ACC FOOTBALL TEAMS SUPPORT EWING’S SARCOMA RESEARCH IN HONOR OF #94, BOSTON COLLEGE LINEBACKER MARK HERZLICH

In December, 2008, Boston College linebacker #94 Mark Herzlich was named the 2008 ACC Defensive Player of the Year. In May of 2009, he disclosed that he has been diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a malignant tumor most often found in bone or soft tissue. After his diagnosis, Mark began an aggressive treatment and vowed to beat the cancer and return to the football field someday. On September 24, it was reported that Mark’s CT scan was clean, and the MRI was good. Congratulations Mark!

There are quite a few heartwarming accounts of how different communities have come together in response to the news of Mark’s diagnosis. Two such communities are his own beloved Boston College and ACC football.

On July 30, in honor of Mark, Boston College, together with Uplifting Athletes, held the 1st annual Lift for Life to support Ewing’s Sarcoma research. Uplifting Athletes is a group of Boston College football players working together to raise awareness and funds for rare diseases that attract little attention and, as a result, research for them may not be well funded. As college football student-athletes, they believe they are in a position to make a difference. Lift for Life and the Uplifting Athletes raised over $15,000 that day to support Ewing’s sarcoma research.

Not only are Boston College and its own football players showing support for Mark Herzlich, but so are other ACC football teams.

Clemson and Virginia Tech’s football teams followed suit and have raised, and are continuing to raise, money in support of research for this disease. From a blog post at Herznation, we learned the following:

Before kickoff on September 19, the Clemson Tigers presented Mark Herzlich with a check for $5,000 to aid in the advancement of Ewing’s Sarcoma research. This was an amazing gesture of love and respect for an amazing player and it looks like that trend will continue with Virginia Tech. HD reports that Virginia Tech will be selling “Team United” wristbands leading up to the October 10th showdown with Boston College. VT is hoping to raise $5,094 and present Mark with the check before the game. All money will be going to Uplifting Athletes.

Individuals or groups wishing to purchase a minimum of 100 “Team United” wrist bands can do so by emailing the Virginia Tech Football Office at lepperly@vt.edu. Checks are to be made out to Uplifting Athletes and no credit card orders will be taken.

It would be great to see this trend continue throughout the ACC. Hats off to the ACC and its players, coaches and schools!

And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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It is not by accident that the happiest people are those who make a conscious effort to live useful lives. Their happiness, of course, is not a shallow exhilaration where life is one continuous intoxicating party. Rather, their happiness is a deep sense of inner peace that comes when they believe their lives have meaning and that they are making a difference for good in the world. ~ Ernest Fitzgerald

And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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AARP’s CREATE THE GOOD.ORG MAKES FINDING VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES IN YOUR COMMUNITY THAT FITS YOU AS EASY AS ENTERING YOUR ZIPCODE!

Simply delete the zipcode in the widget below, add yours and hit the enter key, and you’re own your way to creating the good in your community!

Create The Good.org is where good people get connected to opportunities to create good, in whatever way works for them. Nothing could be more simple:

5 minutes? 5 hours? Find good that needs doing that fits you and your community.
Every day, you can find new opportunities to do service in your community that fit your life and interests, and that will connect you to like-minded goodnicks. Only have 5 minutes? Follow Create the Good on Twitter for a daily feed of ideas.

Simple, fun ideas for how to create good.
Find how-to-videos and guides at Create the Good.org to help you create the good in your own way and on your own time. Reform Your Health, Operation Energy Save, Women’s Giving Initiative, or Rx Snapshot – it’s all here. And if it’s not, suggest a topic of your own and Create the Good.org offers to try and make it happen.

Making good even better.
Do you need volunteers? Post your opportunities and they will be seen by one of the largest and most skilled group of volunteers out there. Want to get your organization more involved? Create your own search widget for your site – it is easy (promise) and one of the best ways to spread around the good.

And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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ANGELS AMONG US

LeAnn and Cameron Jackson at the 2009 Angels Among Us event.

With a big smile on this face, little Cameron Jackson ran the last 50 yards of the Angels Among Us 5K with his mom, LeAnn; crossing the finish line after the greatest battle of his life. Cameron was diagnosed in February, 2008, with Medulloblastoma. After surgery, he endured months of radiation and chemotherapy along with physical therapy to learn how to walk again. During this time, Cameron would often say “I just want to be able to run and play again!” And, run and play he did at the 2009 Angels Among Us 5K!

Angels Among Us is a celebration of life, strength, courage and commitment. It has become a national event, with thousands coming from all across the country to volunteer, participate, and make a difference.

The event begins with a 5K run through the Duke campus, and then features a wonderful family fun walk through the beautiful Sarah P. Duke Gardens. It has a family-friendly focus with entertainment, food, raffle, souvenirs, activities and prizes for children, and a closing ceremony where the top ten fundraising teams receive an award, and the grand total for the event is announced.

The success of Angels Among Us has continued to grow each year with the help of many committed volunteers, Duke staff, and the teams made up of families and friends of those who have had brain or spinal tumors. At the first event in 1994, a total of $27,000 was raised. This year’s event raised over $1,410,540. Unbelievable!

Take a look at the WTVD-TV/DT Raleigh-Durham, NC ABC News Segment from the 2009 Angels Among Us 5K.

Save the date – April 24, 2010 – to participate in the next Angels Among Us 5K to benefit the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke—Angels.

