The Rotary of Macomb meets Tuesdays at noon at the First Presbyterian Church.
June 9, 2026 President Seth Minter called the Rotary Club’s 48th meeting to order with the ringing of the Rotary Bell at the First Presbyterian Church in Macomb. Todd Rodeffer delivered the invocation, and Nick Knowles led the Pledge of Allegiance. Chris Adams reported attendance of 30 members who were in person and 1 via Zoom, representing 58% of the club’s membership.
With 2 guests in attendance, total participation reached 33 individuals. Guests in attendance included; John Curtis, our speaker from The Giving Gardens, and prospective member Will Woods,.
Happy Money was next and there were 10 Rotarians who had a special happening in the past week to announce. June birthdays, member anniversaries, and wedding anniversaries were then read and to celebrate birthdays, “Happy Birthday” was sung to those Rotarians. During the 50/50 drawing, John Corson held the winning ticket and had the opportunity to claim the prize of $111 by drawing the 9 of Hearts from the remaining 38 cards. However, he drew the Queen of Diamonds, and no winner was declared this week President Seth had a presentation and announcements: Matt Lawver was presented his Paul Harris Fellow certificate, pin and medallion that had arrived late. 6/16/26 the program speaker is Stephen Gray from WIU, and on 6/30/26 we are scheduling a 5th Tuesday Social, at the Macomb Country Club starting at 5PM. We will be giving out the scholarships to our recipients on that day. Flag day is Sunday, June 14 and Rotarians have been slated to participate in that.
Put up is at 7AM and take down is at 5PM. Friday, June 19 is the inaugural Kicks for Kids Golf tournament for the shoe project our club helped with. The Ticket Raffle for the scholarships is scheduled to begin August 18, 2026, and run until September 22, 2026.
Todd Lester then introduced the guest speaker, John Curtis of The Giving Gardens. John is an educator, gardener, and nonprofit leader. He currently serves as Executive Director of The Giving Gardens and previously held leadership roles with two other regional organizations in the Macomb area. He is a longtime educator with a master’s degree from WIU and also served in the U.S.
Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic.
John began by reviewing the history of the organizations he has led. In 2019, Genesis Garden became his first organization, focusing on providing summer lunches to local children.
The group prepared as many as 60 meals from scratch at the Presbyterian Church.
During the pandemic in 2020, the mission shifted to stocking food at the church and delivering meals, and the Good Food Collaborative was established. Over the following several years, that organization delivered more than 97,000 meals to 700 children in the county.
A program called “Kids Cook” was also launched, providing 900 children with recipes, ingredients, utensils, and instructional videos to help them prepare meals.
With community support, a mobile food pantry was established and served 450 households in the county. He noted that since the program concluded after three years, older residents in the community have been among those most affected by its discontinuation. He emphasized that many individuals are not receiving adequate meals.
His most recent initiative began as a “Victory Garden” program and has since evolved into The Giving Gardens. John explained that he launched the project almost entirely on his own, beginning with four gardens. By comparison, he noted that some individual gardens now in use in Macomb are larger than those original four combined.
At present, there are 12 public-access Giving Gardens and several production gardens. Public-access gardens are located outside Macomb in Bushnell, Colchester, Roseville, and Morton, Illinois. John stated that his goal is to establish a garden within walking distance of every area of Macomb. Although each garden features a different mix of plants, all are accessible and provide an abundance of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. He estimated that the public access gardens include 400 tomato plants that will yield approximately 20,000 tomatoes. Additional crops include peppers, green beans, radishes, raspberries, and many other vegetables.
The Giving Gardens currently has 30 active volunteers, including four full-time staff members, two of whom are AmeriCorps members. With this support, the gardens are well maintained and provide fresh food to the community. John encouraged those in attendance to visit a garden and see what is available.
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”.
