Spring will officially be hereFriday, making it the perfect time to start planning your spring gardening & landscaping projects. Get free help with a series of four free programs from the Rock Island Public Library and local plant & garden experts!

March 19th, Attracting Bees and Other Pollinators, 6:30 pm at Main Library. Learn how to attract bees and other pollinators to your
garden or yard from the staff from the Nahant Marsh.

March 26th, Teas Me: Growing, Harvesting, and Enjoying Your Own Teas, 6:30 pm at Main Library. Learn how to grow and enjoy
your own teas in your garden or yard from the Mad Farmer, Hannah Forslund. Samples will be provided. Bring your questions!

April 9th, Pollinators - At Your Service, 6:30 pm at Main Library. You know the daytime pollinators because you see them. What about those that come out at night? They don't all fly. What can you do to welcome them? Get to know our area pollinators because you as one person, can make a big difference - come and find out how. Handouts will be available.

April 17th, Putting Some Herbs in Your Life, 6:30 pm at Main Library -Herbs add flavor and color to your garden and your home. Peg Christensen, from QC Herbs, will share her knowledge about herbs, how easily you can add them to most areas of your life - kitchen, bathroom, closets, and more. Bring your questions and your curiosity!

Where? Main Library Community Room, 401 - 19th Street. Free!

Mount Carroll, IL--Timber Lake Playhouse, the professional, non-profit summer theatre of northwest Illinois, will hold auditions for qualified musicians for their summer season on Sunday, April 27th at 2:00 pm at the theatre in Mount Carroll, Illinois.  Auditions for children for the theatre's upcoming production of Les Miserables will follow at 4:00 pm.

The 53rd summer season of Timber Lake Playhouse will include the musicals Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, Les Miserable and Shout! The Mod Musical. All musicals at TLP utilize paid area musicians. Auditions for Bass (upright & electric), Woodwinds, Percussion, Guitar, Brass and Strings will begin at 2:00 pm. Musicians will be seen in 10 minute appointments. They should be prepared to play a selection of their choosing. They might be asked to sight read from one of the shows. For an appointment, please call the theatre at 815-244-2035. TLP is located at 8215 Black Oak Rd in Mount Carroll. Performance dates and rehearsal schedules can be found at www.timberlakeplayhouse.org.

Auditions for the roles of Gavroche, Young Cosette and Young Eponine in Les Miserables will begin at 4:00 pm. The playhouse is seeking a boy aged 8-12 for Gavroche who is a very strong singer and is comfortable on stage. Girls ages 8-10, who are strong singers and very comfortable on stage are encouraged to audition for Young Cosette and Young Eponine. All children should bring a song to sing in the style of the show. They may sing from the show, as well. An accompanist will be provided. These roles are not paid, but a travel stipend may be arranged. All ethnicities are encouraged to attend. Please call the theatre at 815-244-2035 to sign up for auditions.

Additional auditions for children for Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and adults for Young Frankenstein will be held in May. Performers and musicians must be available for all scheduled performances and rehearsals. More information is available at www.timberlakeplayhouse.org. Timber Lake Playhouse programs are supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council through federal funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

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-SouthPark Mall and Habitat for Humanity Builds Bond Ahead of Earth Day-

MOLINE, Illinois, Mar 17, 2014 - The future is even brighter for SouthPark Mall. Recently the property shared reinvestment plans that include the removal of the food court as well as the former Sears department store.

Construction is set to start in April with a formal grand opening set for November. Today, SouthPark Mall is building a new partnership with Habitat for Humanity Quad Cities.

Earth Day is set for April 22nd, but South Park Mall is celebrating early. As wood, bricks, and retail fixtures come down, new uses for those items are providing support for the work of Habitat for Humanity Quad Cities. Habitat will be rescuing furniture, wood tables, clothing fixtures, sinks, grid wall, metal shelving, lockers and more, prior to demolition. All these items will be donated by SouthPark to be resold by Habitat ReStore. Items from SouthPark will be available to the public at the Habitat ReStore Wed 10-7, Thurs and Fri 10-5 and Sat 10-3 beginning immediately. More information about the ReStore can be found at www.restoreqc.org.

