Our Partners

Many other community partners have offered resources allowing us to make our project more efficient and cost effective. The Rotary Club of Woodstock is grateful for this dedication and passion from other local service organizations to serve the needs of the community.

A collaboration was started approximately 20 years ago with the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation – McHenry County Chapter – guaranteeing a gift for each child. All toys donated to Christmas Clearing House are collected locally. The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation donates approximately 65%-70% of the toys needed annually for Christmas Clearing House. The Rotary Club of Woodstock accredits the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation as the cavalry for saving the day during the economic crisis in 2008-2009 for providing enough toys to serve the unanticipated need.

Child’s play is important but reading helps open a child’s mind to a world of imagination. For the last 20 year, the Woodstock Public Library has delivered more than 2,000 books annually for ages birth to 5th grade. Each year, Library staff and Friends of the Library, host a scholastic book fair to raise funds to purchase new books while storing gently used books donated by the public throughout the year – all to be donated to Christmas Clearing House. Through this effort, a book is given to every child.

The Rotary Club of Woodstock has worked closely with the Northern Illinois Food Bank for nearly 20 years to be the primary supplier for food baskets. As the number of families to be served continue to rise, the Northern Illinois Food Bank helps explore alternative ways to stretch each dollar.

Year after year, local government has been a tremendous support to Christmas Clearing House. The Rotary Club of Woodstock has been allowed to use one of the fire stations on tagging days for volunteers to pick up and drop off donation cans. The Mayor and other City officials participate in food boxing and toy bagging. And, on delivery day, the City of Woodstock and Woodstock Police Department staff utilize Recreation Department, Opera House and DARE vehicles.

For over a decade, the staff at the Woodstock Moose Lodge #1329 have followed a ‘Recipe for Success’ to thank over 250 volunteers for their time & service on delivery day for Christmas Clearing House. In the wee hours of a Saturday morning, members of the Woodstock Moose Lodge #1329 don their aprons and fire up the ovens! First, breakfast sandwiches are prepared and delivered to the Christmas Clearing House warehouse workers by 6 am. Next, a complimentary, full hot breakfast is prepared – eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, potatoes, toast, coffee, and juice – to feed a large crowd of empty tummies. All tips earned by the Woodstock Moose Lodge #1329 during breakfast are donated back to Christmas Clearing House in addition to a separate donation.

The Assistant Principal and Advisor to Student Council, Michelle Martin, has been coordinating Coin Wars for the past 6-7 years for grades 6th-8th. The school classrooms compete against each other to earn not only the most money but the most points. Each classroom is provided a jug to deposit coins where a point is earned for the value of each coin. For example, a nickel would earn 5 points, a dime 10 points, and so on. For every cash dollar deposited into the jar, say $1.00, a 100 points would be deducted from the class jar. The winning class is recognized at a school assembly and the students are taken on a field trip to shop for toys to be donated to Christmas Clearing House. On average, approximately $1,500-$2,000 is raised each year from the Coin Wars efforts.

For over 15 years, the students at Westwood Elementary have collected canned and dry good and have made a food train of cardboard paper boxes filled to the brim. These donations of food have topped our food baskets with additional items to make their holiday more special.

The owner of TurnKey Digital, Rob McClurg, has donated countless hours of service providing video and other digital marketing pieces to grow awareness for Christmas Clearing House and other Rotary events. With the help of TurnKey Digital, heightened visibility for The Rotary Club of Woodstock’s passion and commitment has been shared throughout the community.