EIGHTH ANNUAL BETTENDORF ROTARY LOBSTERFEST SET FOR JUNE 14TH

BETTENDORF, IA - As it prepares to host the Eighth Annual Lobsterfest, the Bettendorf Rotary Club will strive to continue the history of its "party with a purpose" that provides the community with direct grants and scholarships (www.bettendorfrotary.com/lobsterfest).

The New England-style lobster boil is set for Saturday, June 14th - 5:30 to 10 PM - at Rivermont Collegiate, 1821 Sunset Drive in Bettendorf. Tickets are priced at $75.00 each or a table of eight for $520.00 (a savings of $10 per ticket). They can be purchased by calling (563) 445-4264 or visiting www.bettendorfrotary.com/tickets. The event is open to the general public.

Thanks to funds raised at last year's event, the Bettendorf Rotary Club's Charitable Giving Board awarded direct grants to area charities totaling $23,000. The club also awarded $7,000 in scholarships to students pursuing higher education. Both totals were record amounts.

Similar levels are the goal again in 2014 because of major sponsorships from THE National Bank, Humana Health, Ascentra Credit Union, Professional Touch Cleaning, Weerts Funeral Home, Iowa American Water, McGinnis-Chambers Funeral Home, RJS & Associates, Bowe Machine and Werner Restoration. Community awareness is heightened through media sponsors Mediacom/OnMedia, Quad-City Times and WOC News Talk 1420 AM.

Another important service component is delivered through a relationship with Scott Community College's Culinary Arts program led by Chef Bradley Scott (http://www.eicc.edu/future-students/our-programs/culinary/index.aspx). Besides helping to prepare the meal, it also makes further scholarship opportunities available for SCC students.

Finally, the event welcomes several groups such as the Culinary Kids of Family Resources, Inc. and Boy Scout Troop 24 that assist other volunteers in delivering the fresh meal of Maine lobsters.

The Bettendorf Rotary Club (www.bettendorfrotary.com), chartered on May 22, 1957, has more than 100 members fulfilling the Rotary motto of "Service Above Self" in a variety of local, regional and national community volunteer projects. The club meets each Wednesday at Noon at Fortune Garden Restaurant, 2211 Kimberly Road, Bettendorf. In addition to the website, you can find the club on Facebook (www.facebook.com/bettendorfrotary).

Bettendorf Rotary Club is part of Rotary International (www.rotary.org), founded in 1905 by Paul Harris, a Chicago businessman and University of Iowa alumnus. The international organization, now based in Evanston, IL, has more than one million members participating in 32,000 clubs located in more than 200 countries.