Breakfast to Support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

For many years the Brothers of the Waveland Park Masonic Lodge in Windsor Heights have been serving a monthly breakfast on the 3^rd Sunday of each month as part as community outreach and support.  The proceeds raised have typically gone to support local schools’ discretionary funds and a Lodge scholarship fund. 

On April 15th the Lodge will be doing something a little different.  The breakfast will be still be held, but this time all proceeds raised will be given directly to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and their annual Great Strides Walk/Run.  Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a devastating genetic disease that affects tens of thousands of children and young adults in the United States. Research and care supported by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is making a huge difference in extending the quality of life for those with CF.

The breakfast typically draws a crowd of roughly 110 people which results in about $600.00 being freely given each month.  For this special event we’re hoping to have attendance over 200 so we can donate at least $1000.00 to this worthy cause.  Please tell your friends & families about this great breakfast!  The cost is only $7.00 per person for all you can eat, made from scratch, eggs, French Toast, omelets, pancakes, biscuits and gravy and much more.  The Lodge is located at 1141 69^th Street, Windsor Heights, IA right behind Dairy Queen on University and breakfast is served from 8:00 – 12:30 on April 15^th.  We hope to see you there!

Lodge website – www.wavelandparklodge.com

Facebook Page - www.facebook.com/wpl654   

April 5th Luncheon Featured Non-Profit: Beacon of Life Residential Center for Women

I’m looking forward to seeing you all next week! I’m the Executive Director of the Beacon of Life, a transitional housing unit for women in crisis located in the Sherman Hill area. We are the only structured women’s shelter in Central Iowa.

The Beacon of Life is a long-term transitional facility where up to 34 women receive support in getting their lives on the right path. We have a four phase program including in-house programing. Programming consists of financial literacy, budgeting, healthy relationships, parenting, victim impact, employment readiness, job coaching, empowerment, seeking safety, and also in-house 12 step meetings.

Residents pay reasonable rent, complete household chores, assist with meals, maintain curfews, and often participate in community service. We also have a Graduate program called, Stepping Stones, for the residents who finish our program successfully. Funding comes through grants, corporate and private donations, and fundraising efforts.

Our resale shop – FOUND TREASURES – is located at 132 5th Street in Valley Junction. The proceeds from the shop help provide shelter, food and education for Beacon of Life residents. Store hours and donations information can be found at  www.beaconoflifedm.org.

Our next fundraiser, a Quiz Bowl, will be held on Friday May 4^th at the Events Center West starting at 5:15. The Quiz Bowl is a team trivia event that consists of nine rounds with nine questions. There are prizes for 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd places as well as for team spirit, best decorated table and best team name. Registration is now open! So get your team of eight together today! It’s $160 per table or $20 a person.

              

Get the most up-to-date information on the Quiz Bowl and all things Beacon-related by "liking" or "following" us on our social networking pages: 

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I look forward to seeing all of you next week to share our mission at the Beacon!  Be sure to RSVP by clicking here!

Keshia Meissner, Director

Beacon of Life Residential Center for Women

BeaconDirector@qwestoffice.net

(515) 244-4713 ext. 202

Technology Startups in Des Moines Panel - March 1st

Hi there West Des Moines Young Professionals!

I’m looking forward to joining you next week for the New View luncheon. I’m the COO and local boots-on-the-ground Silicon Prairie News a blog, community-organizing and event production startup that’s working to grow the Silicon Prairie - the region that includes Des Moines, Omaha, Kansas City and surrounding - as a national Center of Innovation.


We’re the group that put on Thinc Iowa last November and also do Big Omaha each May. Day-to-day we work to cover the people, companies, issues and culture throughout the region and put a megaphone to that activity so that others locally and across the globe know what’s happening here.

Brad Phillips asked me to put together a panel highlighting the growing technology startup community in Central Iowa. Charise Flynn, the COO of cash-transfer startup Dwolla, has agreed to join me to share information on what they’re building. Dwolla’s national profile has risen a thousand-fold in the last 18 months and is bringing a ton of positive attention to our city.