And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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Source: Angels Among Us

LOOK FOR THE GOOD IN TODAY…

Every day may not be good, but there’s something good in every day. ~Author Unknown

And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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FEED YOUR GOOD DOG, AND HELP PRESERVE YOUR STATE’S PARKS, BY WALKING, RUNNING, HIKING, BIKING, OR PICNICKING AT ONE OF THEM OVER THE WEEKEND

Legislators around the country have been required to trim state funding for State Parks. State Parks need help from their communities now more than ever. “Friends” organizations are working hard to advocate for our State Parks and are creating ways to get us involved in helping to preserve these sites. For example, Friends of Georgia State Parks & Historic Sites sponsors Save My State Parks and invites Georgians to help ensure these sites will be available for generations to come. They want you involved because closure of sites or certain parts thereof is still a very real possibility.

To make it easy for you to be involved, Friends of Georgia State Parks, in partnership with Verizon Wireless will be sponsoring a state-wide day of service. The Georgia State Parks has set aside Saturday, September 26 for My State Parks Day on which admission to all state parks and historic sites will be free! And, you can get involved by showing up, showing your support and getting your hands dirty! Most sites will have a volunteer service project available to anyone who wants to help.

So, help ensure future access to your State’s parks and clear your head, improve your energy, and just all around feel better, by getting outdoors and visiting one of your State’s park this weekend.

And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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BIKES FOR THE WORLD IMPROVES THE WORLD ONE BIKE AT A TIME.

“A bike can get someone someplace … from poverty to self sufficiency.”

Bikes for the World (BfW) is a sponsored project of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association whose mission is to collect valuable but unwanted bicycles and related material–parts, tools, and accessories–in the United States and deliver it at low cost to community development programs assisting the poor in developing countries. The bikes donated to BfW partner organizations provide much-needed and affordable transportation to laborers, micro businesspeople, farmers, health workers, and students. Bicycle recipients benefit in proportion to their efforts.

Over the last four years, more than 31,000 bicycles have been donated, and nearly all shipped overseas. 2008 has been the most successful year ever. BfW delivered more than 10,000 bicycles to non-profit partner programs overseas, making jobs, school, and health care accessible to the very poor.

HOW RECIPIENTS BENEFIT

Here are a few people whose lives have been changed for the better because of the work BfW is doing.

• In Uganda, a bicycle made the difference for Mama Alex between backbreaking labor at subsistence wage, and a decent, independent existence.

• In Costa Rica, William Sandoval commutes to his custodial job in a suburb of San José on a road bike purchased on credit for $20 through Bikes for the World’s local partner, Fundación Integral Campesina. Before, he would pay $36 a month for bus fare. The money he saves helps him provide more for his family every month.

• In Ghana, Sara Aidor was in high school and a member of a health education and HIV/AIDS awareness group. She learned about bike maintenance in a special clinic and got her discounted bike from the Village Bicycle Project, a long-term Bikes for the World partner. According to Sara, “We have ridden our bikes to lots of local villages to do plays about hygiene, sanitation and health education. The people need to learn more about these things so they do not get sick.”

HOW VOLUNTEERS BENEFIT

Those who donate their bicycles, volunteer their time, or make monetary donations to Bikes for the World also get a lot in return. The basic reward for those who donate their bicycles is the satisfaction of knowing that your old bike is being put to good use. Beyond that, the 1,500+ volunteers who collected and prepped bikes for shipment or loaded containers this past year learned new skills and worked together toward a common goal…to help improve the lives of others.

Community organizations continue to find sponsoring a bike collection to be a great way to educate, build teamwork, and further their service missions. For their participation, local young people have satisfied Scout, Bar Mitzvah, high school graduation, and other service requirements.

In 2008, Bikes for the World completed the first full year of the Rockville Youth Bicycle Project (RYBP), providing opportunities to local young people to earn a bike, ride a bike safely, and earn community service hours required for high school graduation.

SO FAR IN 2009

Bikes for the World is approaching 6,000 bikes shipped so far in 2009 to Panama Goodwill, Ghana’s Village Bicycle Project, Costa Rica’s Fundacion Integral Campesina, and Uganda’s Women Prisoners Support Organisation. BfW anticipates adding Liberia to the community of partners, and are actively looking at other candidates, in Africa as well as Central America. They have also arranged for Chicago’s Working Bikes Cooperative to ship to Costa Rica, and to WPSO in Uganda, expanding the impact of BfW’s work.

Please check out Bikes for the World online, and if the spirit moves you, help them help improve the lives of others by donating your old bicycle, sponsoring a collection of good used bikes in your community to help their cause, or donate dollars.

And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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Care less for your harvest than for how it is shared and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace. ~Kent Nerburn

And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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Following is a Native American Prayer posted at Beliefnet. It is a prayer of comfort, solace and strength in response to the grief we’ve all experienced, and continue to experience, due to loss of loved ones on September 11, 2001.  There are many prayers from various religious traditions posted at Beliefnet.  The Feed Your Good Dog Council hopes that if you seek comfort on this 8th anniversary of September 11 that you may find it there.

Hold on to what is good
even if it is a handful of earth.

Hold on to what you believe
even if it is a tree which stands by itself

Hold on to what you must do
even if it is a long way from here.

Hold on to life
even when it is easier letting go.

Hold on to my hand
even when I have gone away from you.

–Native American Prayer

And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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A 5 YEAR OLD LEARNS THE VALUE OF RECYCLING AT HOME AND TURNS IT INTO DONATIONS TO FEED 18,000 SAN FRANCISCANS

After seeing a person holding a cardboard sign begging for food, Phoebe wondered, “Why does that man look so sad, and why is he holding a sign in the street?” That question to her parents, during her daily ride to daycare, sparked an idea that has helped feed nearly 18,000 hungry San Franciscans. Phoebe is five years old! ~charityfocus YouTube

And, remember…Feed Your Good Dog, so your good dog always wins!
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