Iowa Council for International Understanding celebrates 65 years

The Iowa Council for International Understanding is marking 65 years in operation with an awards dinner in Des Moines tonight. Michele Soria, the group’s executive director, says the main speaker is an Iowa native and former U.S. Ambassador to the kingdom of Cambodia. Kenneth Quinn is also president of the Iowa-based World Food Prize Foundation. His address is called “Reaching Around the World: Defining Iowa’s Humanitarian Character.” Soria says Centerville native and world-renown opera star Simon Estes will be performing at the dinner, and there’ll also be dancers from Iowa State University in ethnic attire. Soria says the council was created in 1938 to promote mutual respect and understanding between Iowans and people from all cultures and countries. Tonight’s dinner begins at 6 o’clock at the Hotel Fort Des Moines.