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Pay It Forward awards duo that teaches juvenile offenders through life experience

They’ve turned their negative time in the courtroom into a positive for the future generations.

DAVENPORT, Iowa-- The Scott County Juvenile Diversion program wouldn't be what it is without Alex Westmoreland and Anna Lyons.

Every month, they speak in front of the diversion program about their experiences in the juvenile and criminal systems to try and ensure kids don't become repeat offenders.

David Tristan, a Juvenile Court Officer, has been with the duo from the start seeing their hard work make an impact. Tristan surprised them with the Cunningham Award, a department honor, for their work with the youth.

"They take time out of their days of their working days, they have their families and they give back to their community by telling their stories of how it was when they came through the juvenile system and the adult criminal system," Tristan said.

"A lot of the juveniles maybe do not have long term goals and do not realize the choices they are making today will effect them five, ten, fifteen years down the road."

Westmoreland and Lyons tell their own stories of success for kids to learn and grow from.

"When I got out I always thought about a way to better my name, my family's name and bring good back into the community," Westmoreland said. "This gave me the opportunity to do exactly that."

Complete with cake in a room filled with their friends and family, the night was made even more special as Tristan also nominated them for the $300 Pay It Forward award.

"They are so influential in their speaking," Tristan said. "Where they've come and where they are now, it's just amazing to do this for them."

They've turned their negative time in the courtroom into a positive for future generations.

"We didn't come in here with any expectations or anything like that we just wanted to help the youth move forward," Westmoreland said. "If just one of those kids listens and it puts them towards the right path then that would mean everything to me.

If you know of someone doing good things in your community, someone who shows the core values of Ascentra Credit Union, which are Listening, Caring and Doing What's Right, why not Pay it Forward?

Nominate them here.

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