QC Forum - 3-31-24

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Quad City Forum, aweekly community service program produced by iHeartMedia to
look at the issues and opportunities thatexist in our community. Now here's your
hosts for Quad City Forum, NottLuke and Denny Linnhowe. We have Caleb
Blaine, education manager at Junior Achievementof the Heartland. Now, even though

(00:24):
Kayla, we have your offices arein Moline, JAA is all over the
place. But for people that maybeare not aware exactly what JAA does or
Junior Achievement does, once you giveus an overview. So Junior Achievement we
really provide and inspire young people fora successful future. We have programs for

(00:47):
kindergarten through twelfth grade and we talkabout financial literacy, work and career readiness,
entrepreneurship, and it really is thegoal is to inspire those students to
dream big and understand that they allhave the potential of being those entrepreneurs and
community leaders. So we want toprovide them with those experiences early so they

(01:08):
can build on it in the future. Well, I would think also this
will bring a child or give achild a little bit more confidence too.
Sometimes when we're going in that youngage, it's been a while since I
was at that young age, butremember how big the world was and how
much I didn't think I could makea difference. These jaya really can help

(01:30):
a young person get their stride.Absolutely, it really does. It gives
them that encouragement, and they seecommunity members that they're familiar with and businesses
or restaurants that they have in theircommunity, and they come into the classroom
and they share their experiences while they'releading our programs and so it just it

(01:51):
makes that connection and gives them thatreal world experience that they can use as
they continue through school and beyond.Yeah, that's what I love. I
mean, you have educated, butthis is more of a like hands on,
like real life experience as you weretalking about, kind of let the
difference between book learning and common sensein a way. And it does give

(02:15):
kids that opportunity to maybe even kindof try out. Yeah, they're applying,
They're applying what they're learning. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they do.
They apply what they learn. Allof our kids have these hand on,
hand on materials that they can experiencewhat it's like to be a business
owner, what it's like to bea CEO, how they manage their money.

(02:37):
You know, learning those saves foryou know, their needs versus once.
So it really it impacts them inthe classroom. But then it gets
them to think about like the future, five, ten, fifteen, twenty
years down the road. And sowhen we build on the kindergarten programs and
then it just builds year after yearas they have it in their classrooms.
Perfect practice too. They're seeing somebodythat okay, they can almost like a

(03:00):
mentor to be able to say,okay, they did it, I could
do it too. But this alsois great because it's the teacher plays such
an important part of every student inevery classroom. This is also great to
get volunteers coming in from outside thecommunity to help. So if people want
to be a part of this.And now by the time this airs,

(03:22):
we're talking about just it seems likeschool is almost done. But this process,
it doesn't matter what time of theyear it gets picked up. You
need volunteers to be able to getthe help educate the kids. Correct.
We have sessions in the fall semesteras well as our spring semester. We
even have classes that run through summerprograms that we look for volunteers for to

(03:50):
lead those sessions and So our elementarysessions are typically five to six lessons,
so we talk about maybe one aweek to complete the session, and they're
about thirty forty five minutes long,depending on the age of the students and
the number of students that are inthe classroom. When we have junior high
high school level classes, sometimes thoseare a bit longer, lengthier in timeframe,

(04:15):
just because they do cover a moreexpansive curriculum and be able to lead
themselves into those filling that quarter fora class or that semester. But then
the volunteers and the educator they worktogether to come up with a schedule that
works best for them that they cancome in visit the students, work with

(04:36):
them on the skills, provide thelessons, and then include their own stories
and expertise. And I know there'llbe some like you know, chats where
the kids really aren't doing too muchexcept for listening. But I've often seen,
like the little towns that are setup for Junior Achievement, when a
child or a volunteer gets involved inthe program, what can they kind of

(05:00):
expect to experience when they pop inon one of these lessons. So during
our lessons, they are all ledby the volunteer for the most part,
and then a lot of the lessonis a hands on activity. So,
for instance, with our third gradejar city, they a culminating activity is

