DAVENPORT, IA (06/02/2010)(readMedia)-- Local youth leader Chantell Lamont, Davenport, received an award recently for making a difference in the Quad Cities. The QC (Quality and Commitment) Award, given by the Council on Community Services of the Quad Cities (CCSQC), recognized Lamont's work with foster youth through Children & Families of Iowa's Elevate program.

The CCSQC is a coalition of nonprofit organizations operating throughout the Quad Cities Area. Elevate is a support group for foster youth, ages 13 and up, that meets regularly to improve the lives of youth in state care.

CCSQC selection committee chair Kathryn Griffith, R.N, M.S., explains why Lamont's nomination drew the committee's attention and ultimately won her the award, "The nomination was very well done. It was obvious that she [Lamont] goes above and beyond. She is committed to making better citizens out of these youth who've had some really tough brakes and that's great for our community."

Lamont was nominated in the Outstanding Individual category by Amy Hartog and Libbet Brooke, health educators at the Edgerton Women's Health Center, located in Davenport. Hartog, a frequent guest speaker at Elevate meetings, educates youth on a variety of health-related topics. "We nominated Chantell for providing quality and commitment to the children in the Elevate program in the Quad Cities area, and she won. We are ecstatic! She is very deserving. We saw firsthand how well she interacts and communicates with these kids. She is a great mentor and role model and helps them make better choices for their futures. Chantell is someone who has been through the system [state foster care], has thrived and has been successful at making a great life for herself," says Hartog.

The majority of youth who reach adulthood while in foster care do not get the chance to develop critical life skills - skills that enable others their age to succeed. Without consistent role models to demonstrate financial management, job preparedness or the basics of personal health, these teens have had to focus on surviving, rather than thriving. According to the Iowa Department of Human Services, a little more than half of those who "age out" will graduate from high school within four years of release from care. By this same four-year mark, fewer than 20 percent will be able to support themselves financially.

In light of these alarming odds, Children & Families of Iowa and the Department of Human Services began Elevate in 2005. The program's mission is to transition foster youth into independent adults and self-advocates who can successfully educate others about the child welfare system.

"We think Elevate is an awesome and much-needed program, and we hope to see more chapters open up across the state," adds Hartog.

Lamont echoes that sentiment. "I'm truly honored and grateful for this award. I view this as a great opportunity to gain exposure and connections in the community for Elevate. I hope that Elevate keeps growing and gains the support needed to open chapters in more communities, reach more youth and continue to make a difference the way we have been.'"

There are currently 10 chapters of Elevate located in the following communities: Ames, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, Dubuque, Fort Dodge, Mason City, Storm Lake and Waterloo. The Davenport Elevate group meets from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the second and fourth Thursdays of month at the Annie Wittenmyer Complex, 2800 Eastern Ave., Cottage 13. For more information or to volunteer, you can contact Chantell Lamont at 563-381-3741 or chantell.elevate@hotmail.com.

Children & Families of Iowa is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring hope, building futures and changing lives throughout Iowa. With offices in Ankeny, Centerville, Des Moines, Fort Dodge, Marshalltown and Osceola, Children & Families of Iowa is restoring hope for victims of domestic violence, helping teens find their futures, creating safe homes for children, preparing children to succeed and helping people reshape their lives. Last year, Children & Families of Iowa served more than 21,000 individuals in all of Iowa's 99 counties.

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ROCK ISLAND, IL (06/01/2010)(readMedia)-- Neil Friberg of Rock Island, Ill., will be one of two Augustana students to perform the play, "A Prairie Planting," commemorating the 150th anniversary of the formation of the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod. The free and public event will take place Saturday, June 5, 2010 at 3 p.m. at Jefferson Prairie Lutheran Church in Poplar Grove, Ill.

The short play gives a glimpse into the meeting that led to the signing of the synod's constitution. It includes the perspective of a college student conducting a practice run on a senior research project about ethnicity in 19th-century Protestantism while Lars Esbjorn, Augustana's first president, looks on to help her with the facts. Friberg, a sophomore general studies major, will perform the role of Esbjorn. Dorothy Williams, a sophomore general studies major from Melrose Park, Ill., will play the role of the college student.

The observation of the founding will include the play as well as a signing of the sesquicentennial compact by President Steven Bahls, Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois; President Rob Oliver, Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and ELCA Director of Colleges and Universities Rev. Mark Wilhelm. The three will sign sesquicentennial compact at the same table used to sign the original constitution creating the Augustana Synod.

"One of our chief aims in planning for the observance of the Augustana sesquicentennial was to celebrate and teach the history of the college," said Steven Bahls, president of Augustana College in Rock Island. "As we've done so, we have gained a rich appreciation for the courage and vision of the founders of the school, and for the firm foundation that they left us. We are humbled by the opportunity to return to Jefferson Prairie 150 years later, to honor our founders and the hundreds of faculty and staff members over the years who advanced Augustana to become one of the nation's top liberal arts colleges."

The Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod was established in North America in 1860. A group of Swedish Lutheran pastors-Jonas Swensson, Lars Paul Esbjorn, Tuve Hasselquist, Eric Norelius and Erland Carlsson-developed the Augustana Synod during a meeting from June 5-8 at the Jefferson Prairie Settlement near Clinton, Wisconsin.

The synod consisted of Swedish, Norwegian and Danish members. The Norwegian and Danish left ten years later to form their own church bodies. In 1894 the name was changed to Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod in North America and then again in 1948 to the name Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church. The synod is credited with founding seven liberal arts colleges, including Augustana College in Rock Island, and today is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Jefferson Prairie Lutheran Church is located about seven miles east of Interstate 90's Beloit exit.

About Augustana: Founded in 1860 and situated on a 115-acre campus near the Mississippi River, Augustana College is a private, liberal arts institution affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The college enrolls 2,500 students from diverse geographic, social, ethnic and religious backgrounds and offers more than 70 majors and related areas of study. Augustana employs 287 faculty and has a student-faculty ratio of 11:1. Augustana continues to do what it has always done: challenge and prepare students for lives of leadership and service in our complex, ever-changing world.

MOLINE, Illinois (June 1, 2010) - Grab your lawn chair and bring the family down to West Music in Moline for an old-fashioned neighborhood barbecue with a twist!  Join families from all over the Quad Cities as West Music students and local musicians once again take the stage for the 6th annual West Music Parking Lot Jam. This free family-friendly outdoor concert will be held Sunday, June 13 at 3pm in the West Music parking lot - just one mile East of I74 on John Deere Rd in Moline.  You and your family can register for giveaways and enjoy fresh sandwiches, pulled pork and cold drinks from Smoken JOEZ Lazy Dog Bar-B-Q. Admission is free and the public is encouraged to attend.

Cheer on dozens of aspiring young musicians as they take the stage live - many for the very first time - with their instructors. The Parking Lot Jam highlights the musical bond that spans generations as local musicians of all ages perform together. West Music instructors and local musicians will also perform.

IOWA, June 1 ? To reach its goal of educating 1 million Americans about CPR during CPR Week (June 1-7), the American Heart Association is calling on a new audience -- teens.

"We are reaching out to teens to create the next generation of lifesavers," said Michael Sayre, M.D., chairman of the American Heart Association's Emergency Cardiovascular Care Committee. "Teens can learn how to save lives and play an important role by setting an example for their friends, families and neighbors about the need for CPR and AED training -- and they can encourage the adults in their lives to learn CPR."

During CPR Week, the association will increase awareness about CPR and automated external defibrillators (AEDs) so more people will know the simple steps to save a life if someone suddenly collapses from cardiac arrest.

Anyone - teen or adult - can help the association reach its goal by:

· Playing the "Be the Beat" educational game or watching the Hands-Only CPR video at cprweek.org

· Taking a classroom-based course. To find a course, go to americanheart.org/cpr and click on the ECC Class Connector.

· Training on CPR Anytime, a self-directed, at-home CPR kit.  Kits can be ordered at cpranytime.org

Once people have learned about CPR via traditional instructor-led training or a CPR Anytime kit, they can log their experience at CPRweek.org. People who play the educational game or watch the Hands-Only video on the CPR Week site will be automatically counted toward the goal. A real-time heat map will track the number of people who have taken action in communities nationwide.

The association recently expanded its outreach to teens with Be the Beat, a program that encourages teens to learn what to do when someone collapses from cardiac arrest. Visitors to BeTheBeat.heart.org learn the basics of CPR and how to use an AED through a series of video games and interactive quizzes. There's also a playlist of 100-beat-per-minute songs to set the right pace for chest compressions.

Sudden cardiac arrest can strike anyone, anywhere. And when it does, a victim's survival depends on the people around them.  Skilled emergency personnel treat about 300,000 victims of out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest in the United States, but more than 92 percent of people who suffer cardiac arrest outside the hospital die from it.

Training more people to perform CPR - in its 50th year as a lifesaving measure -- increases survival by enabling more possible bystanders to handle an emergency.  Less than one-third of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest victims receive CPR from a bystander.  Without immediate CPR, the chance of surviving out-of-hospital cardiac arrest drops up to 10 percent for each minute that passes without defibrillation.  This means that by the time EMS personnel arrive on the scene it could be too late.

"CPR and AED training are critical to saving lives," Sayre said. "CPR Week is one way we hope to increase awareness about cardiac arrest as a significant health problem and get teens and adults to take action so more lives can be saved."

For more information about CPR Week, visit CPRweek.org.