December is the time of year where lingering feelings of giving thanks hold on from the feast the week or so earlier (in the US at least) and the Christmas spirit grabs on as well. The holidays aren’t really about receiving…they’re about the joy of giving. It is during this time of year that Allied holds its annual Charity Week. We select a week, usually the week before Christmas, to set aside a percentage of sales to donate to a particular charity.

In past years, we chose to give to an employee stricken with cancer and The Make-A-Wish Foundation, a charity we’ve supported for a long time due to their worthy cause of granting wishes to seriously ill children. But this year, we changed it up a bit – Because YOUR orders supply the donation, we wanted YOU to choose the charity! And what do you know, they picked Make-A-Wish too! We included other well-deserving charities to pick from in our poll: American Farmland Trust, ASPCA, Autism Speaks, Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes, Meals on Wheels Association of America and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. In the true spirit of the holidays, no one is left out. Each of these charities will receive a $250 donation as well.

Charity isn’t always just donating money, but it can sometimes be just as simple: donating a toy or food or time. Our family here at Allied understands this, and has taken the time to donate food to the Food Pantry at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Phoenixville, PA, send holiday care packages to our troops overseas, wrap gifts for the Angel Tree at Manna On Main Street in Lansdale, PA and help out with odd jobs at Mom’s House, also in Phoenixville, PA.

As the trees and decorations go up around you, take a moment to think about what you and your business can do to give back. Every little bit helps, especially during the difficult economic times we find ourselves in. Be proud of it and tell the world what you did; give other people the idea and maybe it’ll spread.

Thank you to everyone that has made it possible for us to do our share of giving back this year: to our customers and our employees that donate their money and their time to help others. And Thank You in advance to everyone that participates in this year’s Charity Week. If you’ve got a need for some wire and cable, think about placing that order the week of the 14th. Sometime soon a little boy or girl will be thankful for it as their wish is granted.

Just realized today is the actual anniversary of when I found out about the Onion News Network, probably one of the most hilarious sites ever. They make hilarious videos about some pretty off the wall stuff, while pretending to be a news station.

I came across them on youtube when I saw a video titled “Dying child bankrupts make a wish foundation”, and I watched the video, completely oblivious to the fact that this wasn’t a real event. I showed my mother, grandmother, father, and anyone who would listen until I went to show my friends a few days later. He said “Thats from the onion news network larry”… OoOoOoOoOoOoOh, needless to say I felt a little ditsy haha. Well anyways, here is the video, and you can see why I got pretty upset about it!

CHILD BANKRUPTS MAKE A WISH FOUNDATION

Om man mestadels ägnar sig åt välgörenhet på ett vist och genomtänkt sätt kan man ibland få göra det på ett lite mer lallalalla-sätt, eller hur?

Som jag. Jag spelar World of Warcraft. Man skulle kunna säga att det är en hobby jag har. Med min huvudkaraktär i spelet samlar jag på djur (pets). Nu har Blizzard släppt pets som man inte får genom att göra uppdrag eller köpa med spel-pengar, utan pets som går att köpa för riktiga euro-pengar.

Den här kungfu-pandan ovan, korrekt benämnd Pandaren Monk, kostar 10 euro och 50 % av pengarna för den går till Make-A-Wish Foundation® International.

Och jag är inte så lite sugen på att skaffa mig en egen Pandaren Monk att ha i min pet collection. Dels är den himla fin och om någon spelare bugar sig mot den så bugar den tillbaka, och dels om man inte gör något med den och den bara får stå så börjar den träna kungfu.

Vad säger ni? Är det ett köp?

Been taking a break from FYP and all until exams and submissions are over, but nowadays I can’t seem to come across the word “wish” without having my heart jump a little faster (out of fear or excitement, you decide). Anyway, with Christmas just around the corner, the word seems to appear just about everywhere; so I decided to post the Starbucks one that I’ve seen recently. They have a campaign of sorts called ‘Make A Wish‘, whereby customers can choose from a few items to be donated to the residents of Gracehaven, which I assume is a charity organisation or home. Hardly an entire novel concept, but quite in line with the spirit of “Christmas”, nonetheless!

