Et Cetera
Wanted: Mudpuppies!
“Is it a Mudpuppy?” This is a common question when someone finds a strange tadpole-like creature with legs in a pond or wetland. When they describe a creature with external gills, small legs, a large paddle-like tail and large mouth it usually means they have found a Tiger Salamander larva, especially when the habitat was standing water like a pond or pothole wetland.
Child Abuse Prevention Month Recognizes Every Community’s Role
Prevent Child Abuse Iowa recognizes the importance of community-based support for all children and families during National Child Abuse Prevention (CAP) Month in April. The theme of this year’s awareness and impact campaign is “Growing a Better Tomorrow for All Children, Together.”“We can build healthier, safer, and thriving communities if we take the same approach to raise families that we do to tending a community garden on a shared piece of land,” said Mackenzie Ford, LSI Family Support Worker.
Nominations Accepted for Stars Over 70
The Wallace and Beverly Winkie Foundation announces nominations are now being accepted for Stars Over 70, a celebration of those individuals in the Belle Plaine area who are at least 70 years of age and contributing to their communities through volunteering, working, or serving as role models.The nomination window opened on April 1 and will remain open through April 24. Iowa Commission on Aging Honors Bev Winkie with Lifetime Achievement Awared
Bev Winkie was posthumously awarded the 2020 Betty Grandquist Lifetime Achievement Award from the Iowa Commission on Aging, the policy-making body for the Iowa Department on Aging. The prestigious award is intended to recognize Iowans who have dedicated a portion of their personal or professional lives to achieving excellence in the fields of aging and/or disability or have made significant contributions to promoting independence and enhancing quality of life among older Iowans and Iowans with disabilities. Diamond Vogel and Keep Iowa Beautiful Announce 2021 Grant Awards
Diamond Vogel and Keep Iowa Beautiful announced the grant awards for the 2021 Paint Iowa Beautiful program. The program provides free paint to a wide variety of public service projects throughout Iowa."Governor Reynolds will be signing a proclamation designating April as Keep Iowa Beautiful month and we are pleased to do our part by awarding paint to 132 community projects in Iowa," said Doug Vogel, Vice-President, Marketing, of the Iowa based company.
More Women Leading the Charitable Charge, Community Foundation Can Assist
During March, the spotlight on women, their achievements, and unfortunately gender inequality in society, is in full force as part of Women’s History Month. Even with recent increased attention, disparities continue nationally and locally. Here in Benton County, women are industry and community leaders and lead the way in their fields. Women are also receiving higher educational degrees at a greater rate than men at our area institutes of higher learning.
Thanks to John's Quick Stop
The Kiwanis Club and the Post Prom Committee would like to extend a huge thank you to John Ketchen and John's Quick Stop. The local generosity of our community members has really came through. The junior class really stepped up and did a great job from flagging cars down to explaining our cause and drying the cars off. We could haven't done it with the Kiwanis club washing all the cars that came into the manual bays and helping dry off the cars with some future Kiwanis Club kids working alongside their parents. Iowa History Book Club 3/17 Feature: The Cherry Sisters: The Best Worst Act...
Noon, March 17: Tune in to an “Iowa Stories” presentation from the State Historical Society of Iowa Research Center in Iowa City, featuring "The Cherry Sisters: The Best Worst Act in the World.” Look for more programs scheduled throughout the year.Click here to register
Secretary Naig Encourages Students to Submit Artwork for the 2021 Calendar
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig invites school students to participate in the 2021 Choose Iowa Calendar Contest hosted by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. The artwork should feature at least one aspect of Iowa agriculture — food, livestock, crops or renewable fuels, for example. Submissions will be judged on creativity and the ability to connect agriculture to everyday life.
Iowa History Book Club event March 11: Iowa: The Middle Land
Beginning at 7 p.m. March 11: Join the inaugural session of the online Iowa History Book Club, when Annals of Iowa editor Andrew Klumpp leads a discussion of the late Dorothy Schwieder’s classic “Iowa: The Middle Land.” Meetings are scheduled quarterly throughout the year.This engrossing history of the Hawkeye State reveals a place of fascinating grassroots politics, economic troubles and triumphs, surprising cultural diversity and unsung natural beauty.