(05:25):
the students get to build their owncity and they get to lay it out
and see how all of the businessesinterconnect together. There's some that have games
involved with the dice or moving pieces. So then the students are able to
really take what the volunteer is sayingand then being able to apply it in

(05:46):
a real life situation. When somebodyvolunteers what experiences is needed. Now,
it's great if it's a business owner, but you don't necessarily have to be
a business owner to volunteer, No, you do not. We talk to
we have a lot of people fromthe community that just want to give their

(06:09):
time. Retired educators are another audiencethat we have as well. We have
people that work in restaurants or infinancial institutions, banks, those kinds of
situations too, where they're just lookingto give back to their community. Maybe
they had JA as a student andthey're looking to have it on the other

(06:29):
side and provide it to those studentsto provide that mentorship. So it's really
it runs all gamuts and it justdepends on the volunteers comfort level and what
they are able to give their timeto when they want to volunteer. What
are the steps to go through callingja? Is there a website? What
are the steps? Yes, wehave our website that they are welcome to

(06:55):
go to. It's Heartland dot jadot org. And on there's a list
of our programs that we have availablefor all grade levels and then a way
to look at what classes are availableas well that are open looking for volunteers
in the area. And then wealso they can call our office. The

(07:16):
number is found on the website aswell, and then we connect you with
myself for one of my colleagues that'sin charge of the area that they are
looking to volunteer in. Can wejust go through with them, talk about
what grade level they would be interestedin, if there's a topic that they
saw on the website that intrigues themthe most, and so we just had
that conversation with them to help themfind the best fit placement for them.

(07:40):
I'm excited, I'm stoked, Iwant to do it. I'm going through
a wall here, Kayla, I'mready, Okay, I didn't need to
do that. I scared her alittle bit, didn't. I'm here,
I'm good. Well. So thenif people are interested, what is your
next big milestone? When's the nextbig thing you're trying to fill out?

(08:01):
So in addition to the classes thatwe have to sill for the remaining of
this school year, we will havesummer programs that are offered on both sides
of the river, and then wehave our fall semester that really starts when
the students come back to school normallyaround September is when they start to pick

(08:22):
up their schedules for JA and thenwe just we repeat the process and we
keep the ball rolling all the waythrough the school year. Love it now,
Caleb Blaine, Education Manager, JuniorAchievement of the Heartland. I'm glad
that you brought it up again onthat both sides of the river are being
taken care of on things. Butagain, just as we wrap it up

(08:43):
here today, website again just sopeople can find out a little bit more.
Yes, our Junior Achievement of theHeartland website is Heartland dot ja dot
org. That's Heartland dot ja dotorg. If you or your organization would
like to be featured on Quad Cityfor him, please visit the contact page

(09:05):
on our station website. Now backto Pat Luke and Danny Linnhowe. Lola
vander Wally. She is the founderof the Quad City Veterans Outreach Center that's
based in Dwnport. There's a moveinvolved that's they're in the process of doing
more on that in just a littlebit. But Lola, what inspiration got
you to come out with the QuadCity Veterans Outreach Center? My dad.

(09:30):
My dad went to World War Twoat the age of seventeen and was shot
twice. He fought in the GuamIslands, and I wanted to do something
in his memory. And then Ionce our local legiance said I wanted to
do something. We ended up witha building and growth has gone from there,
and I just wanted to give backto you, to the community and

(09:52):
to our veterans. And when mydad was stationed in Guam, he talked
about how the villagers would carry foodup to the mountaintop to them and stuff
as rations didn't come in all thetime. And I thought, you know
what, we can do that here. So that was my inspiration and a
little bit less dangerous than it wasin World War Two that the people risking
life and limb for that. Butobviously you're probably in a NonStop fundraising mode.

