Another Successful Duck Race for the Rotary Club of Loveland

Loveland, CO (Rotary Club of Loveland), August 27th, 2023 – The biggest fundraiser the Rotary Club of Loveland puts on is hands down the Annual Duck Race during the Loveland Corn Roast Festival. And after a Friday full of flooding and cloudy skies on Saturday, we couldn't be happier about the continued support from our community! It was a great Corn Roast Festival, great people, and a thrilling swim as the ducks raced down the Big Thompson River!

The Duck Race has been an annual event for quite a handful of years now! The goal of the fundraiser is simple: raise money for the club's foundation. But how does that help the Loveland Community? Glad you asked. The Loveland Rotary Foundation was created in 1984 to provide funding for the philanthropic activities of the Rotary Club of Loveland. The Foundation provides funds to improve the health and education of the youth in the Loveland Community and to provide community and international disaster assistance. Student scholarships, community grants, student and teacher recognition, literacy, nature education, and other projects in the Loveland community. The club's students and teachers of the month get both recognition, but also a cash check that they can use for themselves. The club also awards scholarships for Thompson School District students pursuing secondary education whether that is college or trades school.

An example of a community grant would be the grant awarded to Walt Clark Middle School. Last fall, Walt Clark Middle School submitted a grant to upgrade and refurbish their Fabrication Shop that will used in their STEM education programs to promote science, technology, engineering, and math for the next generation of scientists, engineers, and tradespeople. Through raised funds from the duck race, the club was able to grant $6,000 and get an additional $4,000 from the District foundation. In all, that was $10,000 that Rotary was able to provide in part by fundraising from the Duck Race!

The Duck Race could not have been as successful as it was without the help and support of our Duck Race Committee who spent half the year planning and coordinating this event. Thank you to our committee members: Chris White - Duck Race Chair, Evan Paterson - Treasurer, Jon Moore - Little Ducks, Rick Parker - Big Ducks, Bob Tello, Janice Ververs, John Fogle, and a special thanks to Tim Sendelbach for coordinating help with the booth and equipment setup and teardown. Lastly, there were numerous Rotarians from the club as well as the Loveland, Berthoud, and Thompson Valley Satellite Clubs that volunteered at the various events leading up to the race to sell duck tickets. Thank you all for making this year's Duck Race possible!

Last year, our club raised a total of $28,000 for the club's foundation. From the Corn Roast Festival alone, roughly $3,000 was raised. With all the passion and efforts put into the Duck Race this year, the club is proud to announce a record total of $30,000 was raised this year! Wow! Thank you to all who contributed.

As this article established, the annual duck race fundraiser is more than a way for the club to raise funds. Every year, the Loveland Community comes together to support each other through the purchase of a duck ticket. The community is helping the Rotary Club support literacy in the Thompson School District. The club can then purchase books for second graders, help establish the Dolly Parton Imagination Library in Larimer County, and help schools in the district turn old computer labs into Innovation Labs where students learn technological literacy! Our members are passionate about helping the next generation in their education and it gives Rotarians great pride that the Loveland Community believes in this passion too!