 Jake Kerber will also join in to talk about his startup Locusic, which can be described as a “Pandora for local music”. Locusic was born nearly a year ago at Startup Weekend Des Moines, a 54 hour event that allows people to pitch ideas for companies and develop them throughout the weekend. Through Jake and his team’s hard work Locusic is now live in Des Moines with plans to launch in Minneapolis and Austin soon.

 Speaking of Startup Weekend Des Moines, the 2012 event is the day following the luncheon. Limited tickets remain so if you’re interested in taking a peak at this unique event or getting a feel of what its like to work for a startup, grab your ticket now: dsm.startupweekend.org.


We’ll be taking questions from the floor but feel free to send them in ahead of time (hint: you’ll probably get better answers, er, at least more thought out ones). Feel free to send to Brad or Lindsey or hit me up on twitter: @geoffwood.

Thank you all in advance and we all look forward to joining you!

 

Geoff Wood

COO, Silicon Prairie News

http://www.siliconprairienews.com/

Habitat Young Professionals to Host Benefit Concert

Most people are familiar with Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity, a non-profit that provides affordable housing to low-income families in the community. What you may not know is that they recently started a new group just for young professionals – Habitat Young Professionals (HYP). The organization started in June of 2011 and we work to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity and get younger people more involved in the organization.

We host monthly meetings to network and learn more about Habitat. We also have volunteer events each month; volunteers do everything from working on homes to helping out at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Networking can be intimidating, but our volunteer events provide a more intimate setting where it is easier to connect as everyone is working together on a project.

On Feb. 11, HYP and local band Bella Soul will host Deacon’s Day VI, a concert featuring local bands to benefit Habitat for Humanity. We hope you will join us for this great night to support local music and Habitat for Humanity, and find out more about HYP.

Doors open at 6 p.m. and the concert starts at 7 at People’s Court. The concert portion of the night will last until about 10:30, followed by a live jam session for the rest of the night. You can buy tickets in advance for $15 (on MidwestTix) or pay $20 at the door. HYP members get in for $10. The jam session will cost $5.

If you have questions about becoming involved in HYP, please feel free to email me. For more info on Deacon’s Day, check out our Facebook event. Hope to see you there!

Alyssa Cashman

VP of Communications for Habitat Young Professionals

E-mail:  alyssa.cashman@gmail.com

Follow HYP on social media!

Twitter: @GDMHabitat_HYP

Facebook

LinkedIn

Feb. 2nd (next week already!) - New View After Hours Event at KSMA

Check out Kapatiran Suntukan Martial Arts on February 2 from 5:30 to 7:00pm. We will give a brief demonstration showing some of the cool things we do as well as give away a week of classes for you and a friend (you need someone to try and hit, right?) to two lucky winners, so bring your busy-ness cards. We will also have grub from The General Store Eatery and beverages.  See you there!

Jay Carstensen

Lead Instructor

Kapatiran Suntukan Martial Arts

4930 Franklin Avenue

Des Moines, Iowa 50310

515-255-9698

jay@ksma.us

http://ksma.us/desmoines.html

The Civic Center’s “Blind Date”

Looking for a good laugh, fun night out, and reasonably-priced entertainment?  Well, the folks at Civic Center of Greater Des Moines have just what these cold Iowa nights need right now… a HILARIOUS, quirky, and talented woman, “Mimi” taking us through 90-minutes of a blind date, where you just never know what’s going to happen next!  Playing at the Temple Theater, Blind Date will be pleasing audiences of all ages through January 22nd.  It offers an improvised comedy show where Mimi and one other guest – plucked right from the audience – have everyone laughing and cheering them on as they get to know each other, “fall in love”, and even get into some mishaps along the way. 

I have attended this show twice; once on a weekday, when the audience member picked was a divorced 40-year old, and once during the weekend, when the audience member was a married 30-something (who just may have had a couple cocktails prior to his performance).  Both times, the Blind Date performer and her “date” had me, and my group, laughing so hard we cried.  Rebecca Northan, who plays Mimi, must have an incredible judge of character because the guys she “casted” (by mingling in the lobby beforehand) were perfect for the role.  Wednesday’s date was a little more shy and took a bit to open-up, but just watching her talk with him and get him comfortable was entertainment!  She wears a clown nose, has a French accent, and has a wonderful ability to make even deeper topics (on Wednesday, they talked about the recent death of her date’s mother) light-hearted and engaging.

