4 results for month: 10/2020
Pandemic Forces Historic Sherman Hill to Go Virtual for 2020 Halloween on the Hill
Since its inception in 2010, Halloween on the Hill has grown to become Des Moines’s premier Halloween event. For a decade, residents of the historic Sherman Hill neighborhood have gone all out to decorate their homes with spooky scenes while also collecting food items for the Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC) Food Pantry Network. Like so many events we all love, it is sadly not safe to invite thousands of friends this year.
However, the need to help those who face food insecurity in our community has never been more important. At the core of Halloween on the Hill has always been a desire to use this fun event help others.
"This year, ...
21-Day Equity Challenge Reflection: Amy Becker
by Amy Becker, Team Pastor, Ashworth Church
I’m grateful for the gift of United Way’s 21 Day Equity Challenge. As a pastor, a leader for college ministries around the state of Iowa, as a neighbor, and a mom, the Equity Challenge has given me tools, resources, facts and figures, and stories to share in each of these places.
More importantly it’s given me eyes to see again that segregation is not a thing of the past, as I go for an evening walk in my neighborhood just blocks away from Center street—once the beloved thriving Black business district in Des Moines.
It’s given me ears to hear stories, like the young women from Davenport, ...
21-Day Equity Challenge Reflection: Luke Elzinga
by Luke Elzinga, Communications & Advocacy Manager, DMARC
Three years ago, my partner and I became homeowners, thanks in large part to an FHA first-time homebuyer loan. I feel incredibly fortunate to be a homeowner before the age of 30 - but it's not luck that has led me to this point.
Our home on the south side of Des Moines lies in the C-4 section on the Des Moines Redlining Map, which gave it a rating of "Fair" when the map was created in the late 1930's. It was a working class neighborhood then and remains so to this day. Our home is nearly 100 years old, meaning it was around 12 years old when the redlining map was drawn.
Last week's ...
21-Day Equity Challenge Reflection: Matt Durham
by Matt Durham, President, DMARC
When setting sail on the 21-Day Equity Challenge I was very much looking forward to the content but didn’t know what to fully expect. Over the past couple months, I, like much of the United States, put some intent around educating myself more, reading more, and talking more about racism. As I peeled back the layers of internalized, interpersonal, institutional, and systemic racism it was eye-opening that there was both things I could be better at – and there were surely ways that we as a community could be better. All that being said – the 21-Day Equity Challenge admittingly felt like something that was going ...