Thousands invited to help "Pack the Truck" to Support River Bend Foodbank

 

On Thursday, June 19 Modern Woodmen of America will bring nearly 5,000 members, family, friends and more to "Modern Woodmen Night" at Modern Woodmen Park.  Modern Woodmen will announce the Knock Out Hunger campaign, a fraternal project designed to support River Bend Foodbank, during a pre-game ceremony.

Gates open at Modern Woodmen Park at 5:30 p.m. with the first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. Interviews will be available before and during the River Bandits' game.

Volunteers will collect canned food and monetary donations at the front entrance to "Pack the Truck," filling one of River Bend Foodbank's distribution trucks.

Modern Woodmen Night is an annual event to celebrate Flag Day and patriotism. What better way is there to represent this patriotic holiday than bringing the community together to support an honorable cause?

Knock Out Hunger campaign

This year, Modern Woodmen has selected River Bend Foodbank to support through its Knock Out Hunger campaign. Modern Woodmen employees and members will donate time, money and food to the food distribution center throughout the summer. Modern Woodmen Night is just the beginning.

"Our mission is to improve the quality of life for our members and their communities. The truth is, there are many people in our home office community struggling to find enough food to eat. I am confident our Knock Out Hunger project will help ease that struggle," says Modern Woodmen President Kenny Massey.

There are multiple mobile food pantry events scheduled, backpack programs, a "Meals from the Heartland" packing event, and a communitywide 5k run/walk. Each event will support the food bank.

"This kind of effort will make an enormous impact for us at River Bend Foodbank. Our shelves tend to run dry during the summer months," says River Bend Foodbank marketing director Caren Laughlin. "Summer donations are critical because many children no longer have the benefit of their school lunch program."

River Bend Foodbank is the largest hunger relief organization in the Quad Cities and surrounding communities, distributing more than eight million pounds of food annually to feed the hungry. The Foodbank serves more than 10,000 individuals every week through its distribution network of 300 charitable feeding programs in a 22 county service area in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois.

Childhood hunger programs include the Backpack Program which provides up to 1,700 Quad City children with nourishing food to take home on the weekends during the school year, the Kids Café Program providing evening meals to children at three sites, and the Mobile Food Pantry which directly feeds thousands of families each month.

Founded in 1883, Modern Woodmen of America touches lives and secures futures. The fraternal financial services organization offers financial services and fraternal member benefits to individuals and families throughout the United States.

For more information about Modern Woodmen Night or the effort to support River Bend Foodbank, contact Amber O'Brien at 309-793-5660 (office), 309-798-6704 (cell) or visit modern-woodmen.org.

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Churches United of the Quad City Area has received an $800.00 grant from The Friendly Thrift Center. This award supports the production of our Directory of Churches in the Quad City Area.

This publication lists over 475 churches and other agencies within the bi-state region. The Directory is created by our staff, and provides church address information, staff members, telephone numbers, and hours of services.

Churches United has a 53-year history of reaching out to our community. Its 134 member churches represent 50,000 people from the Quad City Area. For information about services offered, or ways to support Churches United, call 563-332-5002, or visit our website at www.CUQCA.org.

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The 6th Annual BeeRME for Music begins at 7:00 p.m. on the second floor of the RME on Friday, June 13th.  BeeRME will feature a wide range of beer samples from Great River Brewery, Millstream Brewing Company, 7G Distributing, Wolfe Beverage, and Mississippi River Distillery Company, and many others!  The night will also feature live music by OSG and local food samplings. A complimentary tasting glass will also be included in the ticket price. www.rivermusicexperience.org

Please join Donors Forum, the Moline Foundation, and the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend for a training session and discussion on connecting advocacy to your mission! This training session will be a follow-up to the meeting we had in October around "Building a Stronger Illinois" and will help you learn more about the nuts and bolts of effective advocacy.

