Christian Care, a faith-based not-for-profit organization in Rock Island, has provided food and shelter to record numbers of men, women, and children this year. So far in 2009, Christian Care has served 32,377 meals to residents and the community and provided 6,177 nights of lodging, a 30-percent increase from last year. Because of limited capacity, there is a waiting list at the Domestic Violence Shelter, putting women and children at risk while they remain in dangerous situations. Christian Care has two facilities, the Domestic Violence Shelter for abused women and children and a Rescue Mission for homeless men, where it also has a community meal site. For more information, contact Margaret Babbitt at (309)786-5734 or visit ChristianCareQC.org.

To borrow a phrase from the New York Culinary Institute: "Forgive us if we celebrate the end of summer." Sure, the bounty from the farm shines in the warmer weather; asparagus, berries, and delicate greens abound. But late summer brings its own windfall. This is really when the summer yield reaches its peak.

In the Quad Cities, there is a farmers' market nearly every day of the week, and you will find grocery stores bringing more seasonal, locally grown food into their produce sections. Taking advantage of the abundance of the harvest is a must. The following are seasonal food and beverage suggestions -- starting with the wine.

Humility of Mary Shelter invites the community to join it in celebrating its first birthday. Genesis Health System is sponsoring an open house at the RiverCenter's Iowa Room, 136 East Third Street in Davenport, on Monday, September 21, from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Talk to Humility of Mary Shelter staff, meet the co-directors, and see a slide show. For more information, contact, Melanie Jones at melanie.jones714@gmail.com or (563)322-8065. For more information online, visit HumilityOfMaryShelter.com. The shelter will also host a community meeting on Thursday, September 17, at 2 p.m. People will learn what it will take to keep the shelter open along with having the opportunity to share input. The event will be held in classrooms 1 and 2 at the Heart Institute on the Genesis East Campus, 1236 East Rusholme in Davenport.

Tony WagnerTony Wagner, the author of The Global Achievement Gap, will speak in the Quad Cities on September 17. He conducted scores of interviews with business and education leaders and observed classes in some of the most highly regarded public schools. Wagner concluded that despite the best efforts of educators, many students are leaving high school ill-prepared for post-secondary training and ill-equipped to compete in the global marketplace. Wagner will present his findings and strategies for change during a presentation on September 17. "Choices, Changes, & Challenges: Meeting the Needs of 21st Century Students" will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Quad-Cities Waterfront Convention Center, 2021 State Street in Bettendorf. The $40 registration fee includes print materials, continental breakfast, and lunch. Register online at SolutionWhere.com/mbaea/cw/main.asp or by contacting Donna Brase at (563)344-6481.

Two national ranking publications, The Princeton Review and U.S. News & World Report, have rated St. Ambrose University among the top universities in the region. St. Ambrose is one of the best universities in the Midwest, according to The Princeton Review. The New York City-based education-services company selected the university as one of 158 institutions of higher education it recommends in its "Best in the Midwest" designation. Colleges named "regional bests" represent only about 25 percent of the nation's four-year colleges. This is the fifth year in a row St. Ambrose has been selected. In U.S. News & World Report, St. Ambrose was ranked 36th among "master's universities" in the Midwest. For more information, go to SAU.edu.

Organic food is often praised as better-tasting and more nutritious than its conventional equivalent, and it's grown with fewer chemicals. But because it typically travels long distances to get to consumers, it has a significant environmental cost.

One alternative is locally grown food, which is of course readily available at the nine farmers' markets in the Quad Cities area.

But you'll likely have difficulty finding locally grown produce at a nearby grocery store. Some stores carry locally produced fruits and vegetables, but the labeling is often nonexistent or unclear, leaving customers uncertain whether they're buying an apple from within a few miles or from across the country.

Quad Cities arts, cultural, heritage, and festival groups are invited to a community arts marketing discussion from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, August 26, at the Quad City Botanical Center, 2525 Fourth Avenue in Rock Island. The meeting is sponsored by the Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau and Quad City Arts to explore ways the arts and cultural community can collaborate to develop larger audiences. In 2004, a study by CH Johnson suggested the Quad Cities could build a stronger arts community by working together. For more information or to RSVP, contact Joe Taylor at (309)277-0937 extension 116 or jtaylor@visitquadcities.com.

Seventeen cities and counties across Iowa will receive 23 "Great Places" grants totaling $1.9 million. Davenport will receive $100,000 for a Centennial Park "sprayground" and $100,000 for the "Front Porch Parkway." The program is in its fifth year and is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. For more information, visit CulturalAffairs.org.

Father Patrick DesboisThe window is closing.

The mass graves aren't going anywhere, and neither is the forensic evidence - cartridges and bullets and bones. The archives are safe. But Father Patrick Desbois has but a few years to talk to people who saw the murders, and only they can identify the exact locations of the bodies and illuminate the problematic accounts in German and Soviet documents.

"We are in the small window I would say, because it's the end of the life of the witnesses, but it's also perhaps the only period in which ... they begin to feel free from the Soviet Union," Desbois said last week in a phone interview. "It's a short-term project. We think six, seven years maximum ... ."

Desbois, a Roman Catholic priest from France, has since 2004 conducted investigations into the "Holocaust by bullets" - the murder of eastern-European Jews by German soldiers during World War II. He will speak at St. Ambrose University on August 27.

Olympia DukakisThe second season of Eastern Iowa Community College's Viewpoint Distinguished Speakers Series features Academy Award-winning actress Olympia Dukakis (October 6), bestselling author Scott Turow (January 26), and the first female president of Ireland, Mary Robinson (April 13). Tickets for the series are $84, with single-performance tickets also available, and can be purchased through any Ticketmaster outlet and the Adler Theatre box office. All performances will be held at the Adler Theatre (136 East Third Street in Davenport) beginning at 7:30 p.m. For more information about the series, call (563)336-3321 or visit EICC.edu/viewpoint.

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