Peoria panhandlers face nasty responses from readers pjstar.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pjstar.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Ben Pollard/1470-100.3 WMBD
PEORIA, Ill. The Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network Thursday launched its “Care4RCommunity” initiative by celebrating National Donor Day with a donation to Dream Center Peoria.
Gift of Hope Senior Community Outreach Specialist Lisa Dodson and Peoria County Coroner & Peoria LifeSaving Leader Jamie Harwood presented Executive Director of the Dream Center Peoria Andy King with a $500 donation.
“The Dream Center connects people right where they’re at, and they help them move in a direction in a positive way in their life with providing them the resources that most people take for granted every single day,” said Harwood.
The battle for Peoria City Council’s 3rd District involves the incumbent, a former seat-holder and a political newcomer.
The field includes Tim Riggenbach, who has won the last three elections to represent the district; Gale Thetford, who held the seat for two terms; and activist and writer Lawrence Maushard.
Gale Thetford
Thetford, 68, served 21 years as general counsel for the Illinois Department on Aging. She served two terms as the representative of the district, from 1997 to 2005, before losing the spot to Bob Manning.
Thetford touts advocating for Heartland Health Services, for which she sits on the board of directors. Two recent actions by the agency the purchase of the Wisconsin Plaza and its presence alongside OSF HealthCare at the former Cub Foods site not only have boosted medical care of the East Bluff but helped stabilize the 3rd District, she said.
PEORIA
The effort to move people out of a homeless enclave under the Murray Baker Bridge and into warm, semi-permanent housing is exciting and something that hasn t been seen before here in the Peoria area.
That s the word from Kate Green, the head of the Home for All Continuum of Care, which is the clearinghouse agency for groups that help those who live on the street or in the area s shelters.
By the end of the the day Monday, more than a dozen of the 20 or so people who made the encampment their home had been moved to an area hotel which had agreed to accept the camp denizens. There are a handful of people left at the settlement who will likely be moved within a day.