Blood Drive - April 16

By Richard Lam

We are excited to partner with the American Red Cross on April 16, 2025 to launch the first of what we hope will be many blood drives. We’ll be working together to give back to the community in a truly life-changing way since each donation we collect can save up to three lives.

Thanks to Harry McCabe, who is leading the blood drive for us. As he mentioned at Tuesday's breakfast, we have formed a team consisting of club members Pat Doyle, Chris Johnson, Sean Durkin and Laura Trompeter. They are asking our membership to come out to donate.

Done In A Day - Naperville Sunrise Rotary's St. Paddy's Day 5K

Saturday, March 15, 2025

Seven early bird members made a difference for our sister Club - The Rotary Club of Naperville Sunrise. For once, the weather was temperate - although windy. Together with two high school volunteers, we directed traffic, runners, and handed out many, many cups of water to the over 1,000 thirsty runners. This is the Sunrise Club's biggest fundraiser, with proceeds benefiting 3 local non-profit groups. We helped out, made new connections, and enjoyed delicious breakfast food and green beer afterwards.

Thank you to everyone who came out!

Rotary hears from a Beneficiary

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Cydney Chikalema was born and raised in Kalupe village in Malawi, Africa. He passionately told his story about the Rotary Club’s "Water is Life" activities to the large gathering at Tuesday’s breakfast meeting.

Cydney arrived in the U.S. last August after graduating from the African Bible College. He is currently working on his Master's Degree at Wheaton College with the support of Villages in Partnership, the international partner of the Rotary Club of Downers Grove. He grew up an orphan and later interned with VIP and saw first-hand the positive impact of our club's funding of borehole drilling to install fresh water wells and other activities.

During his presentation he repeatedly explained, “Clean water helps reduce diseases and changes daily lives in the villages.” He told the members and guests how excited the villagers get when they learn about receiving their fresh water, the planning involved, and the jubilee that breaks out when the drilling rig team strikes water.

Last year the club donated $7,500 to Villages in Partnership to drill a borehole in the village of Nkagula. Cydney described how the responsibility for every completed well is passed on to the villages. Each one, under the supervision of the tribal leaders, is operated by the local village's Water Council. They ensure participating households pay a small monthly tariff and care for the well. This well services 238 families, typically consisting of 5 or more members living in one-room mud brick homes with dirt floors, thatched roofs, and, of course, no electricity or running water. The village's women don't have to carry water from distant wells or polluted streams, freeing up time for the young girls to go to school and allowing mothers to care for their babies, tend to chores, or work on a farm as a day laborer.

Last year's well followed our clubs spearheading a Rotary Foundation Global Grant that began in 2020. Over the past few years, it has provided over 1,400 households access to clean potable water through boreholes drilled in five remote villages. You can see the locations on the map.

Cydney further explained that the Grant also provided handwashing stations for two market areas where not only hands are washed, but also fruits and vegetables can be cleansed from dirt and insects.

The Board of Directors recently completed this year's donation to VIP of $22,000 so that additional boreholes can be drilled. The wells are expected to be functional in May. Three villages with approximately 4,000 inhabitants will receive your gift of life-changing water. So, as we prepare for Rotary GroveFest, please keep in mind that your efforts are saving lives across the globe.

Done In A Day March 2025 Project C.U.R.E

Saturday, March 1, 2025

Project C.U.R.E. is the world’s largest distributor of donated medical equipment and supplies to resource-limited communities across the globe, touching the lives of patients, families, and children in more than 135 countries. Several club members joined other members of the community to sort, stack and build medical equipment on Saturday. March 1, 2025.

Afterward, the Rotary Club of Downers Grove presented Project C.U.R.E. with a donation from our club.

Done In A Day - February 2025 - Feed My Starving Children - 2

Saturday, February 15, 2025

Thank you to everyone who joined us to pack enough meal packs to feed 111 children in a year.

We had fun labeling bags, then filling, sealing, packing boxes of meals. Including an impromptu whole facility sing-along to Bon Jovi's 'Living on a Prayer'.

The event closed out with a delicious breakfast.

Come see what it's all about when we return in the Fall.

Done In A Day: Sharing Connections 2025

By Jeanette OakeshottTuesday, January 28, 2025

Thank you to everyone who came out to help make a difference for our friends and neighbors. Sharing Connections plays a big part in helping the community, and they are always happy for us to return for the annual dresser building challenge!

This year’s lively team challenge resulted in Rotary donating 6 dressers for new homes - a practical way to help. The donation of dressers and contribution came to $1,500 plus the time and care in building the dressers.

We gathered afterward at Alter Brewing for sandwiches and beer.

Looking forward to next year already!

Double the Fun, Double the Pleasure

By Richard LamFriday, November 29, 2024

Villages In Partnership gets $40K Matching Grant with our donation. Timing is everything!

Our board of directors at our last board meeting approved a $22,500 donation to Villages In Partnership (VIP), a nonprofit we have supported the last few years. This money is designated for drilling 3 wells in Malawi. Each well will provide potable water for an entire village which consists of hundreds of people.

I received an email from VIP on Tuesday morning asking for help to unlock a $40K Matching Grant with the deadline at the end of the day. They had their Giving Tuesday a week before everyone else. Well, the timing was perfect! I called VIP and asked if our donation could be applied towards the matching grant. The answer was a resounding YES! Here was the email that I received from VIP the day after.

"He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness"- 2 Corinthians 9:10

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined our livestream last night! Thanks to your generosity and the support of our amazing partners, we unlocked our $40,000 matching gift! This will help our brothers and sisters in Malawi "moo"-ve on up from from scarcity to sustainability!

Done In A Day: Halloween Window Painting 2024!

This family event has been a tradition in Downers Grove since 1966. The Rotary Club of Downers Grove and the Downers Grove Downtown Management Corp organized and ran another successful Halloween Window Painting. Helped by volunteers from the St. Joseph's Football Team, families provided donations to Downers Grove Area FISH!

Done In A Day: NAMI DuPage 5K Pancake Breakfast

By Jeanette OakeshottSaturday, September 14, 2024

Nine Rotarians assisted with the NAMI 5k pancake breakfast last Saturday. We served a hearty breakfast of pancakes, syrup, orange juice, granola bars and banana to all. It felt good to assist our fellow Rotary club of Carol Stream in this endeavour.

We also shared our donation check of $1,000 made up of a $500 mental health focus grant from our district, together with our usual Done In A Day contribution.

NAMI is such a worthy organization and we were very happy to make a difference!

Service