years

Paul Neder

July 16, 2007

19 years

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