Voting is open for the Chase Community Giving Grants. Please cast a vote for the Rock Island Public Foundation before Sept. 19!

Everyone gets 2 votes on Facebook to use on 2 different charities before Sept. 19. If you share a link to a charity by clicking the Like, Tweet, Send or Copy Link button, and a friend uses that link to vote, you earn a bonus vote. Your bonus vote can be used on any charity, even one you've previously voted for. In addition, Chase customers get 2 additional votes to use. You can use those votes by visiting ChaseGiving.com and logging in using your Chase online ID and password.

 

Foundation funds enhance the Rock Island Library is so many ways - by sponsoring Hug-A-Book early learning programs, library visits for HeadStart classes, and summer art and drama programs for children. Foundation dollars also renovated the Children's Room and handicapped entrance at the Main Library, and paid for three self-check machines, Bookletters book recommendation service and Ancestry.com subcription. Please vote today - and share the link with your friends!

 

Vote for the Rock Island LIbrary Foundation

Non-Profit Founder Offers Tips for Raising Kids to Succeed

Welfare may seem like a charitable measure for struggling families. But it's a self-perpetuating trap when it becomes the only way of life parents know how to teach their children, who then know nothing else to teach their own children, says Virgil Brannon, founder of the non-profit I Am Vision Inc.

"Living on entitlements becomes a way of life for recipients when it's handed down from one generation to the next because the family loses any tools it might have once had to forge a life based on self-discipline, achievement and challenging," says Brannon, author of Democratic Coma (www.DemocraticComa.com).

"It's no different from the child who grow up being given material thing he wants, along with excessive praise that's not deserved. One child may be from a poor family and the other from an affluent family, but both are at risk for growing up without the skills necessary for success."

Brannon's non-profit organization mentors disadvantaged children, helping them develop the values, understanding and knowledge they need to be motivated and equipped to succeed. He has found that coaching children to manage their lives as they would a business helps them not only develop good habits and skills, it also teaches them some essential business lessons:

•  Your life is your business: Our business is how we act, speak, the way we dress, how we treat ourselves and how we treat others. Like any other business, it is expected to grow and prosper and to do that, we must invest in it. Part of that is feeding the mind with the information needed to make good choices.

•  The people you meet and the friends you make are your clientele: Treat all people with the respect you would any customer or potential customer. Our relationships can elevate us if people feel their treated fairly, honestly and with respect.

•  The more you provide or produce, the more you advance: Business involves providing a service or product. Business people do not care about excuses; they care about what you have to offer them. It doesn't matter where you come from or what color you are, if you have something they need - and a reputation for integrity -- they will come to you for it.

• Your appearance means everything: You must look the part to get the part. The secret is to look as though you already have it to obtain what you want.

Parents should teach their children to be business-like and to think like a professional, Brannon says.

"That includes giving them the best education possible, including learning at home about history, civic duty and different cultures," Brannon says. "In business, people are expected to display good manners and to communicate with others, from a firm handshake to looking others in the eye and speaking clearly and correctly.

"That is the most important investment we can make."

About Virgil Brannon

Virgil Brannon is a private investigator and the founder of I Am Vision Inc., a non-profit program that embraces and empowers youth with academic and leadership challenges. His goal is to promote the personal growth of socio-economically disadvantaged youth and their families by encouraging their dreams and providing members with a roadmap for success. Brannon attended Shepherd's Care Bible College and received his master's and doctoral degrees in ministry religious counseling.

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Three Iowa City-based filmmakers are bringing Hollywood star power to their newest independent film project. "The Formula," starring Brandon Baker, Reginald VelJohnson and Sasha Jackson, has wrapped principal photography and is currently in post-production with a hopeful Iowa premiere of December '12 - January '13. Backrow Studios will be releasing the company's new website and trailer for "The Formula" on Tuesday, September 18^th.

Backrow Studios' production team Ravi Patel, Tim Nash, and Joe Clarke bring the story of two engineers who invent a mathematical formula for seducing women with "The Formula." The film stars Brandon Baker, best known for his work in Disney movies such as "Johnny Tsunami," "The Jungle Book," "Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board," as well as the NBC sitcom "One World." Also starring in the film is Reginald VelJohnson, a veteran actor best known for his roles in the classic action picture, "Die Hard," and as Carl Winslow in the long running family sitcom, "Family Matters." Rounding out the cast is Sasha Jackson, who played the lead role of "Dana" in 2011's "Blue Crush: Wild Coast." She also plays the recurring character of "Kylie" on the popular TV series, "One Tree Hill."

"The Formula" is the story of Quinn (Baker) and Graham (Schminke), two engineering students who discover a mathematical formula to pick up women with ease. Quinn is a hopeless romantic who falls head over heels for a young student teacher. Graham is a chauvinistic womanizer who thinks the key to finding the woman of his dreams is by wooing as many as possible. As "The Formula" follows Quinn and Graham from one date to the next, they discover that there is no shortcut to finding true love.

"The Formula" is the third film produced by Backrow Studios, LLC. Its first feature length film "Kung Fu Graffiti" signed a contract for sales and distribution with Los Angeles -based production house Entertainment 7. The company's second feature "The Wedge" is hitting the film festival circuit, and landed three awards including Best Professional Feature at the Cedar Rapids Independent Film Makers Festival on April '12. Go to www.backrowstudios.com to see the trailer for "The Formula" and other films and digital shorts by Joe Clarke.

"The Formula" was written by Joe Clarke and directed by Joe Clarke and Thomas Beecher. For media inquiries and interview requests, please contact producer Tim Nash at 319-531-6324.

DAVENPORT, IA - On September 14, 2012, David Kent Minor, age 38, and Kadar Ameer Wall, age 37, both from Davenport, Iowa were sentenced by United States District Court Judge John A. Jarvey, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine base, announced United States Attorney Nicholas A. Klinefeldt. Minor was sentenced to 140 months imprisonment and ordered to serve five years supervised release. Wall was sentenced to 96 months imprisonment and ordered to serve five years supervised release. Both were also ordered to pay $100 towards the Crime Victims Fund. Three other co-defendants, Charles Bateman,
Charles Harrington, Roscoe Lee, have pled guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

From approximately October 2007 until June 2011, Alon Shorter, Dale Shorter, Roscoe Lee, Charles Bateman, Charles Harrington, David Minor and Kadar Wall conspired to distribute in excess of 2.8 kilograms of cocaine base. This investigation included two controlled purchases of crack cocaine directly from co-defendant, Dale Shorter. The investigation also included five controlled purchases of crack from Harrington and Bateman, who distributed crack cocaine provided by Dale and Alon Shorter. Minor and Wall also agreed to distribute crack cocaine for Dale and Alon Shorter at multiple locations in Davenport, including an apartment on Heatherton Drive.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Iowa Department of Public Safety, Division of Narcotics Enforcement and the Davenport, Iowa, Police Department. This case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

###