Loved the latest issue on Heart Health News

From the American Heart Association - to learn more visit the American Heart Association near your city or on-line at www.heart.org

What can a pear or apple each day do for you? and more


Table of Contents

• What can a pear each day do for you?
• Meet the 2011 Go Red Women
• Want a delicious biscuit recipe?
• Elizabeth Banks directorial debut
• Scholarship opportunity
• Get a fabulous new travel mug
• Enroll in Thanks for Sharing



News

Healthy lifestyle habits lower heart failure risk
If you don't smoke, aren't overweight, get regular physical activity and eat vegetables, you can significantly reduce your risk for heart failure. Read more.

An apple or pear a day may keep strokes away

Apples and pears may keep strokes away. That's the conclusion of a Dutch study published in which researchers found that eating a lot of fruits and vegetables with white flesh may protect against stroke.



Announcement

Inspiring women selected to represent Go Red

Last February Go Red For Women held a nationwide search to find women whose personal experiences with heart disease would motivate others to Make It Their Mission to fight heart disease, the No. 1 killer of women. We found six stories that not only inspire others, but changed the way these women think about heart disease.

Meet these women, hear their stories

• Jamie, 36 A heart disease survivor who received two ultimate gifts - a new heart and a surrogate for her twins

• Liz, 43 A heart disease survivor and mother of four who went from running 15 miles a week to crawling up the stairs of her house in a matter of only three weeks

• Eva, 39 A Latina heart disease survivor and nurse who put others first, ignored her own heart condition and did not follow up for 13 years

• Tamara, 33 A woman whose life was changed forever in her teens when her mother died of a heart attack in her arms

• Dianne, 53 A heart attack survivor and fitness instructor who is living proof that heart disease can happen to anyone

• Shermane, 40 An African-American stroke survivor who confused her symptoms with first date jitters



Recipe of the Month

Angel Biscuits

Serve these delicious biscuits with a meal or enjoy for breakfast!



Feature

Elizabeth Banks uses comedy to make her point

Emmy-nominated actress Elizabeth Banks directs and stars in the first-ever Go Red For Women short film "Just a Little Heart Attack," inspired by the real-life stories of women who have been affected by heart disease. The entertaining, yet poignant film, provides a powerful wake-up call to women across America to understand their risk for heart disease and empower them to put their health first.
Take a few minutes to watch the film and tell 5 women you love to do the same!
Share this:



Heart Health

Know someone working toward a career in medicine?

A career in medicine does not have to be out-of-reach. If you or someone you know is dedicated to helping your community combat heart disease, complete an application for the Go Red™ Multicultural Scholarship Fund today.



ShopGoRed

Products purchased from ShopGoRed.com benefit the American Heart Association and help fund awareness and education to fight heart disease in women. Check out this month's featured product and more at Shop Heart.

Go Red Travel Mug Ditch your hum-drum coffee mug and reach for something more fabulous! $12


Sponsors

Macy's

Macy's is a proud national sponsor of Go Red For Women. For each Thanks for Sharing enrollment made from Sept. 14 through Dec. 31, 2011, Macy's will donate $10 to national and local charities, up to a total of $15 million, with the first $3 million donated to Go Red For Women..


Learn more about the companies that support Go Red For Women.

http://www.goredforwomen.org/sponsor_programs.aspx




TM Go Red trademark of AHA, Red Dress trademark of DHHS

Enjoy - August and September

Here are some more photos of the kids - Princess Kilala and Sassy Sissy are now best friends/sisters - they are so funny together now!

Here is a photo of me with Paula Deen - NOT if you look really close you can tell that it is her cut out we missed seeing her, but the food was Yummy at her resturant (Lady and Sons) We had a great visit in the beautiful downtown area of Savannah, GA.


Clay County Health Fair - Volunteering for the American Heart Association - this event was so much fun - I had the chance to pass out information about the AHA and let people know about the events coming up such as the Heart Walk, Heart Ball and also ask them a few questions - to know if they are heart healthy?


Here is a note from the AHA - and the photos from the walk - what a great cause and great event!

Greetings, Janice

First off, THANK YOU very much for helping make this our most successful Heart Walk in Jacksonville’s History!! We estimate 15,000 plus participants. Thanks to your support, volunteerism, and leadership we made history on this UNFORGETTABLE day!
To those of you who have provided feedback, thank you. If you have not had an opportunity to share any feedback with me, please do so. We are committed to making the Heart Walk the premiere outdoor walking event in America! Our overall event goal is one million and we are still on track to get there before the year’s over! If you are still trying to reach your company goal I would be more than happy to help plan some internal contests with incentives to help you get there!
Once again, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart and on behalf of the American Heart Association. We hope to see you all again next year!