(10:18):
But one of the big events,you get a big run that's coming
up here fairly soon that people maybecan help out the veterans by running.
That's correct. We have run forveterans on April sixth on a Saturday morning
in Walcott, starting at the Legion. We have a one mile and a
five k. It's a time torace with awards and everybody will get a

(10:39):
shirt and a flag with the run, and afterwards the Legion will be cooking
on the grill for all the runners. So yes, it's all the funds
are going to go towards stocking ourpantry and the move with more food and
supplies for veterans. Well that's kindof cool. Now if people do want
to get registered for this, andI know there's a call because again what

(11:00):
you're trying to do is raise somefunds for the pantry. How can they
do that and what is the cost? The race for the one mile is
twenty five dollars, the five mileis thirty five. If they have a
group or ten or more, thereis a discount and where they can go
to get me registered dot com orthey can call the center and we can
register them there. Well, oneother question we need to know. We

(11:24):
want to know, how do yousay it Walcott or Walcut. It sound
like you said Walcott, but thereseems to be the population is split on
how to do it. So thesettled the discussion right now. I say
it's Walcott. Perfect. We're goingto go there. Next time somebody says
Walcott, we're gonna say, hey, Lola tells us, and then we're

(11:46):
going to We're going to go forthat. But we hope it's a big
crowd. Again. When when isthe date for the run? April fix?
Okay, so that's coming up here, coming up here fairly, yeah,
yeah, yeah. And so Ithink what we really would love to
know is all about the move thatyou're making, because where you are now
is not where you're going to benow. We will be moving to mid

(12:07):
April, and our grand opening willbe in May, but we will be
moving and opening up in mid Aprilto the end of April. We're moving
to the old Buchanan School on NorthFairmont, and we just outgrew our current
location again from our even when westarted on thirty fifth. We started with
thirty five veterans in twenty sixteen,and today we have almost thirty three hundred.

(12:31):
That's amazing. It's almost like aparaphrasing field of dreams where it's if
you organize it, they will come. And the veterans really do need those
resources available, and it's obviously proventhat point. But what's happening here,
what's so perfect about an old schoolis that the bones are usually really good

(12:52):
on this and you probably have founda use for every inch of that school
already have every inch of it.For sure. Our programs will be able
to expand. We used to beable to have big dinners at the center.
We used to be able to docamaraderie, and you know, everybody
getting together is so important. Andso even if a veteran doesn't need our

(13:15):
resources that day for food, theycan come in for a DV book exchange,
get a haircut, sit down anddo a puzzle with a vet,
or have lunch. Now that we'remaking the move, we're able to sustain
the programs we have, but expandthem. And with that said, we're
expanding into adaptive sports and we willhave the first veterans will chair basketball.

(13:35):
Wow. Oh so, so howdoes that come about and how did that
get organized? Well, we hadthat's one of the reasons we thought so
hard to get to school so wecould start the adaptive sports program, which
gives a lot of our veterans,you know, that sense of being able
to still get out and do things. And Bob Warrez, who was our

(13:56):
fireman in Davenport that is paralyzed fromthe accident on a fire, he is
helping us organize it. We actuallyhave people already for the basketball team,
but we'll also offer the basketball forjust people that want to do it for
pleasure. You know, they cancome in and play on the court and
get together to do this to youknow, just be a part of everything.

(14:20):
And then he's also going to goon we're going to offer worlchair pick
a ball and softball this year.Well, and you talk about the old
schools too. With generally the gymis one of the bigger parts of the
building and usually that can turn intobeing a cafeteria, so it can work
out for the meals. And Iwould imagine you still walk through this place

(14:41):
now and your brain kind of kicksin with, Hey, here's another idea
on what we can do. Soprobably what this day we want one day
we're working in here. Once theschool is fully you've got everything moved over
there. I would bet you'll becoming up by the time we talk to
you sometime in June. You go, hey, we found another thing that

(15:01):
we're going to be doing here too. Kind of exciting, I have no
doubt. Well, it just keepsexpanding, and the best thing about the
centers, like I said, it'sthe veterans have vested themselves in the center.
Our volunteer base is seventy percent veterans. Everybody giving back to make this
happen for their community, and ourcommunity in the Quad Cities is an amazing