This show is definitely one of Temple Theater’s best comedy acts and earns a great-big “MUST SEE”!  Once you go, you may even find yourself interested in going back… since the show changes every time.  Her “date” greatly influences the direction of the show, along with the audience, who she does talk with as the night goes on, getting feedback on what they’d like to see next.

Chamber members get a 15% discount, as part of the Civic Center Discount Program, so make sure to take advantage of that.  Click here to get started.  

Enter Pass Code: Chamber

Click on ‘Blind Date’ and then ‘Find Tickets’

Enter Special Offer Code: Best

Create an account to complete purchase

Check out this review for more great Blind Date commentary!

Leslie Jasper

Group Sales Manager

Civic Center of Greater Des Moines

515-246-2369

ljasper@civiccenter.org

New View, New Year

Seriously, still no snow?! My snowboard has seen less white powder this year than Lindsey Lohan in rehab (I was able to board once, analogy still works).  Looking out my office window at (somewhat) green grass makes it even harder to believe it’s the time of year when unused PTO is discovered and office phones at large companies ring endlessly, only to eventually be answered by an “I am out of the office until….” message.  Thousands of young professionals are spending their weekdays lying on couches around the metro in a presumed food comatose from the holidays, still unsure how to react to, or even take advantage of, this unseasonably warm weather.  When I’m done with this blog I plan to write Al Gore to thank him for inventing global warming (and the internet), but I digress. 

I didn’t seem to get the memo about taking time off, I tried taking Wednesday off and my business practically imploded (or at least it seemed that way), I’m slightly jealous of everyone sitting at home right now.  I’m also in my office for a very important reason, preparing for 2012 with New View.  I have a lot of new responsibilities as the incoming President of New View; the most important of those is removing work from my to-do list and delegating it to our fantastic team! I know I will be able to trust the general day-to-day operations to our new Vice-President, Lindsey Mathews.  She served New View well in 2011 as the Chair of our Outreach Committee; she has climbed the New View step-stool to the Executive Board for 2012.  In addition to Lindsey, Kristin Cleveland will be joining the Executive Board in the Secretary/Treasurer position.  We will be relying on her polished accounting skills to make sure New View breaks-even this year (at least according to our books).  As our returning Chair of the Communications Committee, Chris Wood will continue slinging all kinds of valuable information at you via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and our blog.  If you aren’t already following us, head over to wdmnewview.org and pick your favorite method(s).  Sarah Roach is returning as our events coordinator, which fits in well with her day job as a travel coordinator for Travel and Transport.  She was so excited about 2012 she bought a case of 5 hour energy and planned the whole year in one night! Seriously, the whole year is planned, she’s that good! Rounding out the 2012 New View board are our two at-large members, Jay Henrich and Andy Hodges.  We rely on them for keen insight into the happenings of YPs around the metro.  They spend hundreds of hours scouring bars and other popular spots to gather intel for our board.  They do this all on their own free time and at their insistence.

As you can see, we have a ton of talent on our Board and within each of our committees, but we are always looking for more people eager to get involved with New View.  If you have any interest in serving on our board or helping out with any of our committees, please e-mail me (Brad.Phillips@fbfs.com).

Our 2012 “season” starts out on January 5th with a lunch at Embassy Club West.  Dr. Angie Monthei of Complete Wellness and Chiropractic will lead a discussion about “What’s new in Wellness.”  Justin Bogers will also be on hand representing our monthly non-profit group; he will discuss the benefits of Link Associates.  And rumor has it that Carol Chambers with the Business Record may make an appearance to talk about the Metro’s top 40 under 40 campaign/contest they are doing.  All this for 15 bucks! Seriously, if you have been to one of these you know the included buffet provided by Embassy Club is worth at least 16 bucks! This is a good deal, trust me.

I hope to see you at the lunch on January 5^th and all the other New View events in 2012!

Brad Phillips

President of New View