If you are a young person and want to get plugged into community work, where can you go? Teens for Tomorrow is a youth-led philanthropic program operating under the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend. It is the only group in the Quad Cities that allows high school students to give grant money to nonprofit organizations. Established in 2002, T4T distributes $5,000 each year to address community issues they have identified as priorities. In the past seven years, the youth board has made grants totaling $35,000 to 37 local organizations.

The program’s grant history shows a diverse group of organizations that they have funded. Ranging from the Boys & Girls Club and Genesis Pediatric Unit, to the Quad City Symphony Orchestra and the Eldridge Volunteer Fire Company, these organizations were all selected by the youth members.

“I always have known I wanted to help others, but I didn’t know where to start” Kylie Gottschalk, a senior at North Scott High School speaks about her experiences with the group “T4T has helped me discover interests and career paths that I never knew were available.”

In addition to learning about interests and career paths, students learn how to identify, address and seek solutions to solve community issues through direct involvement in the grant making process. Students also meet different nonprofit organizations at their monthly meetings to learn about how different people are serving the community. The board consists of 25-30 students from more than 15 area high schools and is advised by a college intern. To be selected for the board, students submit an application which is then reviewed by a committee. Students are eligible to participate in the program for two years.

Anne Faust, a junior at Alleman High School and T4T member describes the program, “It is a chance to network with other teens and make new friends you may have never met. It is a chance to get active in the community and learn about nonprofit organizations in the Quad Cities.”

T4T youth are not only networking with other teens from the Quad Cities, but they also have the chance to connect with youth across the state of Iowa who are involved in similar programs. T4T is part of the Youth Philanthropy Network, which unites youth philanthropy organizations in Iowa.

The program looks forward to continuing to develop leaders and granting money to nonprofit causes.

What happens when you complete many years in a career that has been both rewarding and fulfilling? This is the situation in which a retired Rock Island elementary teacher, Linda Taylor, found herself.  How do you reinvent yourself in a satisfying way that allows the use of skills that have been fine-tuned over the span of many years?

As she retired and had more freedom, Linda began looking around for ways to use this knowledge, energy and expertise. Her passion for many years had been to create, in her classrooms, young people who are aware of the world around them and turn them into caretakers of the environment.   As such, she looked for ways to connect experience gathered in classrooms with real world situations involving recycling and litter management.

Involvement came through teaching a “Waste in Place Workshop” sponsored by Keep Rock Island Beautiful.   Teachers, in this workshop, received training and activities to bring back to their classrooms.  Keep Rock Island Beautiful’s goal is to educate and support those who would like to become more involved in recycling and litter reduction.  After this workshop, Linda was asked to be a board member and was recently elected President of Keep Rock Island Beautiful.

Because the world around us is very important to her, Linda has worked hard to involve family and friends in environmental awareness also. Environmental awareness often begins at home. Grandchildren attend events with her and are learning to leave outdoor places cleaner than when they came. This shows consideration about the next users of that place.  Litter is picked up and not stepped over.

Linda’s idea of the “Trash Sister” project which offers presentations on recycling and waste reduction has been enjoyable as well as effective for those involved.  As Redusa, Reusa and Recycla Trash, community organizations and events are visited. Linda, as Redusa Trash, has especially enjoyed creating “Trash Talks” for children and visiting schools around our area. Volunteer involvement has been a good fit for both Linda and Keep Rock Island Beautiful.  Retirement can be a time of rejuvenation during which the opportunity to continue to use time and talents benefits all who would like to become more involved in recycling and improving our environment.