“Everyone agrees something has to be done,” Grassley said in a lecture hall at UI’s Medical Education Research Facility. “However, Congress has spent a year writing bills that would make a bad situation worse.

Although the White House has said it aims to have the legislation wrapped up by March 18, Grassley said there is still time for the two parties to meet on middle ground and build from there. With widespread support on both sides of the aisle for reform that would make insurance companies offer more affordable and accessible coverage, as well as stop denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, Grassley said there are common goals to build upon.

What are your thoughts?

via press-citizen.

A Solon farm, an Iowa City restaurant and an Iowa City nonprofit were among the winners of the Edible Iowa River Valley magazine’s third Local Hero Awards.

Readers nominate the people they think are Iowa’s Local Heroes in five different categories.

Susan Jutz of ZJ Farms in Solon was named Best Farm/Farmer. Jutz operates a community-supported agriculture venture called Local Harvest.

Iowa City nonprofit Local Foods Connection won the Local Hero Award for the second time this year. Founded in 1999, Local Foods Connection is a charity that recruits volunteers to help on CSA farms and collects shares from those farms to distribute to families who cannot afford them.

The Best Chef/Restaurant award went to Masae Judge and Harriet Woodford for Leaf Kitchen in Iowa City. Leaf Kitchen is the first Iowa City restaurant to be named a local restaurant hero by the magazine.

Give us your thoughts. What would you like to see done in Iowa City? What do you think would be a good way to bring people out of their homes and working together with their neighbors? What can be done in your community that will add to the beauty?

To recap, and add LOTS of new details:

Where: Grant Wood Elementary School, Iowa City (1930 Lakeside Dr, Iowa City)

When: Saturday, October 24 from 9am-12pm

What:

1.  helping with a variety of winterization & clean-up tasks around the neighborhood.

2. canvassing for a coalition seeking answers on changes in the neighborhood (if you’re looking for a day of hearing stories and listening to life through somebody else – this will be for you! the canvassing will be the heart of helping the big picture in this neighborhood)

3.  oh, and meeting lots of new people!

Eats: coffee and pastries served before, lunch served at noon!

Tools: we’ve been asked what is helpful? rakes, rakes, rakes! if you’ve offered (via the registration) to bring other tools, we’re planning on them. ***Please put your name on whatever tools you bring!*** and we’ll bring more specific tools as well.

What to Wear: whatever you need to stay warm and dry, it could be muddy/wet in places. bring gloves! If you’d like to help canvassing on this day, wear comfortable walking shoes.

Weather: our weather channel friends say cool, and a chance of rain. If it’s seriously raining………. check the website www.reclaimingroots.org , Facebook, or Twitter, before coming. We’ll put a status up so you can plan accordingly. However, not much outside work can happen in a downpour, so you may end up enjoying coffee as the most strenous activity to your Sat.

FACEBOOK and TWITTER: many of you may not know that we can be found on both. Please join us, and you’ll get more regular updates on what’s going on before projects!

Sponsors: Thank you to the generous help of local businesses, churches, and individuals! If you’re interested in helping financially as well, please email luke@reclaimingroots.org. And please thank those who are helping make this event happen!

Other questions? Please email info@reclaimingroots.org. If you’d like to have volunteers help you this weekend, please call Stan at 530.4076.

Thanks again for your interest and support! Hope to see you Saturday, have a great weekend!

Last fall, we coordinated a neighborhood clean-up day in the Wetherby Neighborhoods.  This fall a similar day is being planned for another Iowa City neighborhood, and the date is October 24, 2009.  We will be bringing together communites with fall yard clean-up, trash pick-up, and hazardous waste removal.

We hope that again this year, neighborhoods from all over the greater-Iowa City area will reach out to help this community.

Come and witness what we can accomplish when we come together for others.

Stay tuned here at reclaimingroots.org for updates as the date gets closer.  Click here to register.

Don’t miss your chance to visit the {reclaiming roots} table at the University of Iowa’s Volunteer Fair on September 2!  We will be in the Iowa Memorial Union from 11:00am to 3:00pm.  Not only will we have all sorts of information on upcoming projects and what we’re all about, but we’ll be raffling off some pretty sweet re-purposed swag.

Our good friend Nicki from foundbynicki.etsy.com has made a wallet and a pouch from repurposed leather coats to be taken home to two lucky volunteers!  Thanks so much, Nicki!

Stay tuned for more news.  We’ve got an event in the works.

We can now be found on the Facebooks and followed on Twitter too.

Click here for morning registration.

Click here for afternoon registration.

We’ve had many verbal commitments to help Public Space 1 this upcoming Saturday, but we wanted to send a final email to remind you to sign-up through the website so we can best plan accordingly: www.reclaimingroots.org.  Because PS1 has limited space, we’re splitting up the day:

Current Sponsors:

Vrban Fire Protection

Solutions Insurance

Café del Sol

Public Space 1

The James Gang

When: January 24, 2009 9am-12pm & 1pm-4pm

Where: Public Space 1 115 E Washington St. Iowa City

Purpose: Help the folks at Public Space 1 and the James Gang improve the space for creativity and community.

Registration: Click here to register! We will have two opportunities to volunteer on January 24.  Due to a lack of space at Public Space 1, we have split the registration into two 25 volunteer groups. One group at 9am-12pm and another from 1pm-4pm.  Both groups will be capped at 25 people each, so we urge you to sign up for your desired shift as soon as possible. We would like to stress that if you are unable to work this day but still interested in helping to please consider giving financially to Public Space 1. Do so by clicking here.

Sponsors: If you are interested in making this happen via sponsorship, please email luke@reclaimingroots.org. 

Web Questions: If you have any web questions or problems, please email our web genius chris@reclaimingroots.org

Public Space 1 (PS1) is a not-for-profit, volunteer-run art, culture and performance venue in downtown Iowa City. PS1 is sponsored and supported by the James Gang, providing opportunities for local visual and performance artists to “go public” with their talents. They provide a venue for people to practice, perfect, and perform their creative endeavors including theater, photography, art, writing, and performance. The space provides a location for community discussions, gatherings, interactions, and dialogues. {reclaiming roots} is always interested in bringing people together, to help out for the greater good of the community, especially in the context of pursuing creativity. This is certainly a cause that will continue to cultivate the culture of our community, and support local performers and artists.

On January 24, 2009, {reclaiming roots} is going to facilitate a work day to help create a gallery space for the visual arts, and renovate a currently un-usable space into a gallery. The focus will be on painting, drywall, cleaning, and other renovation work. If you have specific carpentry skills, please email us directly at stan@reclaimingroots.org and zach@thejamesgang.ws.

If you’ll be unable to help on this date but want to help cover specific materials/project costs, you can contribute directly to Public Space 1 and James Gang at http://www.firstgiving.com/psone. There is a donor that wants to match 50% of every financial gift toward this project!

Lastly, other PS1 information can be found at their website:www.thejamesgang.ws/psone