Eight impactful community organizations, led by the Quad City Botanical Center, received a share of $20,000 in grants recently awarded by the Rotary Club of Rock Island.
The largest of the awards presented during the club’s Tuesday, June 10, meeting was a $10,000 investment in that urban garden’s Children’s Garden. The donation is in memory of longtime Rock Island leader and Rotarian Anne R. McGlynn. As a former Rock Island Rotary president, she successfully led an ambitious club campaign to raise $100,000 to help construct the Children’s Garden.Â
The gift in her honor to the center was made possible by generous memorial gifts collected from club members following her death last year. It will support the purchase and installation of new immersive and experiential signage in the Children’s Garden.
Botanical center Executive Director Ryan Wille said in a news release the series of signs and learning cues will be placed along the Mini-Mississippi River in the outdoor garden. They will teach visitors about different ecosystems, pollinators, types of ponds and types of plant life.
Also at its June 10 meeting at the botanical center, the Rotary Club of Rock Island awarded a total of $10,000 in annual Community Grants to seven organizations. Representatives of those organizations accepted ceremonial checks and talked about their groups’ missions.
Community Grant Awards
Those grant recipients were:
- Church of Peace Food Pantry – $1,500 to help supply its food bank.
- Genesius Theatre Foundation – $750 for set materials for high-school interns.
- Jordan Catholic School — $1,750 for a literacy project for English language learners from Myanmar (formerly Burma).
- Planting Books–Seeds 4 a Better Future – $1,500 for a literacy project providing books to K-2nd students at Rock Island Academy.
- Pregnancy Resources – $2,000 to help provide essential needs for infants and toddlers.
- Unity House –- $1,500 for additional support to help Rock Island residents remain clean and sober.
- WVIK – $1,000 to support the Augustana Public Radio Information Service. APRIS provides free news and information to individuals with visual and mobile disabilities in the Quad Cities area.
The $10,000 awarded last week is the second round of Rock Island Rotary Community Grants awarded in 2025. The first round of $10,000 was in January.
Ms. McGlynn, who died in 2024, joined the Rock Island Rotary in 2007, and in 2013-14 she served as the club’s president, the same year she set and achieved that goal to raise $100,000 to fund construction of the Children’s Garden.Â
She received the A.T. Peara Award, the Rock Island Rotary’s highest honor, for the year 2013. The signage also will acknowledge Ms. McGlynn’s support for one of the most popular gardens at the urban center.
The Rotary Club of Rock Island was established in 1914. It has more than 100 members. They are committed to making a difference in the community and around the world. Club members are from varying professions and backgrounds. They come together to enhance the Rock Island community through a variety of service projects.