Til next time, be jolly and all that.

Macy’s is donating $1 for every letter than is written to Santa and brought to the mailbox in Macys stores nationwide. Please help raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and bring your letters to Santa!

For more info, check the Macy’s Believe website:
http://social.macys.com/believe2009/#/make-a-wish-foundation

Waited for Leonid meteor shower all night. Even went for a walk with mum for almost an hr (3+-4+am) but they were all futile attempts

Even attempted to go to Jap Gardens but well, i was too lazy to walk for 30mins to reach there. And thus decided to stay put and dang dang! That’s the retribution for not plucking up enough determination.

And i still said  if i saw a shooting star i’d help 煜哥 to make a gain weight wish. HAHA. I didnt even catch a single one for my own wishes! ZOMG.

It’s 5:09 am, supposedly the peak period for the Leonids. But where are they?????

& so with a futile day camping for Leonids, which didnt spare some thoughts for someone whose horoscope is Leo, i shall surrender and tuck in instead.

Good night/morning, lovely world

LeapFish and Make-A-Wish Foundation^® team up with Twitter users to help fund an ill child’s wish to go to Disneyland

PLEASANTON, Calif. – November 16, 2009 – LeapFish has joined forces with the Greater Bay Area Make-A-Wish Foundation^® to adopt an ill child’s dream and help make that dream come true. Tweet-a-Cause, a social media initative, will give Twitter users the power to help fund an ill child’s dream to go to Disneyland, one Tweet at a time.  LeapFish will make a donation per Tweet sent to the Make-A-Wish Foundation until $10,000 has been raised and the child and his family can go to Disneyland. LeapFish is inviting people to tweet to raise awareness of children that need your help.  LeapFish will make a donation to create magic and make their wishes come true.

Jacob, age 4, has a rare and life-threatening disease that has affected him since birth. He has one big wish in life –- to go to Disneyland with his family.  LeapFish and the Make-A-Wish Foundation have joined forces to help fund his wish through Twitter.  “We are privileged to be able to make a difference in young Jacob’s life by helping to fund his wish,” said Ben Behrouzi, CEO of LeapFish. “What better tool than Twitter to get the community involved and allow everyone to share in making a difference for someone,” said Behrouzi.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation of America is the largest wish-granting organization in the world. The Foundation has granted wishes to more than 174,000 children with life-threatening medical conditions nationwide. Through the Adopt-A-Wish^® program, a donor, such as LeapFish, can cover the entire cost of a child’s wish. To raise awareness of the Adopt-A-Wish program and to help get the social media community involved in granting an ill child’s wish, LeapFish is sponsoring the Tweet-a-Cause and Make-A-Wish campaign.

The campaign will run from November 16 through December 4th, 2009. LeapFish invites people to Tweet-A-Cause to honor Jacob’s wish.

For more details on the campaign and how to help visit LeapFish.com/MakeAWish

About LeapFish

LeapFish is an evolved search engine that captures the traditional, multi-media and real-time Web, through a single, connected search platform for both searching and sharing content.  Founded by Ben Behrouzi (co-founder of Reply.com), LeapFish is a privately held, 100-person corporation headquartered out of CARR America Corporate Center in Pleasanton, California. For more information, visit blog.leapfish.com.

About Make-A-Wish

The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.  For more information, visit www.makewish.org.

a jar full of wishes~

Today, is November 11th…

It is…

Singles Day in China

Pepero Day in Korea

Veteran’s Day in America

Remembrance Day in England

…and many other things.

But most of all…11/11 is a chance to make a wish all day long…

So take advantage of this chance to make your wish come true!  Whether you believe in it or not, it never hurts to try.  Maybe, just maybe, today will bring miracles.  You never know…all you have to do is BELIEVE.

The Cosmic Cow’s Carra Riley sent me a message on Facebook from one of her other Facebook friends telling me about this heartbreaking/heartwarming story that I wanted to pass along to everyone else in hopes that you, dear Active Rain members, will help this little boy and his family create a legacy of help and hope for other little kids.