P.S. We plan to distribute the “Official” 2011 Heart Walk t-shirts in October, so stay tuned Heart Walk Heroes.

Sincerely,

Chris Atib
Heart Walk Director
American Heart Association
Greater Southeast Affiliate
5851 St. Augustine Road
Jacksonville, Florida 32207
Direct 904.256.5716



Enjoy until next post!

Happy Hearts!

Volunteering is Easy!

Holidays = more Volunteering maybe?

Q & A - so I thought I would try to answer some of the questions I get about volunteering!


Why do so many people only choose to do volunteer work during the holiday seasons?

Could be because that is the greatest need during the holiday depending on where you live - the holiday season since that's when the weather is brutally cold and people can't glean for food, find a source of drinking water, or find a warm place to sleep. November - Feb is when food banks, shelters, soup kitchens are strained which may account for why so many people volunteer during those times.



Not just because we are struggling financially as a nation, that people are homeless?(right) I am just wondering why is it people are fixed on seasonally signing up to do volunteer work and then it's mainly for the many soup kitchens?

Again, I do believe that really depends on where you live, you are correct people were homeless long before however the numbers show us they are up because of the increase of JOB loss as well. Most (soup kitchens - have the means to help more folks that is the main reason why - they house the folks and get them a step plan to help them back onto their feet in most cases! And they can feed the ones who stand in the lines 3 meals a day - and this is an easy way for a lot of folks to get involved 365 days out of the year - with little time needed so thus why they volunteer more at soup kitchens - the work is fairly easy and only a couple of hours per shift!

Why does volunteering have to be seasonal when it's needed 365 days a year every year?

I for one have many causes close to my heart and volunteer year round. (ha ha) and I think that all of us should! hint hint - though really -------- People have busy lives and have a hard time finding time to volunteer, or maybe they haven't found that special cause they just have to be a part of. Holiday time brings out the best in most people as we think of getting together with family and friends and share time together...inevitably we also think of the less fortunate and actually find the time to commit to making others lives a little better.


Conclusion:


You are right...we need more volunteers on an ongoing basis in many areas...a lot of non-profit organizations can not provide the services they do without the assistance from volunteers. What great questions...I hope it sparks some people to think about a cause that is close to them and go seek out a volunteer cause and or help with many of them. Volunteering is fantastic for so many reasons! and always remember you never know when that someone could be YOU!

Happy volunteering :)

American Heart Association - Heart Walk

Find a walk near you or join me September 24, 2011 at the First Coast Heart Walk - Jacksonville, Florida at the Met. Park at 8:00am the walk begins at 9:00am

http://www.firstcoastheartwalk.org

Save those CAPS

CAPS WITH AVEDA

Aveda found that a majority of plastic bottle caps do not get recycled today.

Often these caps end up as litter or trash and migrate into our rivers and oceans. Birds and other marine creatures mistake them for food with tragic results. The magnitude of this pollution problem is devastating to our oceans and wildlife.

In partnership with community schools, preschool through 12th grade, we have built a recycling program for plastic bottle caps. Aveda has been able to work closely with our suppliers to develop ways to make new caps from the recycled caps We currently incorporate caps into our professional hair care line and will continue to incorporate recycled caps into future Aveda products. Due to the enormous growth over the last few years, the schools program has reached capacity, and as of January 31, 2011 new school enrollments are no longer being accepted.

What type of caps do we collect?
The program accepts caps that are rigid plastic, sometimes noted with a 5 in the chasing arrows recycling symbol.

This includes caps that twist on with a threaded neck such as caps on shampoo, water, soda, milk and other beverage bottles and pharmaceutical lids, flip top caps on tubes and food product bottles (such as ketchup and mayonnaise), laundry detergents and some jar lids such as peanut butter. Click here to download a Cap Collection Guide.

Excluded from collection are non rigid lids such as yogurt lids, tub lids (margarine, cottage cheese), and screw on lids that are not rigid. Please do not include any metal lids or plastic pumps or sprayers. Unfortunately, too much of the wrong types of materials can contaminate the recycling process.

A primary goal for this program is to encourage local recyclers to accept plastic bottle caps. Please support this by advocating for this recycling improvement in your community.

