FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 23, 1999
CONTACT: Molly Menster, (515) 271-1909, Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119
IOWA GAINS YOUTH EXPERT TO PROMOTE
YOUTH VOLUNTEERISM AND LEADERSHIP
The Points of Light Foundation has placed, for the first time, a Youth Engaged in Service (YES) ambassador in Iowa.
The host organization for the YES ambassador is the Institute for Character Development at Drake University. The institute is teaming up with the Points of Light Foundation to promote youth volunteerism and leadership through the YES ambassador program.
Iowa is one of 12 states to have a YES ambassador, according to the Points of Light Foundation. The state's first YES ambassador is Molly Menster, a 23-year-old native of Davenport, Iowa, and a graduate of Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa.
At Loras, Menster had a valedictorian scholarship, served as president of the Social Work Club and received the Jane Addams Social Work Award. After earning her bachelor's degree in social work and Spanish in 1998, Menster spent a year with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, working with homeless men, women and children in Atlanta. "I presented daily classes to educate newly homeless people, providing them with information necessary for survival and working toward establishing a stable existence," she said.
Menster returned to Iowa and started her new position as YES ambassador in September. Since then, she's participated in the Prudential Youth Leadership Institute ("Train the Trainer") and the Governor's Youth Leadership and Mentoring Conference. She's also met with various youth councils across Iowa, including the Mayor's Youth Commission in Sioux City and the Mayor's Youth Council in Des Moines. In addition, she has met with youth in Iowa's northern O'Brien County.
She will spend a year as the YES ambassador, providing technical assistance, training, advocacy and program development around youth service, service learning and youth leadership.
"I love this job," Menster said. "I enjoy working with young people because they're full of energy and enthusiasm. As a YES ambassador, I feel I'm involved in something that will really make a difference."
The Points of Light Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to engaging more young people, more effectively to help solve serious social problems. The YES Ambassador program grew out of a national need to build support and infrastructure for youth service by preparing young leaders and visionaries.
The Institute for Character Development at Drake evolved from the Iowa's Sesquicentennial celebration in 1996. The institute is a nonprofit foundation that offers communities and organizations statewide a program focusing on understanding, appreciation and use of civility and principled decision-making in daily life.
The institute developed the first statewide partnership with the national CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition, a project of the Josephson Institute of Ethics based in California. Schools across Iowa have worked with the institute and adopted the CHARACTER COUNTS! program, which emphasizes "Six Pillars of Character" - trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.