Here is the Kalamazoo Gazette's feature of a current Augustana College student who volunteers with The Arc's Special Olympics athletes through the Arc's Respite Center.

http://www.mlive.com/sports/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/12/beyond_the_mat_hunter_feraco_s.html

DUBUQUE, IA. - The winter installment of Art Gumbo, a quarterly soup dinner that supports local art projects with community-supported micro-funding, is scheduled for Thursday, December 16, 6-8 p.m. at the Dubuque Museum of Art, 701 S. Locust Street.

Art Gumbo is an independent community-based initiative that funds local arts projects using money collected at quarterly soup dinners. During each Art Gumbo funding cycle, artists and arts organizations are invited to submit a brief project proposal that demonstrates an impact on the Dubuque community. The public is invited to attend and vote for their favorite proposal. A $10 donation at the door entitles the attendee to a soup dinner prepared by Driftless Market of Platteville, Wisconsin and the opportunity to review all submitted proposals and to vote for their favorite. The Art Gumbo fund's nightly proceeds will be awarded to the proposal that gets the most votes. Art Gumbo sessions will be hosted at new locations each quarter featuring soup by a regional food source.

Art Gumbo soup dinners are an independent effort initiated by local arts activists Paula Neuhaus and Megan Starr. The project's mission is to bring artists together with art patrons to explore and fund projects, create working relationships, and build a network.

"This is an affordable way for anyone to become a patron of the arts," says Art Gumbo co-founder Paula Neuhaus, "It serves as an accessible way for artists to get the smaller funding they need to bring a project to fruition quickly."

Metal artist Gene Tully was awarded Art Gumbo's inaugural mini grant during the September soup dinner. Tully used the funding to install four, eight-foot metal grotesques on top of a concrete water tower standard at 801 Jackson Street. This public art piece entitled Warehouse Grotesques: Hatred, Greed, Violence and Addiction, was created for the "Voices From The Warehouse District: Transitions" exhibit and serves, says Tully, "As a testimony to the strength of arts in the district." Tully will present a discussion of his completed project as part of the December 16 soup dinner fulfilling the artist's "final report" portion of the funding program.

For more information visit artgumbodubuque.blogspot.com or contact Paula Neuhaus or Megan Starr at art.gumbo.dbq@gmail.com.

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Shampoo.  Towels.  Laundry detergent.  Batteries.  This may read a little differently than your Christmas list, but these items we take for granted are in need right in our own community.  When members of the National Junior Honor Society at Rivermont Collegiate chose the Transitional Housing for Homeless Youth (THY) Program for a service project, it went beyond filling service hours; students felt a personal connection to this project, which serves youth-clients ages 14 through 21.  There are about 850 homeless youth in Davenport and Rock Island combined.  Members of Rivermont NJHS are hosting a "Bed, Bath, and Beyond for Bethany" fundraiser through December 10th, collecting donations of clothes and household products to supply youth apartments. NJHS members have thrown themselves behind the cause with fervor, even spending a chilly morning on the Rivermont front lawn with cardboard signs reading "Cold.  Tired. Hungry." and "Wanted: A Safe Place." to raise awareness about local homeless youth and encourage donations.  The cause is about to become even more meaningful!  On Friday, December 10th, THY Program Supervisor Ben Cleaveland will be on the Rivermont campus at 1:00 p.m. to speak with students in grades 5-12 about THY. He will be accompanied by a client who has benefited from THY and its services, providing the opportunity for students to see the significance and direct impact of their donation.  Following the program, Rivermont's donation boxes will be loaded and delivered.

Bethany for Children and Families has been providing services since 1899, ranging from custody mediation to teen parent support.  Specifically, the THY Program provides services for homeless youth, available to clients ages 14 to 21 that are homeless or living in a shelter.  Client-youth are located in various apartments throughout the QC community, furnished by donations, and must attend school or be employed.  THY focuses on providing educational and employment counseling, money management skills, vocational training, mental health services, and assistance with housing, food, and transportation.  THY encourages self-sufficiency by giving young people opportunities to exercise leadership, build skills, and get involved in the community.

Rivermont Collegiate, located in Bettendorf, is the Quad Cities' only private, independent, nonsectarian college-prep school for preschool through twelfth grade.  For additional information on Rivermont Collegiate, visit us online at www.rivermontcollegiate.org.

For additional information about Bethany for Children and Families and the THY Program, including a list of needed donations, please visit www.bethany-qc.org.

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Quad Cities, Iowa/Illinois?Unclean water is the leading cause of death in undeveloped nations. Such dirty, unsanitary water kills 45,000 people each week, 90 percent of them being children under the age of five.  That means 4,500 children die each day to water-related illnesses.  The numbers are grim, the facts are startling...but thankfully, a growing group of Iowans believe there is hope.

Water for Christmas, a grassroots effort born in Iowa, is on a mission to ensure that all people have access to clean water.   Specifically focused on the nation of Liberia, Water for Christmas offers people an opportunity to trade consumerism for compassion during the holidays and beyond.  Since its inception in November 2008, Water for Christmas has raised $325,000 for the organization charity: water and has inspired people all over the country to action.

This Saturday night, a "Wine to Water" fundraising event will take place at the third floor of the Redstone Building in downtown Davenport.  Event organizer, Tesi Klipsch, says that the Wine to Water party is all about what individuals can do in working toward a solution for a global issue.  "If you come, you'll see people you've seen in the community?at the Y, at the grocery store, at restaurants?who have found something they are passionate about. The party will have a very underground, grassroots type of feel, which we love because that's just how Water for Christmas started."

Last year the "Wine to Water" event raised $13,000 from a small group of individuals. This year, Klipsch is hoping to reach out to people who haven't heard just how extensive the water crisis is around the world. "We are asking the public to come join us, hear a little about why we're doing this and have some fun while they're at it. Local wine by Wide River Winery, local desserts by some of the best in our community and local musicians like Lojo Russo and the BE Project make this evening the perfect event to bring what is global, local," she says.

Based in New York, charity: water is a highly recognized organization that has raised over 10 million dollars in the last four years, changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of people by building fresh-water wells in places that are without.  Charity: water takes 100 percent of all donations directly to water solution projects and follows up with proof...pictures and Google earth coordinates of all completed projects.

Event details:

Saturday, November 13^th, 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

3^rd floor Redstone Building, 2^nd and Main, Downtown Davenport

Music by Lojo Russo and The BE Project, local wine and dessert tasting 

$20 minimum donation at door