Advocacy has a role in fulfilling the mission of nonprofits and making an impact in our communities. It can be connected to every organization's mission, no matter the level of experience, no matter the size organization. Participants will leave the training with:

  • skills on how to leverage advocacy for their organization through well planned educational action
  • tools and actionable next steps to make their voices heard by their Illinois elected officials
Please note that the training will be focused on Illinois advocacy and politics (though some of it will be general).

Tuesday, July 22, 2014
1:00 p.m. - Check-In
1:15 - 3:45 p.m. - Briefing and Discussion
Please RSVP by July 17
**Snacks will be served

The Deere-Wiman House
817 11th Avenue, Moline

We look forward to seeing you!
MONTICELLO, IOWA - The 40th Anniversary Camp Courageous Staff/Volunteer Reunion is scheduled for Saturday June 21 from 1:00 to 4:00 PM in the camp lodge. There will be tours from 1-2:30, a program and open mic from 2:30 -3:00, and socializing from 3:00 - 4:00. Refreshments will be available throughout the afternoon. All camp staff and volunteers are welcome to attend.

Camp Courageous is a year- round recreational and respite care facility for individuals with disabilities. Camp served 211 campers during the summer of 1974 and now serves over 6500 campers in a year-round program. It has also grown from 40 acres to 200 and from 5 buildings to 25.

For more information or to RSVP  visit the camp website at www.campcourageous.org or
contact Camp Courageous at info@campcourageous.org or Camp Courageous, Box 418, Monticello, Iowa 52310-0418 or 319-465-5916 or Fax: 319-465-5919.

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Churches United of the Quad City Area is extremely proud and thankful to announce the award of a Core Mission grant in the amount of $5,000.00 from the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend to be utilized for
Strategic Direction and Critical Issues Training.

We are very grateful to the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend for its support in this endeavor.

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Churches United of the Quad City Area is extremely proud and thankful to announce the award of a grant in the amount of $30,000.00 from the Riverboat Development Authority, to be utilized for our Hunger Program.

The Riverboat Development Authority has been a vital supporter of this mission, and we are extremely grateful to them for helping to address the hunger needs in our community.

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Sweepstakes Includes 'Free Donuts for a Year' and Facebook Donation Campaign.

The first National Donut Day was celebrated by The Salvation Army in Chicago in 1938 to help raise needed funds during the Great Depression and commemorate the work of the "donut lassies" who helped make the donut what it is today by feeding the tasty confection to American soldiers during World War I. The donuts became synonymous with The Salvation Army, as well as the American soldiers who were returning home with the nickname, "doughboys."

This significant occasion established the donut as a long-standing symbol of the services The Salvation Army continues to provide. The partnership between Entenmann's and The Salvation Army reinforces Entenmann's as a brand synonymous with National Donut Day.

In its continued support of The Salvation Army, from April 21 to June 30 Entenmann's Bakery will donate to the organization $1 for every person who "likes" the Entenmann's Facebook page ( http://www.facebook.com/entenmanns), up to $30,000. Entenmann's Bakery has donated a total of $70,000 to The Salvation Army through the first three years of the partnership and plans to hit the $100,000 mark through this year's donation campaign.

"We're very excited to partner with The Salvation Army for the fourth year in a row and hit the $100K charitable donation mark with the debut of our newest flavored Red Velvet donut," said Maureen Sticco, Director of Entenmann's Marketing Services.

In this the fourth year of the partnership and in celebration of the historical day, Entenmann's will be rewarding lucky "fans" with 'Free Donuts for a Year' and additional prizes through the sweepstakes link on the Entenmann's Facebook page. All entries must be received by 11:59: p.m. ET on June 30, 2014. Winners will be randomly selected from all submissions. Official Rules can be found at www.entenmanns.com.

"Entenmann's has been a terrific partner and supporter of our mission of goodwill and we look forward to making the 2014 National Donut Day the best one yet," said Major Ron Busroe, National Community Relations and Development Secretary for The Salvation Army.

