The Peoria Public Library Read-On Book Club will host the Reaching for New Horizons Literary Event and “Pajama Night Read” with N.Y. Times Bestselling Author Mary Monroe on Saturday, June 7 from noon to midnight at the Par-A-Dice Hotel.

 Mary Monroe is the award-winning author of the well known, God Don’t Like Ugly that created memorable characters from the small town environments in which she grew up. She received the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles National Literary Award, 2001, for God Don’t Like Ugly; as well as the Best New Southern Fiction Award, and the Memphis Black Authors Group in 2004 for Gonna Lay Down My Burdens.Her first novel, The Upper Room, was published in 1985 and reprinted in 2001.   Mary Monroe has written 15 novels with a new novel coming out in June 2014, titled Family of Lies.

The event includes the author luncheon, book sale and signing, fashion show, a local speaker on women’s health, the “Pajama Night Read,” and music with a DJ. The cost is $30 per person and registration is available through May 30 with registration forms available atwww.peoriapubliclibrary.org>Events>BookClubs>ReadOn Book Club or at any library location. Those who wish to spend the night can reserve a discounted hotel room at the Par-A-Dice through Friday, May 16 by calling 1-800-438-6777.

Mary Monroe said, “I am the third child of Alabama sharecroppers and the first and only member of my family to finish high school.  I never attended college or any writing classes.  I taught myself how to write and started writing short stories around age four.  I spent the first part of my life in Alabama and Ohio and moved to Richmond, California in 1973.  I have lived in Oakland since 1984.”

She earned her first money writing for Reader’s Digest while still in high school. The author says that she loves to travel and meet other authors. Writing in Black Issues Book Review, Robin Green-Cary commented that the author “does [an] artful job of fleshing out intriguing, complex characters.”

“I am divorced, I love to travel, I love to mingle with other authors, and I love to read anything by Ernest Gaines, Stephen King, Alice Walker, and James Patterson.  I still write seven days a week and I get most of my ideas from current events, the people around me, but most of my material is autobiographical. As far as readers are concerned, an author never really ‘finishes’ telling a story. After the release of each of my books, I receive e-mail and letters from dozens of fans demanding to know, ‘What happens next with these characters?’ ” Monroe said.

A complete biography and description of all her works appear in the Peoria Public Library database Contemporary Authors under the Research tab at www.peoriapubliclibrary.org. For more information call (309) 497-2601.

Peoria Players Theatre proudly presents Shrek The Musical directed by Travis Olson and Mary Keltner!  Based on the Oscar-winning DreamWorks film that started it all, Shrek The Musical brings the hilarious story of everyone’s favorite ogre to life on stage. In a faraway kingdom turned upside down, things get ugly when an unseemly ogre – not a handsome prince – shows up to rescue a feisty princess. Throw in a donkey who won’t shut up, a villain with a short temper, a cookie with an attitude and over a dozen other fairy tale misfits, and you’ve got the kind of mess that calls for a real hero. Luckily, there’s one on hand, and his name is Shrek!

Performances include May 2, 3, 7, 8, 9 and 10 at 7:30 pm, and May 3, 4, 10 and 11 at 2:00 pm.  Tickets are $18 for adults and $12 for patrons 18 and younger, with a special $15 adult rate on Wednesday, May 7.  For reservations, please call our box office at 688-4473 or visit us online at www.peoriaplayers.org.

Peoria – Lt. Mark Molleck of the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office will present “Search and Rescue,” a free public workshop from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 24, at ICC’s North Campus. This workshop is offered through ICC’s Adult Community Programs and is intended for people who want to help find missing persons in our community and throughout the State of Illinois.

The Peoria County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue (SAR) Team is seeking volunteers to join the team and help search for evidence or missing persons such as Alzheimer’s patients or when a child with Autism wanders from home. Participants will learn the application process, training requirements, and call-out procedures. Persons interested in joining Peoria County’s SAR team must live within Peoria County; however, Tazewell County also has a search and rescue program so the informational workshop is beneficial for area residents.

The workshop is free, but registration is recommended due to limited seating: visit www.icc.edu/acp (select “Know Your Community” from the catalog) or call 690-6900 to register. This workshop is a National County Government Month (NCGM) event. The theme this year is “Ready and Resilient Counties: Prepare. Respond. Thrive.” For more information on the workshop or NCGM, please contact Jenny Fulton, Director of Strategic Communications, at (309) 672-6918 or jfulton@peoriacounty.org.

