SPIRIT OF MARYCREST AWARD GOES TO AIDS ACTIVIST

This year's Spirit of Marycrest award will be presented today to
Elizabeth Bemenderfer Wehrman of LeClaire, Iowa.

A 1986 graduate of Marycrest College, Wehrman was a registered nurse
for 35 years.

Her resume includes work as a street nurse for the Partnership with
the Chicago Recovery Alliance, Needle Exchange Program. Known as the
"Needle Lady of Illinois," Wehrman is estimated to have exchanged
more than 11,000 needles to help prevent the spread of HIV.

She also was the executive director of the AIDS Project Quad-Cities
from 1994-1997 and worked with the John Lewis Coffee Shop
Homeless/HIV Street Outreach from 1997-1999.

From 1999 to present, she has worked at Life Guard in Rock Island as
a program director, street nurse and outreach advocate.

"With her family's support, Beth has continued to champion the most
unpopular causes, and she was often the first, and occasionally, only
one to do so in her community," said Janet Rossmiller-Miller, who
graduated from Marycrest in 1999.

"First, she embraced those who were homeless and mentally ill,"
Rossmiller-Miller said. "Then she immersed herself in the gay and HIV
communities, gaining and losing many friends along the way. She also
works hard to advocate for people suffering from substance abuse --
the most difficult are those who inject drugs."

Wehrman is suffering from pancreatic cancer. The award will be
presented at her home.