WOODRIDGE ROTARY CLUB LOOKS FORWARD AS IT APPRECIATES PAST YEAR

The Woodridge Rotary Club is getting ready to host its 14th Mini Triathlon on Sunday, August 18 at Cypress Cove Aquatic Park. This event is the Club’s main fundraiser, and the 25 members of the Club are hoping it is as successful in raising funds as it has been in the past. Volunteers are need in various capacities over the course of the weekend to help make this event successful. Those who volunteer find it fun as well as a good way to give back to the community.

The Woodridge Club recently completed its 2013 fiscal year.  The success of last year’s race allowed the Club to give away over $26,000 in grants to non-profit organizations serving Woodridge and for two $2000 college scholarships.   Included in the list of organizations donated to are Bridge Communities (providing resources for homeless Dupage County residents),  $1500; CASA of Dupage (Court Appointed Special Advocates) $1000; Cooking with Kidz Nonprofit, $1025; Diveheart  Foundation (providing scuba diving opportunities for people with disabilities) $750; Dr. Suzanne Cook Scholarship Fund, $500; Family Shelter Services, $1000; Metropolitan Family Services  MetroMentors Program,$750; Metropolitan Family Services Parents as Teachers Program, $600; SCARCE Environmental Organization, $1000; Sharing Connections Furniture Bank, $1000; Shelter BoxUSA, $1000; Sunshine Through Golf, $500; Walk-In Ministry of Hope, $1000; Woodridge Community Resource Center, $2000; Woodridge Park District Golden Years Group, $700; Woodridge Community Pantry, $5,000; Working Bikes Cooperative, $1000; YMCA, $500; Woodridge Police Department Torch Run for Special Olympics, $1000.

Additional scholarships totaling $4000 were given from funds raised in prior years to participants of the Community Resource Center student and/or volunteer programs. 

In addition to helping those in need through these organizations over the past year, members of  the Club collected over 400 used coats for veterans, helped take down playground equipment to be refurbished and sent to a community without such equipment, donated items for the Community Pantry Christmas Basket effort for Woodridge residents, managed another very successful Woodridge Recycling Extravaganza for the community, and gave paperback dictionaries to each 3rd-grade student in Woodridge schools, including St. Scholastica.

Three of the Club’s members were honored in various ways for their vocational and community efforts.  Rotary Club President for 2012/13 Gina Cunningham-Picek, President of Marketing for Bridgeview Bank, was elected as Woodridge’s first woman mayor in April.  Current Club President Debbie Mascitti , Head of HR at Wilton Industries, was awarded the William F. Murphy Excellence Award at the annual Woodridge Chamber of Commerce Award Event held in April.  Steve Bild, Principal at Downers Grove South High School, was named “2013 School Administrator of the Year” by the Illinois School Counselors Association and “Award of Excellence – Distinguished Administrator” by the Illinois Chapter of the National School Public Relations Association. The latter award was given for his efforts to open lines of communication with the school’s African-American community.

The Woodride Rotary Club was chartered in 1989.  It is part of Rotary International, a humanitarian service organization founded in Chicago in 1905 by Paul Harris. Information on theWoodridge Club and its activities, on the Mini Triathlon, and on volunteering for the event will be found on www.woodridgerotary.org