“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” Rogers Hornsby, Hall of Fame baseball player All due respect to Mr. Hornsby, but that’s no way to spend Rockford’s long...
Editor’s Note: This story was originally published in December 2020. By a wide margin, it is the most-read and most-shared post in this blog’s history. We present it again in honor of what would have been Darcie’s 56th birthday. “There’s no...
Kids at Spring Creek Elementary School will learn some Hebrew, thanks to a Jeremiah Fund grant from First Free Rockford. Wait, what? OK, it’s just one Hebrew term: gaga, which means “touch-touch.” The $750 grant from First Free will help the school’s Parent...
If you’ve shopped for groceries in the past six months, you’ve noticed occasional empty shelves, with staples like bread, dairy and meat in short supply. What you might not realize is that those shortages have a ripple effect, and it’s hitting needy families...
The Winnebago County court system has more than 1,000 kids involved in child abuse or neglect cases. One. Thousand. “That number should shake us to our core,” says Abby Finley, who attends First Free and who volunteers as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, or CASA....
Two special giving opportunities are available to help the people of Ukraine. Keep reading to learn more about who will receive the money and how they will use it to help rescue people. Giving Opportunity 1: First Baptist Church of Brovary Give to First Free...