Greater Peoria Sanitary District- April 29, 2014

OLLI members visited the Greater Peoria Sanitary District on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. Paul Keturi, Compliance Supervisor for the Greater Peoria Sanitary District (GPSD), led a tour of the facility.

Keturi started with an overview and history of GPSD. He talked about the general methods for collecting wastewater and how it is treated to protect our environment in Peoria County. During the tour, OLLI members had a glimpse of some of the 650 miles of pipes used to collect the wastewater, and details about how the plant treats an average of 25 million gallons from residential, commercial, and industrial customers. OLLI members had an up close look at how the wastewater at GPSD is pumped with two Archimedes screw pumps. Each pump has a capacity of 60 million gallons per day.

OLLI thanks Paul Keturi and the staff at GPSD for such an informative tour of their facility. For more information about GPSD, please visit their website.

Midwest Food Bank- April 24, 2014

OLLI had a chance to get “hands-on” during their tour of Midwest Food Bank, a faith-based, ecumenical nonprofit organization founded in 2003.

It all started back in 2003 when the Keiser family began providing food out of a building on their family farm in McLean County. Today, the organization serves more than 600 food pantries throughout the United States.

During our tour of the facility, we learned how Midwest Food Bank handles the donations, distributions, and volunteers that allow the organization to feed more than 225,000 people each month!

At the end of our tour, OLLI members had the opportunity to help prepare a food delivery. Our task to help pack Couscous for distribution.

OLLI would like to thank Terri Campion at Midwest Food Bank such an amazing learning experience.

To learn more about Midwest Food Bank, please click here.

Monument Tour with Jim Ludwig- April 15 and April 22, 2014

OLLI members joined Jim Ludwig, Professor Emeritus of Theatre at Bradley University for a unique adventure exporing the monuments of Peoria. Ranging from Vanna Whitewall to Lydia Bradley; from religious figures to a famous agnostic; from classical to very, very modern; from silly to serious, there is a surprisingly rich and varied collection of public sculpture that we all see (they are in plain sight), but don't really notice.

For the Peoria Monument Tour, members boarded the OLLI shuttle to drive by dozens of sculptures and monuments. Jim Ludwig was a very entertaining narrator as he shared some history and anecdotes about treasures of the community. The final portion of the tour consisted of walking through the Peoria Civic Center inside and out, as well as Peoria City Hall and the plaza area.

It was truly a fun-filled tour. OLLI would like to thank Professor Ludwig for sharing his time and talent on the Monument Tour.

Peoria Fire Academy- April 21, 2014

On Monday, April 21, 2014, OLLI visited the Peoria Fire Academy, a 15-acre training facility near Galena Road utilized by local, state, and federal public safety agencies for upgrade training and continuing education. It is also designated as the regional training site for the Illinois Fire Service Institute.

Peoria Fire Captain Byron Yang, provided an in-depth look at the Peoria Fire Department, demonstrated the equipment used by firefighters (including fire gear and breathing apparatus), led a walk-through of the facility’s five-story burn tower, and talked in detail about the duties of the Peoria Fire Department.

OLLI thanks all the firefighters at the Peoria Fire Academy who made our group feel very welcome!