Annual Meeting
Sustain Rockford is Committed to Transparency and Community Impact
Our annual meeting report provides a look at some of our initiatives and achievements over the past year. Discover the highlights of this year’s Annual Meeting below.
Sustain Rockford held its Annual Meeting Wednesday, January 8, at Nicholas Conservatory. It was a high-energy evening with 70 people selling out the event in the conservatory’s Meeting Room to enjoy an appetizing spread of hors d’oeuvres and to hear reports on various aspects of the Rockford region’s progress in becoming more sustainable. Keynote Speaker, Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara, listed the many ways the community is becoming more sustainable from work on flood mitigation at Keith Creek, to water quality measures for the south fork of Kent Creek, plans for many public electric vehicle charging stations and the new solar panel – battery storage complex atop the Prairie Street Brewing Company’s covered parking structure on S. Madison St.
Attendees also heard from the chairs of Sustain Rockford’s three task forces – the GoSolar815 Campaign, the GoGreen815 Campaign and the Communications Support Team. The GoSolar815 Campaign’s Steering Committee Co-Chairs, Jordyn Wilson and Patrick Weller, reported that the Campaign was begun at the day-long Solar Conference and Expo at Rockford’s Embassy Suites. The GoSolar815 Campaign has the goal of helping the Rockford region get all its electrical power from solar and other renewable sources by the year 2050.
Co-Chairs of the GoGreen815 Campaign, Paula Olson and Mary Kaull, outlined their 2025 plans to sell compost bins to residents and encouraged people to drop off Nettles Compost Collective compost buckets at Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful’s recycling drop-off center at 4665 Hydraulic Rd. in Rockford. Paula and Mary also expressed hopes of encouraging restaurants to subscribe to composting services and for restaurant patrons to bring their own reusable containers for leftovers to avoid using Styrofoam. Notably, the Annual Meeting, like all other Sustain Rockford events, was a low-waste event—no plastic ware, no bottled water, and no single-use plates or cups. Rockford Park District employee Lyndi Toohill, who works at Nicholas, remarked, “I was blown away by how 60+ people eating food produced barely enough waste to fill the bottom of an office-sized trash can! You all truly walk your talk!”
Brad Roos, President of Sustain Rockford’s board, rounded out the evening by thanking attendees, Bob and Sonja Vogl, for their decades of sustainability leadership and mentoring in northern Illinois. Brad ended with a PowerPoint presentation thanking Sustain Rockford’s sponsors, calling attention to the serious environmental concerns we all face globally – rising atmospheric CO2 levels and mounting plastic waste – and locally – the 13-year remaining life of the Winnebago Landfill and the severe local climate change threats of floods, extreme heat, and extreme weather events. Brad also pointed out that climate anxiety and hopelessness are serious concerns which are perhaps most impacting the community’s youth. And yet, he said, there are plenty of reasons to be hopeful: U.S. CO2 emissions are dropping, solar energy production is exceeding expectations, EV battery prices are dropping very fast, and the U.S. and other countries are rapidly phasing out coal-fired power plants. Brad detailed local sustainability efforts mentioned earlier and added the positive economic impact of solar in Winnebago County. He encouraged those present to be sustainability leaders in the community by talking to their friends and family about ways they can live more sustainably – and, of course, to become members of Sustain Rockford and donate to it.
The meeting ended with the election of Sustain Rockford board members.