Little Noah Biorkman is a typical 5-year-old boy: he loves Christmas.  However, what is atypical for this little guy is that he has been fighting cancer since he was 3 years old.  When it went into remission in late 2007, the family was overjoyed.  But, a year later, Noah experienced a relapse.  Currently, Noah is in hospice care in Michigan after being diagnosed with end stage neuroblastoma.  Both he and his family have come to terms with the fact that Noah most likely will not make it to Christmas.  But, instead of focusing on the negative, they have decided to make the most of the time Noah has left in this world.  Christmas was brougth to Noah this weekend.

After the family had put out Noah’s request to receive as many Christmas cards as possible, they were overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and wishes from all over the world, including a package from as far away as Hong Kong.  So far, they have received around 8000 cards.  The family is forever grateful to all these people for showing such tremendous support to their little boy.  They have set up a trust fund in Noah’s name and have asked that, in lieu of gifts, please send a card with $1 inside and they will donate all money received in Noah’s name to the University of Michigan’s neuroblastoma research center and the Michigan Make-a-Wish chapter.  Please send a card to the family and make a donation of anything you are comfortable with.

Cards can be sent to:

Noah Biorkman
1141 Fountain View Circle
South Lyon, MI 48178

Thank you, Carra, for letting me know about this story.  It is heartbreaking as well as heartwarming.  My card and donation are in the mail tomorrow.  I hope more people join me in this.

Click here to view the video of Noah’s story on Click on Detroit.

Heather Chavez, Real Estate Virtual Assistant – Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn’t Enough of You to Go Around!

The Cosmic Cow’s Carra Riley sent me a message on Facebook from one of her other Facebook friends telling me about this heartbreaking/heartwarming story that I wanted to pass along to everyone else in hopes that you, dear Active Rain members, will help this little boy and his family create a legacy of help and hope for other little kids.

Little Noah Biorkman is a typical 5-year-old boy: he loves Christmas.  However, what is atypical for this little guy is that he has been fighting cancer since he was 3 years old.  When it went into remission in late 2007, the family was overjoyed.  But, a year later, Noah experienced a relapse.  Currently, Noah is in hospice care in Michigan after being diagnosed with end stage neuroblastoma.  Both he and his family have come to terms with the fact that Noah most likely will not make it to Christmas.  But, instead of focusing on the negative, they have decided to make the most of the time Noah has left in this world.  Christmas was brougth to Noah this weekend.

After the family had put out Noah’s request to receive as many Christmas cards as possible, they were overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and wishes from all over the world, including a package from as far away as Hong Kong.  So far, they have received around 8000 cards.  The family is forever grateful to all these people for showing such tremendous support to their little boy.  They have set up a trust fund in Noah’s name and have asked that, in lieu of gifts, please send a card with $1 inside and they will donate all money received in Noah’s name to the University of Michigan’s neuroblastoma research center and the Michigan Make-a-Wish chapter.  Please send a card to the family and make a donation of anything you are comfortable with.

Cards can be sent to:

Noah Biorkman
1141 Fountain View Circle
South Lyon, MI 48178

Thank you, Carra, for letting me know about this story.  It is heartbreaking as well as heartwarming.  My card and donation are in the mail tomorrow.  I hope more people join me in this.

Click here to view the video of Noah’s story on Click on Detroit.

Heather Chavez, Real Estate Virtual Assistant – Second Self Virtual Assistance: When There Isn’t Enough of You to Go Around!

Well, conspiracy theorists, pay heed.  I have just been vaccinated for the H1N1 virus.  I didn’t drop dead or anything, so there’s that.

suck it, swine flu

One of the perks of working for a hospital system is that they provide employees with free vaccines.  I’ve already been vaccinated against the regular flu, so I should be set.  If I get the flu, it’s not because I didn’t do my best to prevent it.