National Donut Day Fun Facts:

The Salvation Army:

  • National Donut Day commemorates the "donut lassies," female Salvation Army volunteers who provided writing supplies, stamps, clothes-mending and home-cooked meals, and of course, donuts, for soldiers on the front lines.

  • With limited resources, these treats were fried, only seven at a time. The Salvation Army's Ensign Margaret Sheldon and Adjutant Helen Purviance cleverly thought of frying donuts in soldiers' helmets.

  • Approximately 250 Salvation Army volunteers provided assistance to American soldiers in France starting in 1917 during WWI.

  • In 2013, 30 million Americans received assistance from The Salvation Army's 3,600 officers, 60,000 employees and 3.4 million volunteers.

Entenmann's Bakery:

  • With donut bakeries in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and Montebello, California, Entenmann's produces more than 780 million donuts a year, which equivalents to 15 million donuts a week and more than 100,000 donuts every hour to keep up with the demands of Entenmann's donut lovers nationwide.

  • The Rich Frosted Donut has been the #1 seller since its introduction in 1973.

  • Entenmann's produces a number of varieties of donuts and Pop'ems each year including Cinnamon and Snickerdoodle Pop'ems and Devils Food Crumb Donuts to seasonal varieties including Halloween Rich Frosted Sprinkled, Harvest Pumpkin Donuts, Holiday Pop'ems and Rainbow Pop'ems.

  • In the early '50s, Frank Sinatra used to call the Bay Shore Bakery to place weekly orders from Entenmann's.

 

(DES MOINES) - Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, today, with representatives of the Des Moines Symphony, the Food Bank of Iowa, Bank of the West, Hy-Vee, and Casey's announced the official start of the sixth annual Yankee Doodle Drive Against Hunger.

"The Yankee Doodle Drive Against Hunger is a wonderful campaign that raises awareness and collects much-needed non-perishable food items for the Food Bank of Iowa," said Reynolds. "I am honored and proud to be a partner with community businesses to shed a light on the importance of eliminating hunger in central Iowa."

The public is encouraged to drop off non-perishable food items at area Bank of the West locations, area Hy-Vee locations or at the Des Moines Symphony's 20th Annual Yankee Doodle Pops. In addition, the Office of Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds will today accept donations from the public at their office in the State Capitol.

Yankee Doodle Pops will be held on the State Capitol grounds on July 3, 2014, at 8:30 p.m. All donations from the food drive will benefit the Food Bank of Iowa. The drive runs until July 7, 2014.

For more information on the Yankee Doodle Food Drive, visit www.foodbankiowa.org

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An open house celebrating the new IMPACT program of the Safer Foundation will be 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, June 18, at St. Mark Lutheran Church, 2363 W. 3rd St., Davenport. The public is welcome to meet Safer  foundation staff members, visit with program participants and tour the program site at the church. Light refreshments will be served.

For more than 40 years, The Safer Foundation's mission has focused on reducing recidivism by supporting, through a full spectrum of services, the efforts of people with criminal records to become employed, law-abiding members of the community. The IMPACT Program provides after school, supervised community treatment to youth referred from Scott County Juvenile Court Services. Services provided include individual, group and family counseling, life skill instruction, tutoring, community service opportunities, employment readiness training, therapeutic recreation and referral to community agencies as appropriate.

Safer began serving the Quad Cities area in 1976, when it opened an office in Rock Island, offering adults with criminal records the opportunity to obtain employment. In 1998, at the invitation of then Governor Robert Ray, Safer began providing these same services to citizens in Scott County. In 1996, Safer began offering educational and career readiness services to court-involved young people in Scott County with Rock Island County services following in 2000. Safer has been a beacon of hope to thousands of people over the years.

On an annual basis, the Rock Island Employment Services office provides assessment and job training to more than 250 individuals with criminal records, with 125 of these individuals securing employment at more than fifty area employers.

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