In a special meeting on Friday, August 3, the St. Ambrose University Board of Directors voted to remove the late Bishop Gerald O'Keefe's name from the St. Ambrose library. The board's decision was based on the recommendation of an ad-hoc committee of the board appointed by St. Ambrose University President Edward Rogalski to investigate a request to remove O'Keefe's name from the library. The request maintained that the removal was warranted because of the bishop's failure to take the necessary precautions to protect children from clergy sexual abuse that occurred during his tenure as bishop of the Davenport Diocese. The library will be referred to as the St. Ambrose Library until such time that the board is able to determine the appropriate course of action for its renaming.
The Davenport Public Library downtown location (at 321 Main Street) will be closed Tuesday, September 4, through Sunday, September 23, for a renovation project. The first floor of the library will receive new carpeting and a rearrangement of materials to make it more user-friendly. The renovation project coincides with the upcoming 40th anniversary of the Edward Durell Stone building, located at the corner of Fourth and Main streets. The official date of the 40th anniversary is October 6, 2008.
The Family Museum in Bettendorf has been awarded its second federal IMLS (Institute of Museum & Library Services) grant in six years. The $35,000 will be used primarily to cover the costs of the conceptual design and exhibit fabrication for The Garden, the exhibit designated for visitors four years old and younger. Portions of the grant will also go toward translation services for The Garden, as this will be the Family Museum's first non-traveling, multilingual exhibit. More than 400 museums applied for grants, and only 158 (from art museums to zoos) were awarded part of the $17.4 million. For more information on the Family Museum, visit (http://www.familymuseum.org).
St. Pius X church is trying to raise funds to build a Habitat for Humanity house in Rock Island. The church will hold its first fundraiser - a flea market and food booth - at the church on Saturday, August 18, and Sunday, August 19, from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. This will be held at Farrell Hall inside St. Pius at 2901 24th Street in Rock Island. For more information, contact Margaret Wadsworth at (309) 786-5791.
The Mississippi River Ramblers Volkswalk Club will host a walk and bike ride along the Hennepin Canal on Saturday and Sunday, September 8 and 9. Walkers and bikers may start anytime between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. but must finish by 4 p.m. The start/finish point is the Colona Fire Station at 401 First Street. The walk is 5K (3.1 miles) or 10K (6.2 miles), and the bike ride is 13K (about 8 miles) or 25K (about 16 miles). The event is to celebrate this year's centennial of the Hennepin Canal. For information, call Barb Grilley at (309) 797-1362.
XStream Cleanup is seeking hundreds of volunteers to clean up more than 30 waterways in the Quad Cities on Saturday, August 18, from 8:30 a.m. until noon. This event is in collaboration with Quad Cities native Chad Pregracke and his Living Lands & Waters team. Cleanups will take place in Bettendorf, Davenport, LeClaire, and Princeton, Iowa; and East Moline, Milan, Moline, and Rock Island, Illinois. The main focus of this year's cleanup is the southwest Davenport corridor near Credit Island, Highway 61, South Concord, and Wapello. No previous cleanup experience is necessary, and supplies will be provided. A parent or guardian must accompany volunteers under the age of 18. Interested persons should register online at (http://www.xstreamcleanup.org) or call (563) 468-4218 for more information.
Rock Island glass artist Mark Fowler and his friends have brought their glass creations to the Rock Island Main Library for a show that runs through August 30. The exhibit features blown, cast, slumped, Graal, and lamp-worked glass from the studios of Liquid Fire, the Nathaniel Park Studio, Glass Heritage, and Vytenis. The show on the second-floor Rotunda Room is free and open to the public during the library's regular operating hours. For details, visit (http://www.ripl.lib.il.us).
University of Illinois Knox County Extension is hosting a food forum on Saturday, September 15, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Knox Agri-Center at 180 South Soangetaha Road in Galesburg, Illinois. Designed to spark interest, dialogue, and communication among community members surrounding the concepts of local food systems, this forum is open to anyone interested in joining the conversation. For more information, or to register for the forum, call the Knox County Extension Office at (309) 342-5108 or e-mail (knox_co@extension.uiuc.edu).