(15:24):
veteran, proud community. All theorganizations and groups for veterans work with us,
and we will also have spaces formany of those organizations here in the
building to also be here to help. Well, it's inclusive and we're all
in this together. That's a clichethat gets used a lot, but in
this case it's being practiced. Andfor those of you that are just tuning

(15:48):
in right now, we're talking toLola Vanderwali, who is the founder of
the Quad City Veterans Outreach Center andas we just kind of do this step
by step big stuff that we wantparticipation on our bigger numbers and they already
you already have is coming up Aprilsixth out in Walcott or Walcott. We'll
try to be fair and balance withthat. So again for people that want
to be a part of the run, and even though it's a timed run,

(16:11):
you can get the walkers in there. Everybody can come out and have
a good time. How can theybe a part of that? Again,
they can go to get me registereddot com and type in run for Veterans
and our race will come up.Or they can call the center at five
six three, five two nine fourseven eighty two and we will get you
registered that way. Yeah, wewant all the walkers, runners, everybody

(16:33):
to show up for support of ourveterans. And we also have a wheelchair
division. Nice nice Lola vandal Wally. We so appreciate you coming and talking
on QC forum. She's a QuadCity Veterans Outreach Center founder and a new
idea gal new idea and I thinkand your dad is proud of you.
Yeah, very proud. Thank you. If you or your organization would like

(16:56):
to be featured on Quad City Forum, please visit the contact page and our
station website. Now back to PatLuke and Denny Linnhowe. We're talking to
Kathy Brant and Scott Nauman and we'retalking about the American Heart Association and their
walks that are happening all over thecountry, but certainly about the Quad City's

(17:17):
heart walking. I'm I'm sure Kathyprobably has a little bit more of a
regional look at the whole things,but guys, let's start talking heart walk.
Yeah, thanks so much, AndI'm forever grateful for Kathy and her
leadership. She's been a dedicated volunteerand tremendous leader for the American Heart Association
for many, many years. Andit doesn't seem to have a clock or

(17:38):
a timetable at whatever I need.She's there to help our community. And
whether that's education, advocacy, orjust being there for a friendly year to
try to build a sponsorship or somethingfor a company, she's phenomenal. So
we're glad to have her on boardleading our efforts here in the Quad Cities.
Well, and Kathy, I thinkit's interesting as much experience as you

(18:02):
bring You're like twenty two. Now, how does that happen? You've been
around for and you know what itprobably is, It's because you've been walking
forever. So that's you've kind ofreversed the aging process. Well, you
know what, having Scott is ourheartwalk chair certainly reduces stress. So I
don't age as quickly as I could. So Kathy, why don't we start

(18:26):
with you? Yes we are.The Quad Cities has challenged to step up
to Dubuke and so our goal istwo hundred thousand dollars this year. But
within the Quad Citi's Heart Walk,we very much want it to be a
community inclusive event. We want everybodyto be involved. My goal for the
Quad City's Heart Walk is that somany people are at the walk that the

(18:47):
Quad City shuts down because everybody's atthe heart walk. Heart disease impacts absolutely
everybody. Losing one out of everythree Americans heart disease means that nobody is
untouched by heart disease. And wewant to create healthier and we want people
to live happier lives. So that'swhat the heart Walk is all about.
It's getting people up and moving,it's creating a sense of community, and

(19:07):
it's raising funds for research, educationand training as well as community awareness.
I like how she slipped in thattotal. There, Scott, you know
two hundred thousand. Okay, Scott, how are we going to do that?
Well, we could get one personto write a check for two hundred
thousand dollars. Yep, there wego. Now, Mike could do it
right now, guys, but thatcheck would be bad. So I don't
think we can do that. Imean we could, right, but honestly,

(19:32):
if everybody does a little bit andevery dollar does matter. People are
in their workplaces, they're coming upwith creative ways to raise funds. Some
of the teachers are doing like acasual Friday where they can wear jeans.
Some people are doing chili cookoffs.There are many, many creative ways to
raise money. Some people are justdigging into their pocketbooks and sending us,

