PBS and the Development Advisory Committee have recognized WQPT for excellence and innovative fundraising by awarding a Certificate of Achievement to the Quad Cities public-television station. WQPT previously won development awards in 1986, 1994, and 2001.
If you are planning a neighborhood cleanup, help is available from Keep Rock Island Beautiful. The organization will provide free gloves and trash bags for fall cleanups. To organize one, or find out more about area environmental groups, contact Executive Director Carolyn Fuller at (309) 786-1334 or (cfuller@keepribeautiful.org). Also, the organization recently introduced an Adopt-a-Highway program and is looking for volunteers. Keep Rock Island Beautiful encourages citizens, businesses, and organizations to share responsibility for maintaining a healthy, safe, and beautiful city. For more information, visit (http://www.keepribeautiful.org).
Glenn Pelecky, chief administrator of Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency in Bettendorf, has been named the 2007-8 Iowa Superintendent of the Year. School Administrators of Iowa sponsors this annual award, which is in its 21st year. Pelecky has been chief administrator at Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency since 1988. Pelecky will be honored at a governor's awards ceremony in late spring and at School Administrators of Iowa's awards banquet in August.
The Friends of Musser Public Library in Muscatine will hold a book sale Thursday through Sunday, October 25 through 28. This sale will offer a large selection of adult nonfiction, particularly World War II and Civil War books, as well as fiction, young-adult, children's, and audio-visual items. Musser Public Library is located at the corner of Third Street and Iowa Avenue in downtown Muscatine. For more information call (563) 263-3065.
Ojibwe poet Mark Turcotte will read from his work October 18 at Augustana College in the college's new literary-readings series, "Lit Wits: Writers Read at Augustana." Raised on the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota, Turcotte brings his Native American heritage to bear in spare, lyrical lines.
A free tutor and mentor training will be held on Tuesday, October 16, at 9 a.m. at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church, 2312 18th Avenue in Rock Island. This training is provided by a partnership between Good Shepherd's Spring Forward Learning Center, Rock Island/Milan Schools, and the Retired & Senior Volunteer Program of Eastern Iowa & Western Illinois. To register or for more information, contact Dave Layton at (309) 793-4425 or (dlayton@wiaaa.org), or Virginia at (309) 793-5900 extension 280 or (virginia.jarrett@risd41.org).
A scherenschitte (paper-cutting) workshop will be held on Saturday, October 13, at 2 p.m. at the German American Heritage Center, 712 West Second Street in Davenport. "Scherenschnitte" is the German word for the art of scissors-snipping or paper-cutting, an art form that has been around for hundreds of years. Germans settling in Pennsylvania created paper cuttings that were used for marriage and birth certificates, Christmas ornaments, home decoration, and simply for the joy of creating art. Reservations are required and can be made by contacting the German American Heritage Center at (563) 322-8844 or (director@gahc.org).
The Salvation Army's Mittens for Kids Program is collecting mittens, gloves, and cold-weather clothes for children ages five through 12. This program, in its third year, will deliver the mittens and clothes to 19 area schools in Iowa and Illinois, which will then distribute the items to the students who are most in need. Donations of new or handmade items can be dropped off at the Salvation Army, 301 West Sixth Street in Davenport or 2200 Fifth Avenue in Moline by November 1.
Success by 6 Give Kids a Smile Day in the Quad Cities was recently named a finalist in National City's Children's Champion Award competition. Success by 6 has been implemented by United Ways in more than 355 communities across the country. The United Way of the Quad Cities Area's Success by 6 initiative has been working to create innovate strategies to help children succeed in school and life, to build relationships between the private and public sectors, and to create a shared vision of child well-being. For more information, look at (http://www.unitedwayqc.org/sb6/index.htm).
