A news conference will be held on Wednesday, January 5 at 10 a.m. at the River Bend Foodbank, 309 12th Street, Moline, Illinois to announce a major funding gift from a local community foundation, the Moline Foundation and a statewide foundation, the Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation, Oak Brook, Illinois.

The gift is the result of a challenge grant campaign held in the Quad Cities the last few weeks and conducted by the Moline Foundation. Other community foundations around the state were challenged to raise funds in Springfield, Champaign, Chicago, St. Charles, Peoria, and East St. Louis. Over 1.5 million people in Illinois now live in poverty. Of this number, approximately 500,000 are children. This statewide funding initiative will be used to provide nutritious meals for Illinois children through after school programs, weekend back pack feeding programs, and mobile distribution programs.

As a Community Foundation, The Moline Foundation offers a range of charitable funds, allowing donors to advance a cause such as education or the environment, support an individual organization, provide flexible support for community needs or recommend individual grants. The Moline Foundation, founded in 1953, is a Community Foundation which provides funding to health, human services, education, community, workforce and economic development, the arts and other charitable organizations which benefit the citizens of Scott County, Iowa and Rock Island, Henry, Mercer, Warren, McDonough and Henderson counties in western Illinois. The Moline Foundation receives and administers charitable gifts; has a current endowment of approximately $15 million; and handles additional funds to benefit donor wishes. The Moline Foundation also serves as a catalyst and convener to bring about solutions to problems affecting quality of life in our region.

Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation is the only statewide private foundation focused on improving the health of all children in the State of Illinois. It was created in December 2002 through an action between the State of Illinois Attorney General's office and a private insurance carrier. This action established the Foundation which was funded with an investment of approximately $125 million.

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Churches United of the Quad City Area is proud to announce that the ecumenical organization will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2011. Throughout the year, Churches United will be hosting an array of events and celebrations to recognize its accomplishments and its contributions to the community through its emergency assistance, hunger and shelter programs, special community worship events, interfaith dialogue on community and national issues and much more.

On January 22, 1961 both the Rock Island County and the Scott County Council of Churches merged to become one regional ecumenical organization thus named the Council of Churches of Scott and Rock Island Counties. It was one of the earliest bi - state organizations and still today is one of the few bi -state church councils in the country. Today, we represent over 136 faith groups and 24 religious denominations and work beyond the Christian community in a variety of interfaith special events.

Churches United will be hosting or participating in four major events that will be taking place throughout 2011 although many other activities will be taking place as well. Join us on April 28, 2011 when Kathleen Kennedy Townsend author of will speak on Failing the Faithful and her perspective on faith and the ecumenical movement as it relates to her book. Along with Ms. Townsend will be an original composition that was composed and will be performed by Mr. William Campbell and the Maia String Quartet. In July, Churches United will be participating in the July 4th parade as we focus on hunger as well as the special anniversary in October commemorating 40 years of hosting the Quad City CROP WALK. Lastly, Churches United will again bring the community together as we sponsor an interfaith prayer service representing 10 years since the horrible tragedy of September 11, 2001.

These and other events will be found on our website beginning January 1st.

For more information, please contact Anne Wachal at 563-332-5002 or contact Churches United at awachal@cuqca.org

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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