Here are some June Awareness causes! Find your passion!

National Awareness of Prostate Cancer!


What Is the Prostate?

Technically, it's part of your sex organs. It's a small gland, about the size of a walnut, that surrounds your urethra, a tube that takes urine from the bladder to the penis. The urethra also carries semen during ejaculation. The prostate gland grows quite a lot during puberty and then doesn't change much until about age 40, when it slowly begins growing again and, in many men, doesn't stop. Half of men aren't bothered by their growing prostate. But the others will develop one of three prostate diseases; enlarged prostate, prostate cancer, or prostatitis, or may have more than one.

Get your prostate checked yearly after age 40

Eat right. Studies show that people who eat a high fat diet have a greater risk of developing prostate cancer. On the other hand, fiber, soy protein, fruits, and cooked tomatoes have all been shown to reduce risk.

Watch your weight. Obesity may be a contributing factor to a number of cancers, including prostate.

Exercise regularly

Don’t smoke

Limit alcohol and avoid caffeine.

Drink a lot of water. This can help flush out your bladder. Urine should be almost clear.

Have regular sex. The best way to empty the prostate is to ejaculate.

Consult your doctor about other prevention tips.


There is an ongoing, increasing and predominantly silent crisis in the health and well-being of men. Due to a lack of awareness, poor health education, and culturally induced behavior patterns in their work and personal lives, men's health and well-being are deteriorating steadily. Society is being dramatically affected because men are living approximately 5 years less than women.

End the Silence

Wear Blue to remind men the importance of staying healthy.

Wear Blue and become part of a national movement.

Wear Blue to let men know we care.

Wear Blue to keep men healthy and alive.


In honor of my Father - I love you! You keep fighting the fight and I will as well!





National Cancer Survivors Day

Plan now to participate in the 19th annual National Cancer Survivors Day on Sunday, June 4th, 2006. You will join thousands of people in hundreds of communities worldwide who will be celebrating the lives of all people, especially those who are living with a history of cancer.

http://www.ncsdf.org

National Men's Health Week

The purpose of Men's Health Week is to heighten the awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of disease among men and boys. This week gives health care providers, public policy makers, the media, and individuals an opportunity to encourage men and boys to seek regular medical advice and early treatment for disease and injury.

http://www.menshealthmonth.org

National Aphasia Awareness Month

a pha sia (uh-fay'-zhuh) n. An impairment of the ability to use or comprehend words, usually acquired as a result of a stroke or other brain injury. The National Aphasia Association, NAA, is a nonprofit organization that promotes public education, research, rehabilitation and support services to assist people with aphasia and their families.

www.aphasia.org



Find your passion - Thanks for volunteering!

Join Soles4Souls on a Shoe Distribution

Soles4Souls

Our Mission

Soles4Souls collects new shoes to give relief to the victims of abject suffering and collects used shoes to support micro-business efforts to eradicate poverty. Soles4Souls’ other two divisions, Clothes4Souls and Hope4Souls, provide the same relief and support through clothing and other necessities.


Our History

Soles4Souls has a simple concept: we procure shoes and get them to those in need.

In the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami that hit Southeast Asia, Wayne Elsey, the Founder and CEO of Soles4Souls® Inc., felt compelled to do something. Like many of us, he did not know what to do. He was at home one night, watching TV and he saw a picture of a single shoe washing up on the beach. That triggered a few calls to some other executives in the footwear industry and the subsequent donation of a quarter of a million shoes to victims in the devastated countries.

A few months later when Katrina hit, Wayne called the same group of friends, and through our continued support, we have sent over a million pairs of shoes down to the gulf coast communities affected by the hurricane. In all honesty, he admits that he did not expect such an immediate and successful turnout. This left him wondering, why not start a non-profit and do this all the time? One year later, Soles4Souls was formally created.

It has been that simple: changing the world one pair at a time.

Soles4Souls receives large donations from footwear companies, retailers, churches, nonprofit ministries, civic groups, schools, and individuals and saw that this could become a full time organization. That's why Soles4Souls was created – to facilitate the donations from these groups to the people who desperately need footwear.

Remembering Memorial Day

Memorial Day 2011 is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 30 in 2011). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. soldiers who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War. It was extended after World War I to honor Americans who have died in all wars.

Memorial Day often marks the start of the summer vacation season, and Labor Day its end.

Begun as a ritual of remembrance and reconciliation after the Civil War, by the early 20th century, Memorial Day was an occasion for more general expressions of memory, as ordinary people visited the graves of their deceased relatives, whether they had served in the military or not. It also became a long weekend increasingly devoted to shopping, family get-togethers, fireworks, trips to the beach, and national media events such as the Indianapolis 500 auto race, held since 1911 on Memorial Day.

Memorial Day 2011 is on 30th May in 2011.

Highlights April & May - Wonderful Events!

Playing catch-up with posting photos of some of the great & fun events I have been able to be a part of!

Judging Miss St. Johns Country Day School to Receiving a card and dinner from Princess Kilala (ha ha - via my hubby's help) so sweet after the loss of my love Pepper Dog - miss you boo! To respresting Mrs. North Florida at the State Florida United States Pageant receiving the honorable mention for Spirit of Pageantry & Congeniality to the honor of 2nd runner up! Congreats to all the Queens - had a wonderful time seeing and meeting many friends! Onto volunteering at the First Coast Go Red for Women Luncheon - What a great day helping out and see all the wonderful folks involved in something so dear to my heart! Then onto Trails and Tails Walk with Princess Kilala in memory of my boo Pepper Domino Oulton!



