Help Local Shelters, People In Need And Others This Holiday Season!
We’re always looking for great, positive news in the Quad-Cities, and every month, I present some of the awesome things here in What’s The Good News? This regular column, in conjunction with my appearances with Paula Sands on “Paula Sands Live” (3 p.m. weekdays on KWQC-TV6), put the spotlight on some of the upbeat and positive news here in the Q-C!
So what’s the good news for this month? Glad you asked! Let’s take a look …
Warm Up With Coffee And Coats
Caffee 392, which is currently at 216 S. 2nd St. in Clinton, but is opening a store at 502 W. 3rd St., Davenport, early next year, is helping those in need for their fourth year in a row with their annual winter coat drive. It runs from November to March, and during that time, folks can drop off winter coats and apparel at either of the shops and they’ll be donated to local people in need over the winter season.
The heart of the shop is to encompass “community” in all that they do and this is another way for them to serve the community on a deeper level. There is such a huge need this winter in our area for not only coats but hats, gloves, scarves, boats, fleeces, sweatshirts, blankets… and the caffe will take it all to donate.
For more information, check out the Caffee at https://www.facebook.com/392Caffe/.
Dare To Be Kind!
Gabrielle Van Rij is an activist with a national reach who is from the Quad-Cities. She’s making her home and her mark in Los Angeles now, and is launching a crowdfunding account for a new video show she’s working on called Dare To Be Kind!
Dare To Be Kind will feature positive news and features in area communities around the country, and it might, MIGHT just be showing up on a certain local website you know and love.
Here you can find a link to our campaign on Indiegogo that goes into detail on what it’s all about:
https://igg.me/at/Daretobekind
Awesome Art Making A Charity’s Holidays More Colorful
One of my favorite local artists, Jon Burns, will be donating half of the proceeds from all sales of his work during the holiday season to Family Resources of Davenport!
Burns has artworks on display at the ARTery in the District in downtown Rock Island, and at the new Ragged Records location at 311 ½ 21st Street in Rock Island. Pieces sold at both spots will have 50 percent of the proceeds go to the charity.
For more info on the charity, check out Family Resources of Davenport at
http://www.famres.org/
Dress For Success Says Thanks A Million!
Local charity Dress For Success has officially passed $1 million in donations and just celebrated their seven-year anniversary in the Quad-Cities!
Dress for Success Quad Cities just passed their seven-year anniversary since opening their doors in Downtown Davenport on November 1, 2011, and have served over 1400 low-resource women to date. They offer free professional attire for women who have an interview scheduled and once employed, women return for a week’s worth of clothing and accessories to help them start strong in their new jobs. Employed women suited at Dress for Success also receive free career development at monthly workshops through the Professional Women’s Group, where a meal is shared and free childcare is available on-site to reduce barriers to success. Ongoing career advancement support with resume reviews, mock interviews and other job search support is available to all Dress for Success clients through the free Career Success Center services.
Dress for Success Quad Cities is one of 153 affiliates located in 30 countries around the world. The organization’s mission is to empower women to achieve economic independence through a network of support, professional attire and the development tools to help her thrive in work and life. Learn more, donate and volunteer at www.quadcities.dressforsuccess.org.
Magical Benefit For A Magical Girl
Nikki Gillette has been a regular on the performing arts scene in the Q-Cs for a while, as a standup comedian, musician, burlesque performer and actress. She teaches art to kids at Blue Grass Elementary, manages the traveling comedy troupe Show Us Your Pokeballs, models, haunts and does makeup at Terror at Skellington Manor, and is involved with other local groups such as Moonshine Misfits Burlesque and Open Source Improv. She’s also a columnist for this website.
She’s the kind of person every arts scene needs more of, who makes it more vibrant.
That’s why it was saddening to hear, in late July of this year, that she was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer. She has since undergone a lumpectomy to remove the tumor, and is currently undergoing radiation therapy. She will also be on preventative injections and medications for the next five years.
To help out with the financial burdens, as well as to ameliorate the emotional and physical toll of the arduous path she’s taken, her brother, Sean, and her boyfriend, Bobby, decided to organize a benefit, Fight Like A Magical Girl, which took place from noon to 8 p.m. Dec. 8 at Skellington Manor, 420 18th Street, Rock Island. The show is over, but the struggle continues, and you can continue to donate to Nikki’s cause and get more information at https://www.facebook.com/events/186239825591251/.
Hot Glass, Cool Donations!
It’s clear as glass that Local Union 25 has made a white-hot impact on one of the most unique art spots in the Quad-Cities, Hot Glass.
The gallery at 104 Western Davenport, in the Davenport Printing Company building, celebrated its grand re-opening Dec. 1 after a renovation made possible through donations of labor from the talented pipefitters, plumbers and general craftsmen of Local Union 25.
The crew worked on everything from drains to water and gas piping to special requests, and relished being part of the project, Local Union 25 member Phil Davison said.
“It’s always satisfying to see the transformation, when you take something older and do a lot of great work on it to help update it, it’s awesome,” Davison said. “There were a lot of really good workers who put in a lot of time and hard work on it, and it’s an amazing thing to see everyone pull together to make it happen.”
“We’re just so lucky,” said Hot Glass owner Joel Ryser. “I just can’t say enough about all the people who have helped us, especially the plumbers and pipefitters and everyone from Local Union 25.”
For more information on Local Union 25, see https://lu25.org/.
For more information on Hot Glass, see www.hotglassart.org.
That’s all for What’s The Good News? this month! Have some good news you’d like to see in our column? Drop me a line at Sean@quadcities.com!