Event:  Shrek Visits the Museum: Peoria Players Theatre Character Meet & Greet + Shrek the Movie

Date: Sat, Apr 12

Times:

Shrek character meet & greet (lobby): 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Shrek the movie (GST): 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.

Location:  Peoria Riverfront Museum · 222 S.W. Washington St. · Peoria

Peoria Players Theatre and Peoria Riverfront Museum invite the public to meet and greet Shrek and his friends, and to see “Shrek” the movie on the giant screen, Sat., Apr. 12. The Shrek characters are the costumed cast of Peoria Players upcoming production, “Shrek the Musical” which opens May 2.

The Peoria Players cast will meet and greet Peoria Riverfront Museum visitors in the Museum’s main lobby Apr. 12 from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. and 1 – 2 p.m. Moviegoers are invited to see Shrek in the Giant Screen Theater at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.

Shrek is an Academy award-winning movie based on Shrek! the children’s book by author and cartoonist, William Steig. In the movie, a comedic parody of fairytales, an ogre goes on a journey with a donkey and a princess in order to meet a scheming lord and rid his swamp of exiled fairytale characters. The 90-min. movie is rated PG, tickets are $7 each.

Shrek the Musical is being staged May 2 – 11 at Peoria Players Theatre. The regional premiere, directed by Travis Olson and Mary Keltner, is based on the original DreamWorks film and brings the riotous story of everyone’s favorite ogre to life on stage. For more information, visit peoriaplayers.org.

Tickets for the musical will be available in the Museum lobby during the meet and greet.

 Peoria Players Theatre, founded in 1919, is the US’ fourth longest-running and Illinois’ longest-running community theatre, and performs six shows a year. The Theatre promotes and presents live theatrical productions, promotes the study of theatre arts, and supports the creation of original dramatic works.  Peoria Players encourages participation from the many diverse segments of the community. For more information, visit peoriaplayers.org.

The Peoria Riverfront Museum is the collaborative effort of eight organizations, with nearly 500 years of combined experience educating, entertaining, and supporting our diverse Peoria-area culture. Our mission is to inspire lifelong learning for all – connecting art, history, science, and achievement through collections, exhibitions, and programs.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – To help reduce incidents of lead poisoning and increase proactive testing, state Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, D-Peoria, co-sponsored and helped pass a measure requiring insurance companies to cover the costs of childhood lead poisoning screenings.

“Peoria has one of the highest rates of lead poisoning in Illinois,” said Gordon-Booth. “For many years local and state officials have been working together to find a way to address this calamity. This measure will help increase testing for lead poisoning and save lives.”

House Bill 5665 requires insurance companies to help cover the costs of childhood lead poisoning screenings, immunizations and newborn hearing loss. Under current state law, many of these procedures are required for children, but insurance companies do not have to cover them in their group health insurance policies.

“Parents in our community work very hard to keep their children safe,” Gordon-Booth added. “This proposal helps ensure that every parent can afford preventative tests and procedures. Catching a medical issue early – before bigger problems develop – will help protect everyone in our community.”

The legislation now rests in the state Senate for further consideration. For more information, contact Gordon-Booth’s constituent service office at 309-681-1992 or by email at repjgordon@gmail.com.

Central Illinois – The Central Illinois Public Information Officers (CIPIO) are hosting an Emergency Preparedness Forum on Thursday, May 1 from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. at the Stoney Creek Inn in East Peoria. This forum is a national “Day of Action” event in conjunction with FEMA’s PrepareAthon and is intended to encourage residents of the five-county region of Peoria, Tazewell, Woodford, Marshall, and Stark Counties to become better prepared for disaster.

Speakers at the forum include Tazewell County Board Chairman David Zimmerman, East Peoria Mayor Dave Mingus, Pekin Fire, Illinois State Police, Stark County EMA, the American Red Cross, and November 17 tornado survivors. Persons attending the forum will learn the difference between severe weather warnings and watches, how to identify points of contact, how to develop a family emergency plan, and what to include in an emergency supply kit. Door prizes include a NOAA weather alert radio, fully stocked emergency supply kit, and supply kit items such as flashlights. The forum is sponsored by CIPIO and the Stoney Creek Inn.

On April 30, the official first national “Day of Action,” public information officers will participate in a media blitz to raise awareness of the PrepareAthon and the May 1 preparedness forum. Joining the public information officers for media interviews will be Mayor Mingus, Washington Mayor Gary Manier, and Peoria County Sheriff Michael D. McCoy. If you would like to schedule an interview on April 30, please contact Jenny Fulton, Chairman of the Central Illinois Public Information Officers, at (309) 672-6918 or jfulton@peoriacounty.org.

