Urbandale Community Action Network

Announces 2nd Annual Mayor's Bike Ride

The Urbandale Community Action Network (UCAN) is excited to announce the second Mayor's Bike Ride : UCAN Loop Urbandale, a family-friendly bike ride through Urbandale's bike trails. 

 This year, UCAN is partnering with the Rotary  Club of NW Des Moines to make this a bigger and better bike ride! 

The event will take place on Saturday, May 18, 2012 at 1:00pm and is open to bicyclists of all skill levels with 5, 10, 15. and 20 mile routes available with all routes starting and ending at the Charles Gabus Memorial Tree Park & Gardens.

Registration opens at 11:00am.  There will be a bike rodeo, bike inspections and tag registrations provided by the Des Moines Bike Collective and the Urbandale Police Dept.  HyVee will be providing lunch starting at 11:00am also.  

Pre-registration guarantees each participant lunch and a t-shirt. Water and fruit will be offered along the 15 and 20 mile routes. All ages are encouraged to participate, but children must be accompanied by an adult. A sag wagon will not be available and helmets are required for all riders.

Registration information is available at  

Registration on or before May 14 will be $20 per person/$5 for each additional family member. After May 14, the fee will increase to $25 per person/$5 for each additional family member.

Meet UCAN's New Board Members

Please welcome Megan Albright and Mike Russell, UCAN's new board members. Megan and Mike joined the Board in March. Both bring extensive experience as community volunteers and will immediately immerse themselves in the work of the Events, Leadership Urbandale and Centennial committees respectively.

Megan has lived in Urbandale for 25 years, currently works as a manager at Grounds for Celebration in Beaverdale and has three children who have graduated from the Urbandale School District. Megan has chaired Parent Teacher Organizations, the Urbandale Show Choir Invitational Committee and served on the Urbandale Pool Committee as well as many other volunteer groups through the school system and her church.

Mike is an Urbandale High School graduate and currently is working on his second degree in Public Accounting at Iowa State University. He's a Leadership Urbandale and Urbandale Police Citizens Academy graduate and was active in the Urbandale Jaycees. He is currently an Urbandale Reserve Officer and is active in the Urbandale Chamber.

 Iowa Parks and Recreation  

State Award

The Parks and Recreation Department recently nominated the Urbandale Community Action Network (UCAN) for a statewide award offered by the Iowa Parks and Recreation Association (IPRA). Each year at the IPRA Spring Conference, awards are given out to acknowledge individuals, groups, and businesses within the state that make a positive impact in our communities.

UCAN was selected out of countless nominations to receive the "Lay Organization Award." This award recognizes a group of lay people outside of the Parks and Recreation profession who have supported the strengthening of programs and resources of leisure services. This is achieved through outstanding contributions to the parks, recreation and conservation movement within their community, area, county or state.

On April 9, 2013, representatives from UCAN joined Parks and Recreation staff in attending the IPRA Spring Conference banquet and awards ceremony to accept the Lay Organization Award. Knowing that UCAN was selected for this award over numerous other very worthy programs and groups from around the state emphasizes the positive impact the organization has in the lives of community and residents.

The Urbandale Parks and Recreation Department is grateful for our partnership with UCAN as we strive together to make Urbandale a great place to live, work and play!

Kris Winter, Tony Montgomery, Mary Polson and Betty Devine receive IPRA Award

Prom Clothing Project

The Caring Corps Committee with the cooperation and support of staff at the high school launched an effort to find gently used prom dresses to make available to students with limited resources.

In a short period of time between 35 and 40 dresses along with some accessories were collected and delivered to the high school. At its April meeting the Committee decided to make this project a yearly occurrence and will seek to engage other organizations to assist next year. Expect to hear about next year's effort shortly after the first of January. We will include boy's clothing as well.

Little Free Libraries

Looking for a book for your child, grandchild, yourself? While the Urbandale Public Library is always a great source, another option has become available on a limited scale in several Urbandale neighborhoods.

UCAN volunteers CeCe Arnold, Bruce Bernard and Arlene Dabill, and Cindy Walker have what are referred to as "Little Free Libraries" in their yards. The Little Free Library movement began in Hudson, Wisconsin when Todd Bol decided to build a small library and fill it with books to be shared with friends, neighbors or passer bys. Todd did this to honor his late mother, a school teacher. The theme is "take a book, leave a book" and is designed to encourage a passion for reading.

From a small beginning the movement has grown to an estimated 5000---6000 libraries in 36 countries, with the latest estimate of at least 1,650,000 books donated and borrowed since, January 2010.    

Little Free Libraries come in all shapes and sizes, they can be built or bought, are rarely vandalized, and can become a site of good conversation between neighbors. If you are interested in learning more check out the website at: Website: wwwlittlefreelibrary.org

To check out the local connection, feel free to stop at 7231 Plum Drive, 3917 82nd Street or 4708 83rd to check out a book or just get a feel for what a Little Free Library can look like. These libraries are open 24 hours per day, 7 days per week!

CeCe, Bruce and Cindy recently had the opportunity to present a program to the Urbandale Kiwanis Club, which was so impressed it agreed to fund the purchase of materials for up to 6 libraries to be installed in parks or along the trails in Urbandale-stay tuned for future developments as this project moves ahead.

Public Library Art Gallery Gala

The Gallery is now open! Yes, the Urbandale Public Library now has an art gallery that will feature the work of local artists. The Gallery ribbon cutting occurred Saturday evening, April 6th, complete with entertainment, food and the work of local artists Carole Osburn and Shawn Wolter displayed in the hallway that is adjacent to the large meeting rooms.

Over 170 attended this event, enjoying good music, good food, good conversation and great art. Plans call for artists to display their work, normally for thirty days. During that time the art will be for sale, with the provision that any art purchased remain on display until the end of the exhibit.  

The work of Urbandale High School Artists will be displayed from May 15th through May 31st with other artists identified for monthly displays through September 30th. 

Thanks to the Public Art Gallery Committee lead by Jackie Cacciatore and Julie Wells for its hard work in taking this idea from the concept stage to reality.

In addition to the rotating art work, programs will be offered each month ranging from the works of Grant Woods to "Is This Hollywood? No, It's Iowa: Iowa's Famous Actors and Actresses" presented on May 19th by David Wendell.

So, next time you are in the neighborhood take some time to enjoy Urbandale's latest example of what makes our town "Uniquely Urbandale".  

What's Coming Up Around Town    

May 4, 10AM - Lakeview Pond Shelter Dedication

May 14, 5:30PM - Urbandale Police Memorial Ceremony, Aldersgate United Methodist Church 

May 18, 1PM - Mayor's Bike Ride: UCAN Loop Urbandale