SPRINGFIELD - October 29, 2009. Governor Pat Quinn recognized hundreds of volunteers for their hard work and dedication towards improving their communities. The Governor's Home Town Awards were given for 46 projects during a ceremony at the Executive Mansion in Springfield.

"I salute the citizens across Illinois who dedicate their time and energy to improving their communities," said Governor Quinn. "The Governor's Home Town Awards are one small way we can recognize the contributions of these outstanding citizens."

The Governor's Home Town Award recipients were by a group of volunteer judges who reviewed and ranked applications based on local need, volunteer participation, project continuity and results. The judges visited the communities to select one project from each population category to compete for the coveted Governor's Cup. The Governor's Cup is a traveling silver trophy presented to the community whose efforts were deemed most representative of the spirit of Illinois volunteerism.

The Sauk Valley Foodbank in Whiteside County was chosen as the 2009 Governor's Cup Award winner. The Foodbank opened in 2004 and since opening the organization has distributed food to more than 100 pantries, organizations and thousands of needy individuals.

Carol Siefken, Director of the Foodbank, Dick Cox, Foodbank Board President along with Representative Jerry Mitchell accepted the award from Governor Quinn.

Modern Healthcare Magazine has recently ranked CGH Medical Center #13 in the nation among the "100 Best Places to Work in Healthcare" and #9 among healthcare providers. The award recognizes CGH as a workplace that promotes employee satisfaction, innovation and performance, and in turn, allows the hospital to provide the best possible care to our patients and community.

Visit www.modernhealthcare.com/bestplacestowork for more information on this outstanding award!

On August 15, 2008, we welcome the entire community to congratulate and recognize the Sterling Little League World Series Softball Team at Roscoe Eades Stadium at Sterling High School. This is an exceptional opportunity for this team and our community and we hope everyone will be able to join us. Here is the time table of events for Friday evening.

Sterling Girls Softball Team will arrive late Thursday night. We hope you can be a part of Sterling History on Friday night.

Hard by the banks of the Rock River in northwestern Illinois and otherwise surrounded by farmland, Sterling is a small, diverse, hard-working town of 15,500. The well-to-do mix easily with their more blue-collar townsmen, and the vibrant culture of Sterling's large Latino population is alive in restaurants and other businesses.

Nowhere is this sense of inclusion more evident than in the town's youth sports, which are guided by a simple principle: Everybody should play. It starts from the earliest age, with the annual Pumpkin Dash (above), a run for everyone from toddlers to teens. "We're doing our best to get kids off the couch," says Michael Clark of the Sterling Park District, which coordinates programs in 20 youth sports (and more than 500 programs for Sterling-area citizens of all ages). "It's a good problem when we are trying to find practice times for all the activities."

More than 3,500 kids are active in Sterling Park youth sports each year, and every one gets a trophy. The town keeps fees low, offers financial assistance for qualifying families and has open membership, so kids from other towns don't have to pay more to use the courts of the gleaming Westwood Sports and Expo Center, the skateboard park, the roller hockey rink or other facilities. "They do the extra work to include everybody," says Gabriel Ocampo, a Mexico-born Sterling resident, father of three and soccer coach. And the payoff? "You see the advantages that kids who play sports have," Ocampo says. "They're more outgoing. They're respectful. They know how to have fun."

Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn concluded the 13th Annual Illinois Main Street Downtown Revitalization conference November 14 and 15 held in Waukegan with the Lieutenant Governor Awards for Excellence in Downtown Revitalization.

Illinois Main Street communities from throughout the state submit their best projects for the annual awards. A distinguished panel of judges, including economic development specialists, historic preservation architects, downtown professionals and representatives from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity made the award decisions.

Lieutenant Governor Quinn addressed the 270 banquet attendees, noting, "The Illinois Main Street program is designed to bring people back to the downtown. Through technology, special events and good old-fashioned word of mouth, the spirit of the program is proving to be successful all across the state."

Quinn also announced seven new Associate Programs, making Illinois Main Street the fourth largest program in the nation. Sterling Main Street was included in the group. Sterling Main Street applied to the program in August and has through December, 2007 to complete participation requirements.