(19:55):
you know, amounts. But atthe end of the day, there is
some some place or everyone within thiswalk. I mean, when you talk
about community, right, you talkabout people coming together. So if people
have means, then they can throwsome dollars at it. But sometimes they're
they're walking in memory of or insupport of a survivor, and it's very

(20:17):
personally meaningful to that person. Soif they get together with their other family
members or with their company and theyall have their personalized T shirts, that's
a heck of a moment for thosefolks. And that's what matters. You
know, you come to this thingeither in need of support or you know
some collegial relationships, or you're thereto offer support. So it's pretty cool

(20:42):
the way this thing evolves. Andwhen we talk about the pandemics, it's
certainly changed a lot of ways thatsome of these fundraisers were done, Kathy,
it still brought out some great optionswell, and you brought up the
pandemic, which I had just learnedsomething recently. The pandemic did change how
we did things. We have goneback to our in person events, which

(21:03):
we are extremely excited about and reallywant to make it a very festive and
celebratory event. Before the pandemic,we've been the number one killer since nineteen
nineteen, and the only reason weweren't in nineteen nineteen was because of the
Spanish flu, which was our previouspandemic. But then during COVID we actually
got more heart survivors and stroke survivorsbecause of COVID. So we were,

(21:30):
you know, at nineteen we werewaiting for the CDC to come out with
the numbers. We were so closeto dropping to the number two spot.
The good news is cancer dropped andthey dropped enough to stay in the number
two spot. Because we don't wantto get it by them increasing. We
want to get it by both ofus decreasing. But then in twenty twenty,
our mortality rate from cardiovascular disease jumpedback up to two thousand and three

(21:52):
rates. We had been going downevery year for seventeen years, and that
work was undone because of COVID.So we are working on changing that trajectory
back to a decline instead of anincrease, and we are again working towards
getting closer to that number two spot, and eventually we want to get down
to number three, number four,and to the point where we don't know

(22:14):
heart disease doesn't exist. But toyour point about getting people up and moving,
that's a big part of it.The American culture is just not cooperating
with heart health. People need toeat healthier, people need to be mentally
well, they need to take careof themselves, They need to get good
sleep, and they need to movemore. So the Heartwalk embodies all of

(22:37):
that, which is why I thinkit's such a great event for people to
participate in. All right, Scott, Now we talk about activity and getting
people moving. How can people getinvolved right now to help out and get
some nice momentum for June eighth forthe Quad City version of the heart Walk.
Yeah. Well, we've learned alot over the last couple of years
that I've been partnering with Kathy andkind of sharing the executive leadership team.

(23:00):
But when we got our act togetherlast year and even a little bit the
year before, it's like, Wow, if we only we had talked about
this in February March, we wouldhave had time to get more engagement and
understanding and buy in at the workplacelevel. So I think it's critical right
now that we do our jobs toget into companies, to get into you

(23:21):
know, the communication media as we'redoing now, to be able to make
sure that this thing is it doesIs there a heart walk coming up?
And didn't I hear about that?You know? So it's due. It's
time to get the word out aswe're doing, and then try to get
people to say, I see myselfas a part of this event because,
you know, prickly without having areal official entrance fee. You know,

(23:44):
if you have a beautiful day onJune eighth, a wonderful Saturday morning,
I mean, there's really no reasonwhy folks couldn't or shouldn't come down to
the Schwebert Park and be a partof this thing, because, like Kathy
said, everyone's life is impact didby this You may not know someone with
diabetes or you know one of theothers, but everyone knows someone with cardiovascular

(24:07):
disease. And we all found thatout with this ultra heavy snowstorm we had
this past winner, the one majorevent. I bet we all know someone
that had an issue with that shoveling. And you know, here we are
now trying to say did those folkswere they moving enough, were they active
enough? Did they even know thatthey were ticking time bomb? So that's
one of the great things that thisevent allows us to do is to make

(24:30):
a difference, raise some money,get involved in one way, shape or
form, either through the corporate level, or individuals can have team as well,
or you know, their family canbe a team. So I'll let
Kathy talk about some of the URLsand some of the ways to register a
team because she's she's so fluent withthat. Anybody that wishes to register for

(24:53):
the heart Walk, whether you're goingto be organizing your team or just want
to walk, just goes to Quadcitieshartwalk dot org and you click on register
and join the team and then youcan get started from there. If anybody
has questions on that website is myemail and my phone number, and anybody
can reach out to me directly withany questions, concerns, or requests.

