As members of the Rotary Club of Arlington Heights head into their 70th year as a local service organization, its Rotarians are building on the impact they made in the community in 2025.
Rotarians and members of the Interact Club at Rolling Meadows High School pack Thanksgiving boxes together.
Among their many projects was making food security a primary pillar of its mission. Consider these numbers: Supplying the Wheeling Township Food Pantry with more than 14,000 dozen eggs and 500 pounds of cheese. In addition, members packed Thanksgiving baskets and collected canned goods for those facing housing insecurity, served by Journeys: The Road Home in Palatine.
They also partnered with neighboring Rotary clubs at Feed My Starving Children in Schaumburg, packing meals for malnourished children in nearly 70 countries.
“Reflecting on 2025 reminds us of what is possible when a community comes together with a shared purpose,” says John Kent, President of the Rotary Club of Arlington Heights. “We enter 2026 energized by these accomplishments and inspired to deepen our impact in the year ahead.”
Rotarians work with Northwest Eye Physicians to provide free vision screenings.
Neil Scheufler has been a member of Rotary for 15 years and increasingly he is seeing the club evolve into even more hands-on projects, serving a variety of different needs.
One of their projects that resonates with Scheufler is the vision screenings the club provides for low income students in Palatine Elementary District 15.
“This is near and dear to my heart, as my mom was blind most of her adult life,” Scheufler says.
Opthamologists from Northwest Eye Physicians in Arlington Heights do the screenings, before Walmart comes with frames for the kids to pick out. Club members typically see 12-15 students, twice a year. But this year, thanks to a generous donor, Rotary members will be hosting five screenings.
“Rotary works with Walmart to pay for the glasses, so the kids pay nothing for their glasses,” Scheufler says. “The looks on the kids faces is reward enough for this project.”
Rotarians clean up Lake Arlington as part of their environmental stewardship.
The vision screenings are among the club’s health and wellness initiatives, which also include funding a mobile dental clinic. Club members also prioritize providing essential goods to at-risk members of the community, including donating Easter baskets to women and children affected by domestic violence, served by WINGS.
Another partnership includes collecting hygiene supplies for unhoused students, and providing warm winter coats and boots to neighbors and newly resettled refugees, served by Good Neighbors Network, started by Yeulanda Degala.
The list goes on and on, but the club’s hands-on initiatives continue to draw new members — 21 this year alone — and make a real impact in the community. In fact, as they reflect on their landmark year, they call it a “year defined by service and impact.”
Rotarians prepare to promote their Santa Run in the July 4th parade.
“Throughout 2025, club members have stayed true to the Rotary vision of “Service Above Self,” says Rotarian Amy Lewandowski, who serves as marketing director for the Arlington Heights Park District, “by channeling significant time, talent and resources into local and global initiatives.”
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