• Roberta Holzworth, Jean Morrow, Webbs Norman finalists for Charles G. Uram Lifetime Service Award

Staff Report

The Community Foundation’s Annual Dinner will be Wednesday, Oct. 3, at Forest Hills Country Club, 5135 Forest Hills Road, Rockford.

The event will begin with a social hour at 5 p.m., and dinner and program will begin at 6 p.m.

Tickets to the event are $40 each, and $15 from each ticket will directly benefit the Eunice Wishop Stromberg Spelling Bee Endowment.

The purpose of the dinner is to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the gift to the community from the Howard D. Colman Family and the Barber-Colman Managers.

In 1987, the locally owned and operated Barber-Colman Company was purchased by the international corporation Siebe. At the time, Barber-Colman, like many local industry giants, had a long history of supporting the community through philanthropic giving, and the Howard D. Colman family and local management were apprehensive that the tradition of giving would not continue. In an effort to guarantee that charitable dollars would always be available, a group of company managers and the Colman family gifted $3.2 million to the Rockford Community Trust (now the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois).

The money was endowed and earmarked for three purposes: $1 million for Rockford College to be used in the form of scholarships; $1 million for the United Way of Rock River Valley; and $1.2 million for broad community needs throughout the northern Illinois region.

To date, the original gift of $3.2 million has more than tripled with more than $5.5 million in total awarded to Rockford College, the United Way and the community. More than $5.5 million remains prudently invested at the Community Foundation for long-term growth and stability.

Tickets to the Annual Dinner are available at the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois, 946 N. Second St., Rockford. Call (815) 962-2110, ext. 12, for more details.

Charles G. Uram Lifetime Service Award

Also at the Annual Dinner, the Eighth Annual Charles G. Uram Lifetime Service Award will be presented by the Rockford Cosmopolitan Club.

This award recognizes and celebrates the achievements of a person who embodies the values demonstrated by the late Charles G. Uram.

Uram passed away Dec. 24, 2004, and is remembered as a friend and mentor to the Rockford Cosmopolitan Club and to the Rockford community as a whole.

The finalists for this year’s award are Roberta (Bobbie) Holzworth, nominated by the YMCA; Jean Morrow, nominated by NAMI; and Webbs Norman, nominated by RAMP.

The winner will be honored with the Charles G. Uram award, and the winner’s nominating organization will receive a $5,000 donation from the Rockford Cosmopolitan Club.

Past Winners of the Charles G. Uram Lifetime Service Award are Dale Sanders (2005), Harry Ritter (2006), Dan Loescher (2007), Jim Keeling (2008), Phil Turner (2009), Barbara Berman (2010) and John Mink (2011).

Incorporated in 1958, the Rockford Cosmopolitan Club contributes to the community’s well-being through charitable donations and volunteer service with a special emphasis on supporting efforts to prevent and find a cure for diabetes.

Founded in 1953, the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois is the area’s largest provider of grants and scholarships. Its mission is to attract, grow and preserve an endowment for the current and future needs of the people of northern Illinois.

From the Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2012, issue