Chad Pregracke mixes humor with messages during his Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award acceptance speech Dec. 3 at St. Ambrose University in Davenport.
By Barb Arland-Fye
The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — Chad Pregracke might have delivered the most humorous acceptance speech in the 60-year history of the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award ceremony but concluded with a powerful message for St. Ambrose University students in the audience. “We’re all counting on you. Find out what you want to do and do great things for the world,” he said during the Dec. 3 ceremony in the university’s Rogalski Center.
Pregracke, a Quad-Citian recognized worldwide for energizing people to join him cleaning up the Mississippi River and other rivers, recycling, planting trees and educating students, added another unique aspect to the Pacem award’s history. The founder and president of Living Lands & Waters, an environmental organization, he was the first recipient recognized for work on environmental justice and care for creation.
The Davenport Catholic Interracial Council created the award in 1964, which the Quad City Pacem in Terris Coalition (an interfaith group) has presented since 1978. The award honors Pope John XXIII and commemorates his 1963 encyclical letter, “Pacem in Terris (Peace on Earth), which called on all people to secure peace among all nations. Previous recipients include Martin Luther King, Jr.; Dorothy Day; St. Teresa of Kolkata; Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Venerable Thích Nhat Hanh and the Dalai Lama.
“Words like these — peace, justice, charity, liberty — don’t appear on the website of Living Lands & Waters,” said Jason Mahn, a religion professor at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois and member of the Pacem coalition. “But the work of protecting, preserving, and restoring the natural environment of our nation’s major rivers and their watersheds is very much the work of being in solidarity with the poor, of working for peace, of letting justice roll on like a river.”
“The world’s major faith traditions unite around the belief that humanity is entrusted with the stewardship of creation,” St. Ambrose University President Amy Novak said. “Pope Francis amplified this call in his 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’, where he spoke powerfully of the interconnectedness of the environment and our society. He reminded us that pollution and climate change disproportionately affect the impoverished, who often live closest to polluted lands, air and waterways,” she said.
“During many spring breaks, our students dedicate their time to joining Chad Pregracke’s Living Lands & Waters team to help clean waterways, restoring our rivers and protecting the lifeblood of our ecosystems or wrapping tree saplings for tree planting,” Novak said. She also recognized Barb Arland-Fye, editor of The Catholic Messenger, who received the One Among Us Award during the ceremony for educating “our community about sustainable practices and the ongoing global efforts to realize the vision of Laudato Si’.’”
‘The whole river is alive’
Bishop Dennis Walsh presented both awards. In honoring Pregracke, Bishop Walsh said, “The coalition recognizes your persistence and passion for the environment, your leadership in calling attention to local environmental needs, and for creating a nationally recognized nonprofit organization…. You are an inspiration for future generations.”
“Your dedication and care for our common home is a profound expression of peace and justice and is befitting of the words of Pope John XXIII as a ‘spark of light, a center of love, a vivifying leaven’ to your brothers and sisters around the world,” Bishop Walsh said.
Pregracke, the recipient of numerous awards, including CNN Hero of the Year in 2013, accepted the Pacem award with humility, gratitude and a sense of humor. “I’ve accepted quite a few awards and this is like one of the coolest I’ve ever been a part of and I greatly appreciate it,” he said. “It is such a humbling honor.”
He nodded toward longtime crewmember Mike Coyne-Logan, Living Lands & Waters’ educational facilitator, who was in the audience. Pregracke joked that when Coyne-Logan arrived in the office in East Moline, Illinois that morning he began reading the names of past Pacem in Terris Award recipients and said, “John F. Kennedy … and YOU?”
Pregracke asked for a show of hands of students in the audience. A number raised their hands and he said, “Let’s give it up for extra credit.” The audience applauded. He quipped that people listening to his acceptance speech would deserve the extra credit.
An amazing corridor
“When I think of the Mississippi River, I think of it as a 2,300-mile corridor for wildlife,” Pregracke said. “Forty percent of all migratory birds use it as a flyway in North America, (there are) over 265 species of fish and 185 —” he interrupted his talk when he noticed some people trying to exit the hall quietly. Presuming they were students, he joked, “Well, they’re leaving, no extra credit for them. Mark ‘em down … Get their badges.”
The corridor also serves as “a superhighway,” Pregracke continued. “All the barges go down (the river); 62% of all the agricultural products that are shipped out of the U.S. came through the Port of New Orleans. They keep us viable on the world market. Plus, there are seven national parks along its banks. It is truly, simply an amazing place in so many ways. Fortunately, I was able to grow up right on it,” he said. “It’s like my backyard.”
Pregracke regaled the audience with stories from his youth, boating on the river, finding a shipwrecked stolen boat, diving for mussel shells — a harrowing job that he described was like being in a cave. However, in this cave, “You can hear tens of thousands of fish communicating down there. Catfish sound like bullfrogs,” he said, mimicking the sound. “The whole river is alive … That was my first connection to it.”
Over six summer seasons, he crawled on the river’s bottom from Fort Madison to Dubuque, Iowa, “not every inch of it but a lot of it.” He spent his days on the river bottom and nights camping with his brother on Campbell’s Island in East Moline, Illinois. “That’s where I started to see how trashed the river had become … all the floods, all the people dumping, it went somewhere.”
What was happening to the river bothered him and he decided to do something about it. His persistence to make a difference paid off. He secured an $8,400 sponsorship from a manufacturing company that served as a catalyst for Living Lands & Waters, which he founded in 1998. His river cleanup efforts drew people’s attention, which attracted local newspaper coverage that led to national media attention and gave his team’s efforts credibility. “It took a lot of ‘nos’ to get one ‘yes,’” he said.
Pacem in Terris winner Chad Pregracke talks with Eileen and Kevin O’Brien Dec. 3 following the Pacem in Terris ceremony at St. Ambrose University in Davenport.
Is the river clean?
Through the years, he and his staff have hosted river cleanups, watershed conservation initiatives, workshops and tree plantings, among other conservation efforts. More than 131,000 volunteers have join them in these activities. He has worked on 23 rivers in 22 states. Since Living Lands & Waters’ beginning, crews and volunteers have removed 13.44 million pounds of trash from America’s rivers. More than 28,000 students have been educated and crews and volunteers have planted more than 2 million trees
Education is an important component of his team’s work. “You want to get it (the river) clean, that’s one thing. You want to keep it clean, that’s another thing. You’ve got to mix in education there,” he said, giving credit to his parents, who were educators.
“The river has been very good to me. I’ve been so blessed to be a part of it,” he said, before taking questions from the audience, including from 7-year-old Matthew Schmadeke of Davenport, who asked Pregracke, “Is the Mississippi River clean?”
“Wow, way to throw a softball at me,” Pregracke joked. “As far as garbage, in a lot of places, I will honestly say it is,” he said. “What’s great is it’s not just me noticing it. It’s the commercial fishermen, the towboat captains, the bird watchers, so many people.” He expressed gratitude for all the people who make it possible. “I’m happy to be a small part of that.”
