The Rotary of Macomb meets Tuesdays at noon at the First Presbyterian Church.
January 20, 2026 President Seth Minter initiated the 30th Rotary Club meeting by ringing the Rotary Bell at the First Presbyterian Church in Macomb. The invocation was delivered by Todd Rodeffer, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Nick Knowles.
Nick Knowles reported attendance figures: 22 members were present in person, 4 participated via Zoom, accounting for 50.1% of the club’s membership.
Additionally, four guests attended—CallaBria Putrino (today’s featured speaker), January’s Junior Rotarians Dahlia Lauer and Julia Woell, and Rotary Exchange Student Thea Granheim from Norway—bringing the total attendance to 30.
President Seth had Ron Peterson come forward to receive his 50/50 check for winning the $66 last week.
Ron was asked to pick the card for today’s drawing and drew the 10 of Spades. The next ticket holder to have a chance to win the $3 pot was Kim McKee. She then drew the 10 of Spades and won the $3. She was asked to a draw for next week and chose the 10 of Hearts. Next on the agenda, 6 Rotarians contributed “Happy Money” in recognition of recent noteworthy events.
President Seth invited Junior Rotarian Daliah Lauer to address the club regarding her activities at Macomb High School and future aspirations following graduation. Dahlia is a senior at MHS and is interested in the arts. She plays the violin and is in dance.
She acts as the President of the MHS choir, vice-president of theater, and vice-president of the Rotary Interact club at MHS. After high school Daliah will be enrolled at the University of Chicago and is undecided but wants to explore and find out what she is interested and passionate about.
She plans to meet many new friends and do some “cool stuff.”
President Seth reported receiving a letter of appreciation from the WIU Food Pantry for the recent $500 donation made by the Rotary Club of Macomb. He announced an upcoming event on February 7, 2026, organized by the Macomb Educational Foundation—a “Dueling Pianos” fundraiser, which was attended by Rotarians last year at Park Place. President Seth also noted that the Rotary Board voted at today’s meeting to contribute $250 toward providing healthy snacks for participants in the “Kids Run the Nation” program at West Prairie School.
Additionally, he shared that Bonnie Smith-Skripps from the McDonough County Humane Society will be presenting at next week’s program.
John Bannon then introduced our speaker CallaBria Putrino the Transportation Director for the City of Macomb. CallaBria is a WIU graduate and became the Transportation Director for Macomb a couple of years ago. She continued with saying she is originally from California but decided that Illinois was a good place to settle because there are four seasons of weather and she felt this is where she needed to be.
CallaBria aimed to provide an informative overview of public transportation and its role within the community. She described the system as a supportive infrastructure that is often visible throughout the city, though residents may not always be aware of its full capabilities or operations.
She highlighted recent improvements, noting that the transportation department acquired new vehicles in June 2025 and introduced upgraded buses in November and December 2025 to replace older models scheduled for retirement.
A review of routes and schedules were shown.
They are named and cover the WIU campus and all the areas in the city to offer transportation during the day and night. They have an extensive Demand Response fleet of smaller vehicles that run in the city and have coverage of a 2-hour radius from Macomb to transport individuals to other towns.
Those outside Macomb are done with a nominal charge or free to others who qualify. The demand for these have increased so scheduling has to be done days/weeks in advance.
The Transportation system in Macomb serves over 400,000 riders annually. CallaBria stated that she and all department staff are committed to supporting riders’ independence and ensuring they reach their destinations efficiently.
The meeting concluded with the recitation of the “Four Way Test” and the sounding of the Rotary bell, encouraging all members to make Rotary Part Of Their Life – and to “Unite For Good”.
Interested in speaking at Rotary or becoming a member, contact Tom Stites at [email protected].
Dahlia Lauer, Jr. Rotarian shared with the members of the Rotary Club of Macomb, her school activities, interests and future plans.