(25:15):
And there is one thing I'd liketo bring up that hasn't been brought up
yet is this year we will becelebrating the American Heart Association's one hundredth anniversary
of saving and improving lives. Wow. So this is going to be And
the cool thing is is our heartWalk is on June eighth. Monday,
June tenth is actually our Founder's Day. So we want this to be the

(25:38):
biggest, best Heartwalk the Quad Citieshas ever seen. We want to get
as many people there as possible.We want to celebrate one hundred years,
and we want to come together sothat we enter the next hundred years as
strong as possible when we Okay,but now wait a minute before you continue
with that. I know some peoplewill go when you say quad cities,
heartwalk dot org, people will goQC or they'll abbreviate it. So,

(26:03):
well, is there a default ordo we want to make sure that we
go we spell out quad cities toget into that good point. Yes,
it is quad cities, spell outit is pearl. So it's q U
A, D C, I,T I E S, heart rock,
dot org and Scott. Kind ofwhat you were bringing up to, it's
strengthened numbers. I mean we canwe and celebrating kind of getting back out

(26:27):
here again and being able to enjoywith large gatherings. Let's large gatherings with
big groups from the whole office.In some cases, some of those offices
are just now getting back to comingback to the office. So let's now
not everybody. Everybody kind of gotused to maybe being at home. But

(26:47):
now let's celebrate getting back to seeingsome of our coworkers now by enjoying a
beautiful day helping out the Heart Association. Yeah, you put hit the nail
on the head. We're just gointo college. This past week talking about
being able to be a part ofsomething that's not purely transactional. Go in,
go to class, you know,say how to a buddy and leave.

(27:08):
But this is part of something thatwe're doing together and that translates to
workplaces. The cities are all involved. We have some logistics folks that are
helping us with the details of thewalk, and there are a lot of
the administrative assistance from our very ownQuad city communities. So the actual cities.
Mayor Tomes was there last year.Mayor Gallagher, decker Plaine city administrator.

(27:32):
Mayor Madison was at one of ourexecutive leader meetings, and then we
know we've got presence from molin andwe're working with these Molene to get everyone
in both. So you talk aboutthe Quad Cities Heart Walk, it's not
just because it's in Davenport and startsand ends in Rock Island. I mean
this is a more major effort andissue, and we believe that we have

(27:56):
nothing to do but grow this thingbecause the only reason it hasn't bet a
meteoric increase in funds is just lackof awareness. And now we can control
that, can't we. So again, we want to encourage as many people
as possible, and it's open toanybody and everybody's we want to see everybody
from the surrounding communities as well asfrom the five quad Cities. And to

(28:18):
register and get more information or tofind my contact information, you go to
Quad Cities Heartwalk dot org quad Citiesheartwalk dot org. And since we just
had that nice conversation with Kathy andScott a few seconds ago, let's keep
on the American Heart Association theme,because remember big stuff happening next weekend.

(28:42):
Their Quad City Heartball is going tobe happening over at the Wragolski Center at
the st Ambrose Campus. If youwant to be a part of it now
you can maybe make a donation orshop the online silent auction. All you
have to do is just go toheart dot o rg e slash Quad Cities
Heartball. That's heart dot org slashQuad Cities Heartball to help out the American

(29:08):
Heart Association and of course the QuadCity chapter of the Heartball. And thank
you from your iHeartRadio stations of theQuad Cities. You've been listening to Quad
City Forum, a weekly community serviceprogram produced by iHeartRadio. If you were
your nonprofit organization would like to befeatured, please visit the contact page in

(29:29):
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