Homers -- What's going right

HIAWATHA HELPS HOMELESS: With the number of homeless people in our area on the rise, Hiawatha's city government, the HEDCO economic development group, many businesses and other citizen volunteers are coordinating a campaign to help. They're collecting toys and cash donations to provide homeless kids with gifts and money for necessities this holiday season. You can donate from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Tuesday at City Hall. Hawkeye Area Community Action Program will oversee distribution.

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RECYCLE MORE AT SCHOOL: Friday at Hoover Elementary, Quaker Oats representatives helped the school launch a co-mingled recycling program intended to pave the way for a districtwide effort to expand recycling and reduce waste going to the landfill. Quaker is financing the recycling containers and signage for Hoover and helping train staff and students.

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RESTORED: Mike Osterholm, a Luther College graduate, restored a former trout stream in Allamakee County that had been converted into a ditch back in 1950. It's been stocked with brook trout, Iowa's only existing native trout species, to help expand that species' limited presence in the state.