News and Stories

Maggie Tinsman likes to be purposeful in her giving each year. “I’m passionate about the quality of the Quad Cities, and so I want it to be strong,” she said. “It’s given a lot to me and I want to give back.”

Like so many of our donors, Dick Kleine believes that his family has gathered many blessings in life, those blessings have grown over time, and as a result, it’s their responsibility to return blessings to others. 

Agriculture, education and youth organizations are the motivations for the Al and Becky Zwilling Family Acorn Fund. They want to support these causes into the future, because these things have both shaped who they are and made great differences in their lives and family.

At six years old, Molly Breidinger has learned to face hurdles in life that most people don’t experience at such a tender age. 

Courage, love and joy were the three words Jayne Lee Andreesen used to describe her journey with cancer. Jayne believed a person needed to have courage in order to “beat the cancer,” needed to feel loved because “it is the greatest feeling of all” and a person needed to experience joy because “people can make the best out of things in any circumstance”. 

Don and Charlotte Williams were both life-long citizens of Moline with strong ties to their community. Charlotte's family owned the Moline Iron Works. She worked for a while at WHBF with her own radio show, "Kiddies Corner," and was known as Aunt Charlotte to her many listeners.

"It's amazing how something small can become something great," says Marsha Pedersen. "It blossoms from people caring about something."

For Steve and Kathi Morency, it began with the very small action of picking up a book, White Oleander, by Janet Fitch. At the time, Kathi had no idea how this simple act would change the lives of her family, and the lives of so many students who have started life under challenging circumstances.

In the mid-to-late 1800s millions of German citizens left their homeland for America. Scott County, Iowa, where the first passenger railroad crossed the Mississippi River, was the "Ellis Island" of the Midwest for many of these immigrants. Upon arrival, thousands stayed in the Standard Hotel, built in the 1860s and located on West 2nd and Gaines Streets in
downtown Davenport.

Surrounded by good friends and family, Lorraine Duncan recently celebrated her 91st birthday at the Davenport Public Library. While the Library might be an unexpected party location, to Lorraine it is a second home. She spent 40 years as a volunteer for the Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society and the Library's Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center.

Established in 1959, the Potter Family Foundation has focused on improving the lives of Quad City area residents.  Since its inception, the Potter Family Foundation has granted over 1.3 million dollars to almost 90 non-profit organizations.

The Community Foundation and its family of donors have helped students throughout the community. Scholarship recipient, Bryan Berry, shared that, "I knew from a young age that getting ahead in life would be difficult, but I knew that was possible."

Beatrice (Bea) Conrad wondered the same thing about the future of the Quad Cities in the early 1960s. She was a local volunteer and leader of the Girl Scouts. She was also one of the founders of the Community Foundation in 1964.