Two-year project donates 648,000 meals

 

67 meal-packing events.  2,300 Modern Woodmen volunteers. 648,000 meals.

Over the past two years, Modern Woodmen of America, a fraternal financial services organization, has organized meal-packing events with employees and financial representatives throughout the country in an effort to address food insecurity in the United States.

In America, approximately 1 in 7 households experiences food insecurity. For American households with children, the statistic jumps to nearly 1 in 5. (USDA Economic Research Service, 2014)

"When we learned how many people in the United States experience hunger, we were stunned," says W. Kenny Massey, Modern Woodmen's president and CEO. "We knew we had to take action."

Modern Woodmen's Knock Out Hunger campaign began in 2014 at the organization's home office in Rock Island, Illinois. About 390 home office employees organized and participated in a meal-packing event, which produced 50,000 meals for River Bend Foodbank in Davenport, Iowa. The employees also collected more than 2,500 pounds of food, donated $15,609.49 to River Bend Foodbank and spent more than 965 hours volunteering for the cause.

The project was then introduced to regional directors of Modern Woodmen offices across the country during an annual conference last January. The regional directors, who packed and donated 50,000 meals with their families during the conference, were encouraged to organize meal-packing events with the financial representatives in their home states.

The response was incredible. The regional offices held 65 events. More than 1,700 financial representatives and family members volunteered, packing and donating 548,000 meals to nearly 250 community food pantries throughout the country.

"Our goal was to pack 500,000 meals this year," notes Massey. "Thanks to the overwhelming support of our employees and representatives, we knocked it out of the park."

"Our overall support and enthusiasm for this project was tremendous," he adds. "I can't wait to see what the next year will bring."

As a tax-exempt fraternal benefit society, Modern Woodmen sells life insurance, annuity and investment* products not to benefit stockholders, but to improve the quality of life of its stakeholders - members, their families and their communities. This is accomplished through social, charitable and volunteer activities. In 2014, Modern Woodmen and its members provided more than $19 million and nearly 437,000 volunteer hours for community projects nationwide.

* Securities offered through MWA Financial Services Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Modern Woodmen of America

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For more information about Knock Out Hunger or Modern Woodmen, contact Michelle Opsahl, 309-793-5660, Michelle.Opsahl@modern-woodmen.org.

Beginning on Friday, December 11th, area theatre­goers will have the opportunity to see the Iowa Premier of Adam's Gifts, a play by Peter Filichia. The theater critic emeritus for the Star­Ledger in Newark, New Jersey and News 12 New Jersey, he is the author of Let's Put on a Musical; Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit of the Season / The Biggest Flop of the Season and Broadway Musical MVPs 1960­2010: The Most Valuable Players of the Last 50 Seasons. Before joining the Theatre World Awards in 1996 as host and head of the selection committee, Filichia served four terms as president of the Drama Desk. He has served on an assessment panel for the National Endowment for the Arts, and is currently critic­in­residence for the University of Cincinnati­Conservatory of Music and the musical theater judge for the ASCAP Awards program.

Clinton Area Showboat Theatre is presenting this Community Production of Adam's Gifts. Performances are scheduled for December 11, 12, 18 and 19 at 7:30pm and on December 13 and 20 at 3pm, located at Ashford University's Mullany Theatre. Adam's Gifts is a modern take on the classic Dickens' story, A Christmas Carol. William Pront is a miserly landlord who is transformed by his relationship with a very sick child. The role of Pront is played by Peter L. Sickels, a priest at Christ Episcopal Church in Clinton. Peter has appeared in the 2013 holiday production of A Christmas Carol (Scrooge) as well as two main­stage Showboat musicals: Annie Get Your Gun (Pawnee Bill) and Cats (Gus). Laurel Decker will play the role of Glynis, a ghostly character who guides Pront along his journey to redemption. Laurel is a pharmacist for Wagner Pharmacy and has appeared in the past two holiday productions (Christmas Belles, A Christmas Carol) as well as numerous Showboat shows, most recently as Charlie Davenport in Annie Get Your Gun. Pront's long­suffering assistant Jason is played by Justin Tegeler, who also portrays Sam, a figure from Pront's past. Justin is a graduate of Clinton High School working in marketing and sales at Tegeler Music. Past Showboat productions include : Singin' in the Rain, Joseph and...Dreamcoat, Rent, and Showboat. The roles of Lisa (Jason's ex-wife) and Mary (Pront's long­ago girlfriend) are played by Showboat newcomer Rebecca Chan. A participant in plays at Hinsdale High School and Western Springs Theatre, Rebecca has also studied at Hofstra University and had training at Second City and Act One Studios, both in Chicago. The character who is best able to bring about Pront's transformation is Adam, played by Jaxon Gerken­Spencer. A student at Eagle Heights in Clinton, Jaxon will play the role of young Pront as well as the title role of Adam. Jaxon participated in CAST's 2013 A Christmas Carol as Peter Cratchit.

Kris Doss is directing Adam's Gifts. A graduate of University of Dubuque with BA in Theatre and BS in Psychology, Kris spent the past summer as Box Office Manager and Education director for CAST where he directed Go Dog Go and Junie B. Jones the Musical. Kris also played Macavity in Cats and the Doctors in Next to Normal. Recently he directed The Diary of Anne Frank and This is a Test with Marquette High School in Bellevue where he will return to direct the spring musical.

Clinton Area Showboat Theatre is excited to announce local auditions for its 2016 Main­Stage "Season of American Classics" which includes: The Odd Couple, The Music Man, South Pacific, Grease and The Glass Menagerie. The Intern Company's Theatre for Young People Season will include : You're a Good Man Charlie Brown and A Year With Frog and Toad.

Auditions will be held February 6th and 7th at the Mullany Theatre at Ashford University. Please prepare 32 bars of a song and bring sheet music in the correct key. An accompanist will be provided. Some of those auditioning will be asked to attend the dance callback at 5pm each night. Roles are available for local actors of all ages and ethnicities in Music Man, South Pacific and Grease. Please email krisjdoss@hotmail.com for an appointment. Limited slots are available.

Teenagers interested in interviewing for the professional intern company are asked to prepare a one minute monologue in addition to the song, as well as to attend an informational meeting from 10­10:30 am on Saturday, February 6th. Please email krisjdoss@hotmail.com for an application packet and handbook.

General admission tickets for Adam's Gifts are $10 for adults and $5 for youth (17 and under) and may be purchased at the door, at Clinton Printing, Wagner Pharmacy, Sweet Woodruff or online at www.clintonshowboat.org. Season tickets for the 2016 Season of American Classics are also available at those sites.

(DES MOINES) - Today, Gov. Terry E. Branstad announced an extension of the time period in which Medicaid providers are able to receive full reimbursement.  This measure allows all Medicaid providers, whether in-network or out-of-network for the partner insurance plans, to receive 100 percent reimbursement for services provided until April 1, 2016.

The Iowa Medicaid Modernization plan always included a safe harbor reimbursement floor of 100 percent current Medicaid rates for any provider who contracts with a partner insurance plan. The extension announced today is intended to give patients peace of mind that they can continue seeing their providers. The measure also gives providers additional time within the safe harbor to contract with a partner plan.

This announcement comes on the heels of news that three major hospital systems have signed up with a managed care organization last week. Extending the safe harbor for provider reimbursement coupled with the hospital systems signing demonstrates Iowa will have a robust provider network for Medicaid patients on Jan. 1, 2016.

This safe harbor extension builds upon an already thoughtful transition to deliver improved health outcomes for Iowans on Medicaid.  Phased-in details were announced back in November and can be found here.

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