Community Corner
Buffalo Grove Rotary Annual Duck Race Raises More than $21,000
The club supports foreign exchange for Buffalo Grove & Stevenson high school students, college scholarships, holiday giving and more.
Left to Right (front row): Pete Panayiotou, Stephen Legge, Deenie Pomilia, Melanie Santostefano, Miriam Campbell and Rosemary Heilemann.
Left to Right (back row): Marshall Perry, Dane Bragg, Mike Brink, Tom Kloepfer and Bill Donahue.
The Rotary Club of Buffalo Grove had its best fundraising year yet for the annual Rotary Duck Race held on Sunday, September 2, 2018 over the Labor Day holiday, during the Village’s largest annual event, Buffalo Grove Days.
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Led by Fundraising and Duck Race Committee Chair Bill Donahue, and Duck Race Committee Co-Chair Shannon O’Connor, Buffalo Grove Rotary members played different roles in raising funds through ticket sales and garnering of sponsorships from area businesses, which altogether raised a net total of $21,800 which is a marked increase compared to the 2017 event that raised $18,800.
The Duck Race is the Buffalo Grove Rotary Club’s largest yearly fundraising effort.
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“We all worked in concert and brought our unique skill-sets together to get the job done,” said Donahue. “I’m proud of our club members and their combined efforts to raise nearly $22,000 for the wide variety of philanthropic efforts and initiatives our club is deeply involved with.”
Among those efforts and initiatives are yearly mission trips to Guatemala, participation in the End Polio Now campaign and clean water initiatives, and foreign exchange student programs for Buffalo Grove and Stevenson high school students. Local charitable efforts include the Thanksgiving Basket giving programs for in-need residents, Community Grants awarded on a yearly basis to organizations that serve Buffalo Grove, college scholarships, the Bill Reid Community Service Award, and much more.
Donahue credits the newly established online tickets online as one of the reasons more funds were raised this year, in addition to the hard work of members who sold tickets and sponsorships.
Top fundraisers from ticket sales and/or sponsorships from the club included: Dane Bragg, Stephen Legge, Adriane Johnson, Tom Kloepfer, Rosemary Heilemann, Pete Panayiotou and Rick Drazner.
‘500 Club’ members who raised a minimum of $500 each, through ticket sales or sponsorships included Aaron Appell, Rob Seitz, Bill Balling, Shannon O’Connor, Brian Hicks, Deenie Pomilia, Dan Wolf, Miriam Campbell and Melanie Santostefano.
To learn more about the Buffalo Grove Rotary Club, please visit bgrotary.org.