Habitat for Humanity Quad Cities is a local bi-state affiliate of an international, ecumenical, Christian, non-profit organization that builds simple, decent, affordable houses for and in partnership with families in need who then purchase the homes from HFHQC on a no-interest mortgage. The Quad Cities affiliate was organized in 1993 by a group of Quad Citians who traveled to Homestead, Florida to assist with home building efforts after Hurricane Andrew. Since that time, HFHQC has built 73 homes.

"Proceeds from the sale of these items will help provide simple, decent, affordable housing to hard-working partner families," said Cindy Kuhn, Director, Habitat ReStore. "Our community benefits from reusing these items, rather than buying or producing new items. And these usable materials don't needlessly end up in our landfills."

Each home, generously subsidized by donated and/or discounted building supplies, materials and skilled labor and utilizing much volunteer labor currently costs about $90,000. These funds and volunteers come from churches, individuals, foundations, corporations, businesses and other community groups. HFHQC activities are governed by a local, elected volunteer Board of Directors which work through volunteer committees with coordination by the Executive Director.

"We are committed to building on our community relationships," said Aleshia Chiesa, Marketing Manager, SouthPark Mall. "Habitat for Humanity Quad Cities is a great cause and we are proud to offer our support."

For up to date information on the redevelopment of SouthPark Mall, visit www.shopsouthparkmall-il.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Macerich is a fully integrated self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust, which focuses on the acquisition, leasing, management, development and redevelopment of regional malls throughout the United States. Additional information about Macerich can be obtained from the Company's website at www.macerich.com.

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Rock Island, IL/March 2014--this March Living Lands & Waters is seeking volunteers to join their forces for  some fun during their annual spring tree wrapping event! The MillionTrees Project began in 2007, and since then has distributed over 600,000 trees to surrounding individuals, families, schools, park districts, businesses, and organizations. The goal of the MillionTrees Projects is to grow and plant 1 million trees. This year, LL&W will be giving out 125,000 trees.

Trees provide shelter and nut-bearing hardwoods are a viable food source for wildlife and migratory birds.  Slow-growing hardwoods, like oaks, have a harder time re-establishing themselves without help, and are often crowded out by faster growing species, like cottonwoods, willow and silver maples. Re-establishing hardwoods helps increase biodiversity, reduce erosion and run-off and improve water and air quality.

"Wrapping over 100,000 trees takes a lot of work" said Chad Pregracke, founder and President of Living Lands & Waters.  Pregracke adds, "It's a great avenue to help the community and educate people on why trees are important."

This is a great event for all ages, and families. Volunteers will be participating in a variety of activities including bundling trees in newspaper, dipping roots in water, and placing/tying trees in bags. Warm and comfortable clothing is encouraged! This can get messy.

Those interested should show up a the North Hall of the QCCA Expo Center at 2621 - 4th Avenue Rock Island, IL on Thursday, March 27 - Monday, March 31  9am-5pm

Registration is not required, but highly recommended for groups of 10 or more people. Volunteers are invited to work time slots of their choice, and come and go as they please. Please note that participating children must be properly supervised.

To learn more about Living Lands & Waters, visit our website at http://www.livinglandsandwaters.org.  Members of the press may schedule an appointment to interview a crew member by calling or emailing Natalie Linville-Mass at (309) 948-1436 or Natalie@livinglandsandwaters.org.

About Living Lands & Waters - Chad Pregracke started Living Lands & Waters in 1998 as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the beautification and restoration of America's major rivers and to the education of people about environmental issues. From his single boat beginning, LL&W has grown to an internationally known organization with a fleet of barges and workboats.  LL&W engages thousands of volunteers each year in river cleanups, hands-on environmental education workshops, the Great Mississippi River Cleanup, Adopt-a- River-Mile programs and the Million Trees Project.

For more information about the Million Trees Project - http://livinglandsandwaters.org/get-involved/million-trees/

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