Volunteers work together to move a new refrigerator into an apartment for victims of domestic violence.By Amanda Casanova

IRVING – About a dozen Leadership Irving members and volunteers worked on March 16 to renovate an apartment for domestic violence victims.

Although a major donor backed out the project, the group was able to acquire about $15,000 in materials for the Brighter Tomorrows apartment. The nonprofit group supports domestic violence victims.

“We’re here to help,” Milan Predikant, of Milan Construction, said. “People should do it. It needed an update. It was getting old.”

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Helping young women to achieve, Rita Patton, a social studies teacher at MacArthur High School, joins Mayor Beth Van Duyne at the 2013 Ignite Texas Young Women’s Leadership Conference. Courtesy Photo.

Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne recently discussed her career path with young women during the 2013 Ignite Texas Young Women’s Leadership Conference, which was held at the University of North Texas at Dallas.

“I enjoy talking with young women because I want them to follow their dreams and excel in life,” said Van Duyne said. “Women can do anything they want to do. They just need to define their beliefs, set their vision and goals and focus. With hard work and tenacity, they can get there.”

Ignite builds young women’s political ambition and trains them to run for office. Numbers show women don’t run for office at the same rates as men.

“I liked eating with the Mayor of Irving, because I realized you don't need to be someone well known to become someone big and someone people look up to,” one student wrote in her conference evaluation.

Information provided by the City of Irving

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By Amanda Casanova

From the top of the highest point in Irving, the skyline of Dallas in the east peeks through the fog. Turn and you will see the domed roof of Cowboys Stadium and a handful of Six Flags rides. Strangely, the stunning view is not from a skyscraper or building, it is from Irving’s Hunter Ferrell Landfill.

In Irving, the landfill process starts with a roughly 90 foot hole that is first layered with Eagle Ford Shale, a non-permeable rock. The City then alternates compacted trash layers with tiers of dirt, eventually creating hills on the 300-acre site. But hopefully that won’t be the process forever.

Already, the City landfill is using recycling practices. The landfill reuses ground rock to pave the roadways within the landfill. Tires are recycled, metals are sold and brush is ground into mulch.

Still, of about 500 tons of trash is brought into the site daily. About 85 percent of the waste isn’t actually waste.

“Eighty five percent of what is on the working face of my landfill has no business being in the landfill,” ,” Brenda Haney, director of the Solid Waste Service department, said. “You put it on the curb and I picked it up, so it starts at home. That 85 percent could be recycled.

Drop-off recycling centers are available at 3000 Rock Island Rd. and 8555 Home Depot Dr. The City also offers curbside recycling on designated days. Detailed schedules are online at www.ci.irving.tx.us.

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By Phil Cerroni 

Irving West Library officially presented their newest acquisition – a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) – entitled the Bridging Cultures, Muslim Journeys Bookshelf Award. This is not only the first Bookshelf Award the Irving Library System has received, but the first Bridging Cultures award to be given.

Preparing to inaugurate a new initiative for cultural cross-pollination, Mahood Egal and Deborah Vaden make sure the schedule is air tight. Photo by Phil Cerroni.

The inaugural Bookshelf Award, given to over 800 museums and public libraries, consists of 25 books and 3 DVDs at both Central and West libraries. The books explore Muslim culture and history spanning multiple continents and hundreds of years. These resources are not just politically correct gestures of good faith, however. About ten of the books are already in the library system because of their critical acclaim.

The ceremony filled the library’s conference room with spectators who came to celebrate the reception of the award with Mahood Egal, a school board member of the Islamic School, who besides speaking. presented the library with a plaque in appreciation; Nouman Ali Khan, the founder of Bayyinah, and Rabbi Frank Joseph of the Congregation Irving Havurah.

Khan admonished the audience that, although this is a good first step, there is still much need for collaboration ahead.

“Building something like tolerance is not nearly enough … We’re here to build an understanding and appreciation of the diversity that is part of what America is to all of us,” Khan said. “The Muslims who are sitting in the audience have so many different stories to tell, and all of them in the end are American, and they need to be told.”

Deborah Vaden, the library’s Branch Services Manager, intimated that the receipt of this award, at its core, is a challenge to the community at large.

“[We are] starting conversation,” she said. “Maybe the conversation isn’t so comfortable at first.”

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