Until next time - enjoy!

Why is it Important to Volunteer?

Volunteering is as natural to me as living. You see, I was brought up with the idea that helping others grows me as a person of value and compassion. My parents, however, were very careful to make sure I was developing a strong inner core for myself and not simply using volunteer work to compensate for my own lack of self-love. As they taught me about giving, they would also question why I was volunteering for this or that.

No matter how serious the volunteer work may be, staying light-hearted and bringing others a bit of your sunshine goes a long way. Laughter lightens!.

Thanks to my parents, I’ve been a volunteer is some form or other most of my life. I have been blessed with receiving their wonderful philosophy of service. Many of you may not have had this type of mentorship, so let me give you my perspective on volunteering.

Reasons People Volunteer

Volunteering is important for as many reasons as there are people and needs.

1. Some people volunteer because they just love helping others. Their own joy of giving and making a difference makes them feel valued and valuable to the ones they are serving. They receive back a thousandfold by seeing the impacts created for the people they are helping.

2. Others volunteer because they feel a need to give back to a community that has been good to them and they want to express their gratitude by paying it forward into their community. This is powerful leverage that can build lasting beneficial changes in a viral way.

3. Still others volunteer because it gives them a sense of purpose and meaning to their lives. It’s like their contribution to others is fulfilling a critical aspect for their own self-expression in the world.

4. And, of course, many people volunteer to gain valuable new experience in a certain field and pay their dues for developing expertise and career advancement opportunities.

5. Last but not least, great volunteers enjoy themselves while giving to others. Long term studies have shown that volunteers live longer, are in better health, have lower rates of depression and less heart disease.

The poet John Donne said it best, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main…”


Share Your Gifts With Others

Everyone has unique gifts to offer, bar none. When you share your gifts from your heart, you cannot help but feel great! If you don’t feel these self-rewards, then you are either volunteering in an area that doesn’t fit who you are, or else you’ve got some deep inner work to complete first.

Many of us don’t think that we can really make a difference. That’s why, if you have a desire to help out, do some research and find an opportunity to try it out. Your very own community will have plenty of opportunities to do so. If you are new at this, it’s also a good idea to choose the volunteer leader to whom you feel you can relate to and learn from.

The opportunities to make a real difference and impact the lives of others present themselves everyday. The question is, will we take advantage of them or let them pass by like an afternoon breeze?

May 21 - Armed Forces Day = Thank You

A Testament to Armed Forces Day
By anonymous


Today is a special day for all of us who have served in any of the branches of the U.S. military. Saturday is Armed Forces Day. It's a day we all should observe and remember.

The first Armed Forces Day was celebrated on May 20, 1950, just a month before the Korean War started. The new holiday was established the previous year. Prior to that, each of our military services had its own special day.

But when the various branches were all organized under a single department -- the Department of Defense -- the country seemed ready to recognize the totality of the individual forces and their combined dedication and sacrifice.

So it began. And almost immediately, we were in a war. The war was with North Korea, determined to take over South Korea. When things didn't go well for them, China was quick to enter the conflict, and a war that would last a full three years began in force.

I was drafted on November 6, 1953, the day my wife and I were married. It wasn't much of a wedding present.

My father had become very ill a few months earlier, and I had found it necessary to drop out of engineering school to go to work full time. The family income problem was serious. By the summer of 1953, we had things working pretty well, so we decided to marry. But the wonderful plans we had built crashed with the Selective Service Notice. "Greetings." That's all it had to say. Twenty-four days later, I was on my way to Fort Knox, Kentucky, with no idea where the two years of active duty would lead me.

Some friends strongly suggested that I apply for a hardship discharge. I, like most young guys who had just a few years before lived through the ups and downs of World War II, felt that our duty was our duty.

I finally met with my dad about it, because I couldn't bear the idea of going if he really didn't support my decision.

He made it very, very clear: I should go. Whatever happened to him was unimportant. The country had called. I had to answer. And I did.

Unfortunately, I never saw him again. He died in the spring of 1955. We managed to get back home in time for the funeral.

But my service was very good. I felt the satisfaction of knowing that what I was doing was important -- not just to me, but to my country. Whenever I meet someone currently in the service, I can always feel that same sense of pride.

There were some surprises too.

In the early Korean War, the segregation of the races ended. Blacks and whites served together. Blacks held the same jobs that whites did, unlike in previous integration efforts, where blacks were relegated to lower-class jobs in the kitchens and barracks.

And the change was exhilarating. In my first eight-week Basic Training course (where I became familiar, and reasonably proficient, in a wide range of combat-ready skills), my NCO in charge, our field first sergeant, was a black returnee from Korean battles.

Master-Sergeant Stevenson was his name, and he was a masterful instructor. We all heard some of the stories behind his decorations.

It was a powerful lesson that in all of American society at the time, the only place a large group of young men could be placed under the total control of a black man without so much as a single objection or grumble was in our military. Master-Sergeant Stevenson was a great leader, and he helped many of us become the same -- or at least as close as we could get.

But every man or woman who serves has stories to tell -- stories that reflect their pride in what they have done and the gratitude they (we) all somehow felt for the opportunity to be there.

So please join all of us who are still here -- young or old alike. Honor the Armed Forces we so gratefully served. Extend to anyone you know who serves now your appreciation and gratitude.

It is an occasion to bring us all to recognizing the price so many pay to keep this country free.