Speaking of preventing the flu, I got an email about what we can do in spite of the inevitability of coming into contact with one sort of virus or another.  The most interesting aspect of the instructions is the recommended use of salt water:

The only portals of entry are the nostrils and mouth/throat. In a global epidemic of this nature, it’s almost impossible to avoid coming into contact with H1N1 in spite of all precautions. Contact with H1N1 is not so much of a problem as proliferation is.

While you are still healthy and not showing any symptoms of H1N1 infection, in order to prevent proliferation, aggravation of symptoms and development of secondary infections, some very simple steps, not fully highlighted in most official communications, can be practiced (instead of focusing on how to stock N95 or Tamiflu):

1. Frequent hand-washing (well highlighted in all official communications).

2. “Hands-off-the-face” approach. Resist all temptations to touch any part of face (unless you want to eat, bathe or slap).

3. *Gargle twice a day with warm salt water (use Listerine if you don’t trust salt). *H1N1 takes 2-3 days after initial infection in the throat/nasal cavity to proliferate and show characteristic symptoms. Simple gargling prevents proliferation. In a way, gargling with salt water has the same effect on a healthy individual that Tamiflu has on an infected one. Don’t underestimate this simple, inexpensive and powerful preventative method.

4. Similar to 3 above, *clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water. *Not everybody may be good at Jala Neti or Sutra Neti (very good Yoga asanas to clean nasal cavities), but *blowing the nose hard once a day and swabbing both nostrils with cotton buds dipped in warm salt water is very effective in bringing down viral population.*

5. *Boost your natural immunity with foods that are rich in Vitamin C (Amla and other citrus fruits). *If you have to supplement with Vitamin C tablets, make sure that it also has Zinc to boost absorption. And don’t forget Vitamin D.

6. *Drink as much of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc) as you can. *Drinking warm liquids has the same effect as gargling, but in the reverse direction. They wash off proliferating viruses from the throat into the stomach where they cannot survive, proliferate or do any harm.

I had been thinking about getting a Neti pot anyway, since I have such horrible sinus and allergy problems.  Now it seems it could keep you from getting sick in the first place.

Tomorrow I will be meeting one of my Make-A-Wish children who has just gotten over the H1N1 virus.  Obviously I can’t get it from the poor little guy, but I figured it can’t hurt to be on the safe side!

If you were given the opportunity to change something in your life, what would it be?

To dream is to wish, to wish is to set a goal for yourself of what you, no body else, but what you want to be doing or become at some point in your life. No matter who you are, where you are from, or what you are, you too can dream, you too can make a wish, and set a goal for yourself, whatever that might be, and act on it. You can’t just dream and make a wish, you have to act on it, and do whatever it takes to make it happen.

Just sit back for a minute, and ask yourself; what is it that you really want in your life? What is it that you need to do in order to get what you want? What does it take and how long will it take for you to get it? Then make a move; go get it.

The only difference between you and the guy next door who is living his dream, the guy who you be starring at, dissing and hating, it’s because he did whatever needed to make his dream and wish come true, while you haven’t. You simply sat back and watch it go by, you got lazy, you got scared to go out there and make it happen.

Don’t stop dreaming, but don’t just dream and wish for things to automatically happen for you the way you want them, you have to do whatever it takes to make it happen. No body else can do it for you but you.

You only get one chance in life, so make every minute count!

One common trait all market leaders have is passion. When you speak with a market leader they do not discuss their “job” but instead it is more of a quest. Entrepreneurial market leaders have learned how to focus their passion to drive unprecedented results regardless of economic condition and competition. In this post I will share how one entrepreneurs question led to one of the most successful charities for children with focused passion.

I was recently invited to attend a local WITI meeting to get a feel for their venue and meet the director to discuss how my content may be of value to their membership. The night I attended had an inspirational speaker named Frank Shankwitz. Frank is a retired motorcycle state DPS policeman in Arizona. He shared 20 years ago he heard about a young seven year old boy named Chris Greicius who was dying of leukemia. Frank heard little Chris had a few weeks to live and just loved the show Chips about motorcycle patrolmen and how his dream was to be a motorcycle patrol man. So Frank got to together with others in his department and had the police helicopter pick up young Chris from the hospital and fly him to their headquarters. Frank said he expected a very sick boy on IV’s but when the helicopter landed out bounced Chris.

