Posted February 05, 2025in Your Neighbors
Librarians are much more than what is portrayed in the media as “TV librarians,” Alissa Cornick, the youth services librarian at the South Side Library, said. “They usually still have a ‘shushy’ librarian in there, and that’s just very much not what libraries are anymore. We really do seek to
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Posted January 01, 2025in Your Neighbors
Stephen Volkmer-Jones has worn many hats throughout his life. He continues to wear plenty, but two appear to be his favorites: volunteering and grandparenting. Volkmer-Jones went to school for architectural design but ended up working in the restaurant and wine business for several years. His original intention of getting into
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Posted December 04, 2024in Your Neighbors
Referees are just as much a part of youth, high school, college and professional sports as the players themselves. They are the keepers and enforcers of the rulebook and often the subject of jeers, heckles, taunts and, on occasion, praise. The games many enjoy watching can only go on thanks
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Posted November 06, 2024in Your Neighbors
If someone you know walked through the hallways at Moore or Hillis Elementary, there’s a good chance Vickie Obraza served them a hot meal. Obraza has a total of 25 years working in food service between her time at the two Des Moines Public Schools locations, and she says she
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Posted October 02, 2024in Your Neighbors
Roughly 3 million dogs are in shelters across the U.S. One Des Moines resident is using her cello-playing abilities to soothe, relax and spread the word that she says music can have on animals. Cheryl Wallace once owned a jewelry business on Ingersoll Avenue. As time went on, she transitioned
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Posted September 04, 2024in Your Neighbors
The rise in popularity of superheroes in the last 20 years has been difficult to ignore. Lists featuring the highest-grossing movies of that time heavily featured Marvel and DC movies and their respective characters. Children especially idolize these superheroes. While these heroes have worlds to save and crimes to stop,
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Posted July 31, 2024in Your Neighbors
Julie Collins is an at-home caregiver for Right at Home Des Moines, which specializes in at-home care for patients. Collins, who was born and raised in the Beaverdale area, has been working at the organization for six years. Her daily duties involve helping her clients with bathing, grooming, dressing, laundry,
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Posted July 03, 2024in Your Neighbors
According to the Iowa Department for the Blind, about 54,000 Iowans have experienced visual impairment. One organization, Iowa Reading Radio Information Services (IRIS), aims to aid those with the disability through, of course, reading. With braille being a difficult skill to learn, and books, newspapers and magazines not being printed
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Posted June 05, 2024in Your Neighbors
Kelly Penman Jr. is a nurse by day and a cemetery repair guy by, well, also day. He grew up in Des Moines, but, like most in the U.S., has ancestral ties to countries overseas. Nine years ago, Penman was looking for a family member’s headstone in Scotland. “It had
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Posted May 01, 2024in Your Neighbors
A community of individuals who have their neighbors’ backs live at the YMCA supportive housing campus in downtown Des Moines. This solution for those who are homeless, or are about to face homelessness, is unique. One of the residents is Mary Adams, a Navy veteran. She was pre-enlisted in the
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