The agencies that benefit from grants awarded by the Try-Beta Club serve 10s of thousands of people in the Rockford region.
That was what Phil Eaton, who retired as Rosecrance’s president/CEO in 2020, told me Nov. 16 after the club’s grant distribution celebration. Eaton also is a member of Try-Beta.
Try-Beta (Benevolence, Business, and Brotherhood) is a small service organization with a dozen members. This year $15,000 was awarded. In its 50-plus year history, the club has given $636,000 to local charities. Most of those charities work with youth.
Here’s a list of this year’s grant recipients:
- Center of Hope
- Discovery Center
- Haven Network
- Milestone
- Northern Illinois Hospice
- Rock House Kids
- Rockford Park District
- Rosecrance
- Rosie’s Birthday Club
- Uniform CO-OP
- YMCA
- Youth For Christ
- Sheltercare Ministries
- KFACT
Try-Beta’s major fundraiser is a sale of hanging baskets of New Guinea Impatiens. The club will try to have the tickets and sales posters printed and ready by the end of March so keep an eye out for those. Baskets are sold up to a week before Mothers Day. Club members and volunteers will deliver the flowers in the Rockford area free of any delivery charges.
The club also does four casino nights in the Northern Illinois area.
Thank you to Rodney Wright, club secretary, for inviting me to the grant distribution and for providing information about the club’s fundraisers.
Transformation happens when people care about each other and work to improve the lives of those who need a boost now and then. Kudos to members of Try-Beta for the work they do.