Frank gave Chris a tour and offered to give him a ride on his motor cycle but Chris said he would prefer a ride in something with doors…so Chris climbed on an officer’s lap and drove a squad car around the parking lot blowing big bubble gum bubbles. The squad had a ceremony and made Chris an honorary DPS state patrolman. Chris was then flown back to the hospital and his doctor said Chris could go home for the night.

Frank went to the local uniform store where all the officers get their uniforms custom made and told the owners about young Chris and the husband and wife owners stayed up all night and make a custom uniform for Chris. Frank drove to Chris’s house and presented the uniform to Chris and he quickly tried it on. Frank set up some cones and had Chris navigate his electric motorcycle around them and Frank certified him and a motorcycle patrolman. Chris then asked if he would have the wings that are displayed so prominently on Frank’s uniform so Frank contacted the company that makes all their wing pins and ordered Chris’s wings. By the time the wings were ready Chris had slipped into a coma back at the hospital. When Frank went to Chris’s bedside there he saw the miniature uniform, hat and certificate at his bedside. Just as Frank pinned Chris’s wings on his uniform Chris came out of his coma and asked if he was now officially a motorcycle state patrolman and Frank told him he was. Chris passed away that night. But his wish to be a state patrolman came true. Chris’s doctors were amazed how Chris seemed to feel so much better when focused on his dream versus his disease.

On a plane ride back from Chris’s funeral in Indiana, a full officer’s funeral, Frank had a question; if we could do this for Chris, why can’t we do this for other children? …and Make a Wish was born. Today Make a Wish has served over 3,000 children like Chris with wishes. Some as simple as a basket ball and some that included trips to Disneyland.

Frank shared this story with such passion that at times he had to gather his composure to keep speaking. He shared how he had the passion and vision and in the early days would not accept no for an answer. Through shear will and tenacity he started Make A wish with a handful of volunteers and a $15 donation from a Grocery store. Today Make a Wish is a worldwide organization that helped over 174,000 children. Franks passion is still just as strong as he shared his vision to serve 500 children a month as they cannot make all the wishes from sick children come true.

Frank shared that as they grew his now organization grew beyond his personal capabilities so he hired a professional staff to insure his vision became a reality.

As I drove home from this evening I was so inspired by Frank. Frank had a vision that started with a simple question in response to a big market problem. Frank had laser like focus and channeled his passion into one of the most successful children’s charities in the world.

If a motorcycle cop can focus his passion into Make A Wish…what can you focus your passion to create?

Market leaders do not just serve their customers they create movements…what movement is your market waiting for you to create?

Once you connect your vision and passion to a market problem, will you have the emotional intelligence to know when to hire a professional team to insure your dream becomes a reality?

How will you know when it is time to hire additional leaders?

Make a Wish Arizona shared a new vision with me and that was the desire to connect with others in the social media space. My challenge to everyone who reads this blog is to follow them on twitter at twitter.com/MakeAWishAZ and re tweet your follow to be a part of 1 million followers of Make a Wish by this time next year. Like the uniform maker, and the company who designed the wings, people like to connect; they like to give their time, money, energy to something bigger than themselves. Please be a part of Make a wish and help them gain 1 million followers by this time next year!

Stars Step Out to Join pediped® footwear in raising funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation®.

HENDERSON, Nev. (October 7, 2009) — More than 50 well-known entertainers and athletes will participate in Stars for a Wish, an online auction of autographed pediped® baby shoes to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The auction will run Oct. 25-Nov. 1 on Charity Buzz.
Celebrities who signed pediped® baby shoes for the auction include:
MOVIES Jessica Alba, Halle Berry, Pierce Brosnan, Andy Garcia, Molly Ringwald, Rachel Weisz
TELEVISION Tim Allen, Courtney Cox Arquette, Marcia Cross, Jennie Garth, Whoopi Goldberg, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Heidi Klum, Charlie Sheen, Jon Stewart
MUSIC Clay Aiken, Kenny Chesney, Faith Hill, Sugarland
SPORTS Jerome Bettis, Anna Kournikova, Shaquille O’Neal, Mark Teixeira, J.D. Drew, David Ortiz

To learn more about the Stars for a Wish fundraiser and to view a complete list of participating celebrities, visit www.pediped.com/stars.