The CIPIO Committee is comprised of over 60 communications and public relations professionals from agencies that may have a role in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, including government, law enforcement, military, public health, education, health care, emergency services, and private business. The CIPIO Committee is a sub-committee of the State of Illinois’ Homeland Security Region 10. The goal of the committee is to provide accurate and timely information and instructions to the media and the public during a natural or man-made disaster.

For more information on the forum, visit www.facebook.com/CentralIllinoisEmergencyInformation or contact Jenny Fulton, Chairman of the Central Illinois Public Information Officers, at (309) 672-6918 or jfulton@peoriacounty.org.

What: The Rotary Club of Peoria Downtown is pleased to announce the recipients of its Hunger Grant recipients for 2014.  The following organizations will receive a combined total of $6,000 to help support their programs that help to alleviate or eliminate hunger in the Peoria area: The Center for Prevention of Abuse, Crittenton Centers, Children’s Home Association of Illinois Westmark Food Pantry, Midwest Food Bank, and Westminster Infant Care Center.  The Rotary club made applications available to non-profit organizations earlier this year and received a record number of applications.  Rotary’s Community Service committee selected the six recipients based on a variety of criteria including demonstrated need and program impact.

Where/When: The checks will be presented at the weekly Rotary Club meeting on Friday, April 11, 2014.  The meeting is at the First United Methodist Church, 700 Main Street at 11:45.  Media Note: Please note that 700 Main is at the corner of Main & Perry across the street from the main church.  There is ample free parking available in the church parking lot which is right next to the building at 700 Main.  Actual check presentations will take place around 12:30 PM-1 PM.

Why: “While many people believe that the problems associated with hunger are confined to small pockets of the community, the reality is much different,” said Don Hartshorn, President of the Rotary Club of Peoria Downtown. “Our area service organizations noted in their applications that many of their recipients are often hard-working adults, children and seniors who simply cannot always make ends meet and may be forced to go without food. It is our hope that our club’s Rotary Hunger Grants will play a small part in the fight against hunger in our community.”

How: The Rotary Club raises part of the funds for its grants by foregoing its regular lunch once a month and substituting for a simpler soup and salad meal.  Club members will also look for opportunities to provide volunteer service to the recipient organizations for those who need their support.

About the Rotary Club of Peoria: Celebrating its 101^st year, the Rotary Club of Peoria  Downtown is focused on the Rotary mission of Service Above Self.  With more than 200 members, the club is focused on bringing community leaders together to build good will and better friendships and to provide community and international service and support.  The Rotary Club of Peoria is part of Rotary International, made up of more than 1.2 million community leaders across the globe who come together to create positive, lasting change in our communities and around the world.

Update: State Senator Dave Koehler’s disaster relief legislation that passed committee last night also passed the full Senate a short time ago. 

SPRINGFIELD – State Senator Dave Koehler (D-Peoria) believes that communities like Pekin, East Peoria, Washington and Gifford shouldn’t have to shoulder the entire cost of cleaning up after the deadly tornadoes that tore through central Illinois last fall.

He is proposing a new law that allows the Illinois Emergency Management Agency to reimburse local governments in state disaster areas for the costs of debris removal and emergency protective measures. Though many homes and businesses in the affected communities were damaged or destroyed, the federal government chose not to provide financial assistance, leaving local governments to pick up the entire cost of these services on their own.

 “The people who live in these communities relied on their local governments to clean up after these storms and help make their towns habitable again,” Koehler said. “Clean-up work is expensive, though, and now the bills are coming due. At the same time, the tornado damage has reduced the tax base in those communities. They’re facing serious budget challenges.”

Municipal, county, township, school district and community college governments would be eligible to apply for assistance under Koehler’s plan. In order to qualify, they must be in a declared disaster area and be able to prove that they paid to remove debris from public property, for search and rescue missions, to provide emergency medical services or for overtime for local emergency responders.

“The November 17 tornadoes were a horrific tragedy, which will scar central Illinois for years to come, however; as these communities continue to pick up the pieces they need to have the reassurance that  help will be provided,” said State Senator Darin LaHood (R-Dunlap), a chief co-sponsor of the legislation. “It is clear that sometimes state level authorities will have to step in when the officials in Washington, D.C. fail to declare a federal disaster area. We are working to ensure that our neighbors are not left behind in times of severe natural disasters.”

The legislation does not only apply to the November tornadoes. It would make assistance available to other communities devastated by natural disasters in the future.

Koehler’s plan, Senate Bill 231, passed a Senate committee yesterday evening and may be voted on by the full Senate later this week.