Ed Cox, Patty Cox, Linnea Koch, Heather Sotelo, Mayor Ted Aggen, and Scott Shumard from Sterling Main Street traveled to Waukegan; and attended a variety of educational sessions.

The Lieutenant Governor's Office administers the Illinois Main Street program with architectural assistance through the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. It is based on a national model that offers communities help with issues of historic preservation, economic development and downtown improvements. Illinois is one of 40 states that belong to the National Main Street program administered through the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The schools identified under the U.S. Department of Education's NCLB-Blue Ribbon School program as high achieving-in the top rank of their state or rapidly closing the achievement gap-vary enormously. Indeed, their successes may stem in part from their ability to see their specific local realities clearly and to respond sensitively.

There are no magic formulas. However, the principals of this year's seven profiled schools, schools characterized by both high poverty and high student achievement, did offer, on request, numerous pieces of solid advice. We have distilled the top ten:

1. Set high standards, high expectations, and a rigorous curriculum. Decide on your focus and stay the course. Find the necessary resources.
2. Listen to the data. If an inadequate number of students are learning to high standards, develop tutoring and test prep strategies to improve the numbers.
3. Hand-pick your teachers and create a culture where the administration works for the teachers, not the other way around.
4. Provide timely and intensive intervention strategies for students who are experiencing difficulties.
5. Provide upward and downward opportunities for students who are strong or weak in specific content areas.
6. Ensure the principal spends a lot of time in classrooms and knows what is (and is not) happening.
7. Structure bilingual education so that students are effectively mainstreamed into regular classes by fourth grade.
8. Ensure strong, two-way communication between school and home-not just parental involvement but family involvement.
9. Provide a safe, pleasant environment before, during, and after school.
10. Remember that the most important component of education is the students-and that the teacher's most important job is doing what is best for the students.

Whiteside County - The Agape Care Center provides free health services to those in need. Housed in the Rock River Christian Center, the Agape Center receives donated space, utilities and security from the church; and the church's secretary provides clerical support. Medical equipment and supplies have also been donated.

Sterling and Rock Falls - Let's Feed Our Children - An increase in demand on Whiteside County food pantries led to creation of the program that fed, on average, over 400 children during the Summer of 2002.

Whiteside County - The Clothes Closet - Volunteers assist in collecting, cleaning, hanging and delivering donated clothes items which are given free to those in need.

Coloma Township-Knowledge Increases Developing Skills for Success - In 2001, Rock Falls dedicated a new handicapped-accessible library, built with help from volunteers.

Whiteside County-Our Food Pantry - Funded entirely through donations and grants, volunteers operated a food pantry that fed more than 1,900 people in 2001.

The Moose Mingle Dances - Moose members and Women of the Moose, with help from businesses, underwrite monthly dances for local middle school students.

In late 1999 Sterling Police Officers spoke with members of the Local Moose Lodge 726 and Women of the Moose Lodge 267 in attempt to raise funds to support our "Teen Time" program. Following the presentation, Moose members asked what we were doing for the Middle School aged members of our community.

From that simple inquiry were born the Moose Mingle Middle School Dances. Each month one dance is held for 6th, 7th and 8th grade students, which now garners an attendance of 700 to 900 kids. The purpose is to give kids a positive activity in which they can mingle with police officers and adults from the community.

The response to the dances was so tremendous that they had to be moved from the Sterling Moose Club to Westwood Sports & Expo Center. The Moose Lodge provides snacks, pop, ice and dispensing equipment. Moose members along with parents, teachers and police officers volunteer to chaperone.

Great Times Summer Youth Program - Sponsored by the Sterling Police Department, the goal of the Great Times summer program is to teach through entertainment the importance of graduating from high school.

"Great Times" was developed as a summer component of the GREAT program. In 1999 the Police Department realized that particularly during summer, children are often unsupervised and get into trouble during the day or early evening hours.

The "Great Times" Program was designed to be educational and keep kids active through the day. The program works with 6th, 7th and 8th grade students three days per week over a summer time 8 to 10 week period. During the morning, students play a 'guess my occupation' game with a variety of professionals during a lecture, question and answer session. The importance of an education is brought home. Free lunch is provided and the afternoon session brings team building activities, sports or educational field trips. Senior citizen volunteers, volunteers from various social agencies and city departments help with the afternoon activities.