Four metro-east cities to be honored at Governor’s Awards
Four metro-east communities will be honored by Gov. Bruce Rauner for their community service projects next week.
The Serve Illinois Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service will present 14 municipalities with honors for projects that contributed to their community’s quality of life with strong volunteer support that made a definitive impact.
Four of the 14 projects that made it through preliminary judging were cup finalists, which were the best projects in each of the four population divisions. Among them was the Join Hands Advocacy Project in East St. Louis, which combines family mentoring, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, teen mentoring, alternative education, athletics and other youth services.
Another was in Waterloo: The Monroe County House of Neighborly Service, which provides financial and other assistance to struggling families.
The other two were located in Kewanee and Macon County. One of the four will be chosen as the Governor’s Cup winner, which will be announced at the Nov 8 reception.
Other finalists included Collinsville’s “Hometown Heroes,” which honored individual military veterans with banners displayed downtown; and Godfrey’s Beverly Farm Foundation, which provides a home and access to employment for nearly 400 people who live with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
Each project receives a plaque and road sign honoring its achievements. “We are pleased that through the preliminary round of judging, 14 localities have been recognized as either cup finalists or project winners of the program,” said Commission Executive Director Scott McFarland. “It was clear that many communities have wonderful service projects that use volunteers throughout Illinois. We are honored to be able to highlight these projects and the people who gave back through these awards.”
For more information, visit the commission’s website at www.serve.illinois.gov.
This story was originally published November 3, 2017 at 8:12 PM with the headline "Four metro-east cities to be honored at Governor’s Awards."