About the Make-A-Wish Foundation
The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. Founded in 1980 when a group of caring volunteers helped a young boy fulfill his dream of becoming a police officer, the Foundation is now the largest wish-granting charity in the world, with 65 chapters in the United States and its territories.

For more information about the Make-A-Wish Foundation, visit wish.org and discover how you can share the power of a wish®.

Since Backseat Writer’s inception, people have been asking me to add audio interviews to the site.  Well, dear friends, the day has come!  My latest creation is called “Take 10″–a 10 minute audio interview with artists, bands, authors, and whoever else wants to talk to me.  To do this, my best friend & roomie Sarah has agreed to edit my audio interviews adding in more technical fun with each and every “Take 10.”  It’ll be a blast, and you can list to the interviews here on Backseat Writer without having to go to another site.

Debut artist Paige Armstrong (learn more about Paige) excitedly agreed to do be the first artist to do a “Take 10″ interview with Backseat Writer.  The spunky 19 year-old discusses her hometown of Doylestown PA, her degrees of separation from singer Pink, and her new album WAKE UP releasing October 6.  A former Make-A-Wish child, Paige gets personal as she shares about her battles with bone cancer in her ‘tween years and how she’s learned that life is short, so people need to WAKE UP and start living for God.

To learn more about Paige Armstrong, go to paigehasastory.com. On Paige’s site, there are links to  follow her on Twitter, friend her on Facebook and MySpace, and watch her videos on YouTube.

(Note: To listen to the interview, simply click the “play” button [triange button] and turn up your computer speakers.)

The desire of pleasing is, of course, the basis of social connexion. Persons who enter society with the intention of producing an effect, and of being distinguished, however clever they may be, are never agreeable. They are always tiresome, and often ridiculous. Persons, who enter life with such pretensions, have no opportunity for improving themselves and profiting by experience. They are not in a proper state to observe: indeed, they look only for the effect which they produce, and with that they are not often gratified. They thrust themselves into all conversations, indulge in continual anecdotes, which are varied only by dull disquisitions, listen to others with impatience and heedlessness, and are angry that they seem to be attending to themselves. Such men go through scenes of pleasure, enjoying nothing. They are equally disagreeable to themselves and others. Young men should, therefore, content themselves with being natural. Let them present themselves with a modest assurance: let them observe, hear, and examine, and before long they will rival their models.

The quality which a young man should most affect in intercourse with gentlemen, is a decent modesty: but he must avoid all bashfulness or timidity. His flights must not go too far; but, so far as they go, let them be marked by perfect assurance.

Among persons who are much your seniors behave with the utmost respectful deference. As they find themselves sliding out of importance they may be easily conciliated by a little respect.

By far the most important thing to be attended to, is ease of manner. Grace may be added afterwards, or be omitted altogether: it is of much less moment than is commonly believed. Perfect propriety and entire ease are sufficient qualifications for standing in society, and abundant prerequisites for distinction
wish
wish

Meet Donovan. When Make-a-Wish of GA and AL contacted us about making this sick young man’s wishes come true, we couldn’t resist. The season of giving is upon us, and LoveSac’s no exception.

Donovan and his family (pictured in hat – Sac’rs Toya and Sherrie in pink) visited our Mall of Georgia location on November 7th to get a little love from LoveSac. Little may actually be an understatement – Donovan and crew received our MovieSac, our 5 foot Sac o’ Love.  Built for two (but ULTIMATE for one!), it’s one of our most popular.

So remember all of you Sac’rs to be out there – this holiday season – snuggle a little closer, laugh a little louder, give of yourself, fluff a little harder, and make it happen for everyone in YOUR life.