News

The Benton County Community Foundation announced $100,270.61 in grant funding to 19 projects of organizations serving Benton County as part of its 2021 grant cycle. The Community Foundation will not hold its annual award celebration this year. Grant checks will be mailed directly to nonprofit organizations. “The Benton County Community Foundation is proud to partner with our local nonprofit organizations and supports their work to make Benton County a better place for everyone,” said Tim Peters, chair of the Benton County Community Foundation governing committee.

Blessed Hope Church has made it a practice to lend a hand around the community for the last several summers. This week found the congregation at several locations throughout the county.Thursday and Friday, the group helped to spruce up the mini-golf course at the skate center. The group will also be taking on the Vinton-Shellsburg football and baseball fields today and tomorrow.

Benton County Disaster Recovery Coalition continues to meet each week to address recovery challenges from the August 10, 2020 derecho, one of the worst storms in United States history. The Coalition, made up of service agency representatives and volunteers, is Benton County’s long-term disaster recovery organization. The organization members work to help families and farmers get back to more normal situations and connect with agencies to coordinate volunteer efforts for cleanup.

There will be a public meeting June 10 at 6 p.m. at the Palo Community Center for us all to submit questions for NextEra to answer publicly. You can either attend in person or tune in via the zoom link in the Facebook event below.Please feel free to follow these links for more information and to submit questions. Event on Facebook --> Palo NextEra Q&A EventSubmit Questions here --> Open Ended Questions for NextEraAny question is fair game.

Vinton is getting ready to start some of the Annual events around town. We have Party in the Park coming up next week, which will be a blast, as usual. During that there will be the Pink up the Pace 5 K walk, run to raise funds to help our friends and neighbors with breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Vinton has added a new 2-mile walking trail and people are enjoying that so much as well.

In coordination with the Benton County Disaster Coalition, Volunteer Iowa's Disaster Program Officer Michael Rojas and the Habitat for Humanity of Iowa Mobile Response Team participated in a Van Horne community cleanup day on Saturday, May 21. To organize the activities, Michael collaborated with Van Horne City Clerk Linda Klopping, who was crucial in locating homes, contacting survivors, and accumulating information about the work that needed to be done.

On 6-4-2021, at about 8:45 PM, the Benton County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a UTV accident with multiple injuries at Patten’s Campground, 5454 22nd Ave, Vinton IA. The UTV lost control and overturned. The driver of the Polaris UTV was Ladonna Fairbanks, age 60, of Vinton IA.  Fairbanks was arrested and charged with OWI and was taken to the Benton County Jail.

The Vinton Aquatic Club combined with the Vinton-Shellsburg high school boys and girls teams to host a swim camp for the 4th-8th graders at the Braille School Pool last week. The participants arrived at the camp from not only Vinton-Shellsburg but also from Union, and Center Point-Urbana school districts. "The participants developed their technique in various strokes and skills in various aspects of competitive swimming," said Swim Coach, Ashley Hesson.

Vinton Lions Club distributed 48 trees through the Trees Forever grant program to Vinton-Shellsburg area residents. Trees Forever care about the environment, our rural lands, the communities we live in and our fellow citizens. They are headquartered in Marion, Iowa and founded in 1989. We are grateful for the Trees Forever grant program allowing Vinton Lions Club to support replanting of trees in our community.

An annual Vinton Lions service project is a springtime read-a-long event at Tilford Elementary School. Lions member read to, or read to by, eager young scholars.Sometimes it's a dad or mom or grandparent and children's experience.   Vinton Lions Club invites the community to help us celebrate our 100 Years of Service on July 6, 2021, from 5-8 PM at Celebration Park.