Rock Island, IL - The Iowa Quad Cities Rotary Club provided a generous $2,000 grant to Christian Care to ensure that children who arrive with their mother at Christian Care's domestic violence shelter will have the opportunity to take part in the Awakening Children to Empowerment (ACE) Program that is designed to assist children who have witnessed or been a victim of domestic violence. As a result of their participation in the ACE program, these children will be able to begin the healing process. They will work through many of the feelings and experiences they have encountered and make positive changes emotionally, socially, physically and behaviorally so they may begin to move past their trauma and face the future in safety and hope.

1920s Female Detective Series Returns for Season Three

Events slated across the country and include new, robust curriculum

DALLAS - September 8, 2015 - The American Heart Association (AHA) and the National Football League (NFL) have teamed up to launch a program that is designed to help promote physical activity and safe sport participation among youth.

The program, titled Back to Sports, is geared towards the parents and caregivers of upper elementary, middle and high school aged students who actively participate in sports or are considering it as an extra-curricular activity. Through an additional grant program that has been established, Back to Sports will engage with athletic trainers who will serve as expert facilitators to deliver sports safety information in up to 100 communities across the country this year.

The goal of Back to Sports is to increase awareness of the benefits of sports participation as a positive way for children to achieve the recommended 60 minutes or more of daily physical activity, while addressing key safety concerns including concussion awareness, heat and hydration, cardiac arrest and proper response and the prevention of pediatric overuse injuries. The program provides credible, easy-to-understand information and ongoing resources and education for parents and caregivers, teachers, coaches, youth sports leagues and others, which also includes information about nutrition and healthy snacks.

Content created for the toolkits uses the most relevant, evidence-based information to date.  The AHA, along with strategic alliance experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Korey Stringer Institute and the National Athletic Trainers' Association, were all involved in helping develop and review the content and curriculum that lies at the core of this program.

"The AHA is excited to work with the NFL on this important program," stated Kim Stitzel, Senior Vice President of Preventive Health Markets for the American Heart Association. "Participation in youth sports has certainly declined in recent years. We believe the Back to Sports education focus can help address safety concerns around youth sports and create more opportunities for youth to get physically active and develop positive life-long habits."

"Getting kids active and healthy continues to be a priority for the NFL and all 32 teams and making sure parents are educated about sports safety is a critical component of these efforts," said Charlotte Jones Anderson, chair of the NFL Foundation and executive vice president of the Dallas Cowboys. "The NFL Foundation is dedicated to improving the health and safety of sports and we are pleased to partner with American Heart Association to provide important resources to communities across the country through the Back to Sports program."

Back to Sports is an expansion of a nearly 10-year relationship between the American Heart Association and the National Football League to promote physical activity in youth. For more information on this new program visit heart.org/BackToSports.

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September 25th, 6-9 p.m. through Saturday, October 24th,

The Quad City area has an admirer coming to town. "Iowa is one of my favorite places to paint," began wild life artist Jeff Gandert. "Painting in the natural world is an ambition that continually evolves." It began well before he ever picked up the artists' brushes. Born in Cincinnati in 1957, he spent a great deal of his early years exploring the woodland streams and abandoned farms near his home," said Gandert in an interview with Beréskin Art Gallery Director Pat Bereskin. I just began absorbing all that countryside with it's wildlife and finally began to spill over in my paintings." Starting with art classes in high school and then into self studies and studies with fellow artists, his work was soon being published on the cover of a number of magazines. "I divide my painting time between wildlife and landscape painting. My landscapes are painted on location. They are loose renditions of the scene capturing the essence of the day. Having a fun loving side, I am like a kid in a candy store with landscape painting. I can really let go. Knowing that I'll complete the painting in one or two sittings I can forget the details and capture the essence of the day. I have an absolute ball with this kind of painting, I can really let go and "make hay" with the brushes.  I also have a serious side and that's where my wildlife painting comes in. Some of these paintings can take hundreds of hours to complete. I get totally submerged in the painting, striving for a believable realness and sense of depth. It's out of this type of painting that I get my greatest satisfaction," Gandert said.

Jeff has exhibited in a number of national shows including The Arts for the Parks National Show and Tour, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum Birds in Art Exhibit and World Tour, and The Great American Artist Exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History. He is also a member of the Society of Animal Artists. Jeff has won numerous awards including three best of show awards in national competitions. 

Gandert's latest creations of wildlife will be on display at Beréskin Fine Art Gallery & Studio from September 25th through October 24th. The community is invited to an Art Talk, by Gandert, on his work and process Wednesday, September 23rd at noon at the gallery, 225 E. 2nd St. Suite 102 & 104, in downtown Davenport.  A public reception for the artist will be help on Final Friday September 25th, 6 to 9 p.m.