June, July and August - Out and about events and updates with life!

Well so much has been going on for the last 3 months!

June and July was all about vacations and family time with lots of volunteer events and pageantry mixed in! August also had pageants, volunteer events and life change with a new addition to our family - We are the proud owners of Sassy Sissy - a Cream color Chi - she is a deer head - took some time to adjust to our family and now she is best friends and sister to Princess Kilala we love her she is such a delight! She will never replace the love of my life (Sir For your pillay only) - Pepper Domino Oulton however I know Pepdog is looking down on our family and protects us always and he would want me to get another baby to love and knows that sister needs a playmate!

Kilala celebrated her Birthday July 17th and then I celebrated mine on the 19th - she is 4 years old - wow where does the time go - and lol I am not telling my age however I will say - I feel pretty darn good trying to keep learning lots and have a long bucket list to get through before this lifetime ends!


Had a wonderful time with my friends and family - on a much needed vacation! Wish I could see family all the time! That is so special and dear to me so much more now that I am getting older and wiser! LOL

Congrats to the New Miss Florida (Kristina Janolo) and Miss Florida Outstanding Teen (Elizabeth Fecthel)- Everyone did an amazing JOB you all should be very proud - congrats Kalen Dennis - have a great time at the National Sweetheart Pageant - kick some pageant crown!

Wonderful event - the United States Pageants - Jr. Teen, Teen, Miss and Ms. - Las Vegas, NV - Congrats to Ms. Lynda Samuels and staff once again and to the New Queens - everyone did such a wonderful Job - I loved being apart of this event again this past July!


Congrats to the New Perfect girls - everyone did a great JOB - that pageant is always a great one to watch!

First Coast Heart Walk - Kick off event = success we are working hard for the walk with great fund raising events!

Donations went off without a hitch for Operation Back to school (Backpacks)

The United Way events are in full swing!

WOW and can I say WOW again - Canie Cocktails event was a blast!

Making Strides Cancer Walk event with Bake sales and Jewerly making events underway!

We had a great time at the I.M. Sulzbacher Center for the Homeless - feeding 450 Man, Women and Children - I also had some wonderful donations come in to give to them as well - lots of food and some soap, shampoo items! Can't wait for the next event! And if you look real close at the Sulzbacher photos - you will see that I am holding - it's a potato & it looks like a Heart - thought that was cool not sure if it was some kind of sign! so if it was we kept it and I decided to take every photo with it - lol! Everyone was like AWE that is so sweet b/c they all know that American Heart Association and the Center are close to my Heart!

Oh and I guess you all know by now I am - Mrs. Jacksonville Beach International competing September 10-11 in Orlando,Florida for Mrs. Florida International - come out and support if you can!

Congrats to the New - Mrs. International - Janet Bolin - love her platform - All about me some Nascar and love the Nascar Foundation! Sounds like it was a wonderful show - I can't wait to have my dreams come true to represent Florida at the International Pageant 2012.



NEW NEWS - Congrats to the New America's Outstanding Teen -Elizabeth Fecthel Go Florida and to the New Miss Florida's Outstanding Teen - Rachel Strever - WOW Florida is on a roll - and shout out to the New Mrs. United States - Shannon Ford - Go Florida - Congrats to all!





Enjoy all the photos!

Always remember (Volunteering is Easy and fun to do!)

August - Awareness & Volunteering

Medic Alert Month

The MedicAlert Foundation is a non-profit healthcare informatics organization dedicated to providing services worldwide to our members that protect and save lives.




Psoriasis Awareness Month

The National Psoriasis Foundation is a patient-driven nonprofit organization that is the voice for the 5 million people affected by psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. Our mission is to improve lives through education, advocacy and research.




Amblyopia Awareness Month

Since 1908, Prevent Blindness America has been the nation's leading volunteer eye health and safety organization with the sole mission of preventing blindness and preserving sight.



National Pain Awareness Month

The National Pain Foundation is an online educational and support community for persons in pain, their families and physicians. It's a great source for treatment options and pain information that is peer reviewed by leading pain specialists.


National Night Out:
America's Night Out Against Crime

The National Association of Town Watch (NATW) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development and promotion of organized, law enforcement-affiliated crime and drug prevention programs. Members include: Neighborhood, Crime, Community, Town and Block Watch Groups; law enforcement agencies; state and regional crime prevention associations; and a variety of businesses, civic groups and concerned individuals working to make their communities safer places in which to live and work.


www.natw.org//