December 4, 2008 - If you live in Vermont, chances are you’re healthier than most, particularly those living in the South. For the second year in a row Vermont has been ranked number one as the healthiest state according to America’s Health Rankings.

Vermont’s strengths include ranking in the top five states for a high rate of high school graduation, a low violent crime rate, a low percentage of children in poverty, high per capita public health funding, ready access to primary care, low geographic disparity of mortality rates within the state and a low premature death rate. In addition, Vermont had a smoking rate that was 17.6% less than the national average of 20%.

Vermont was followed by Hawaii, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Utah, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Idaho and Maine.

At the bottom of the list at # 50 was Louisiana. It ranks in the bottom five states based on a high prevalence of obesity, a high percentage of children in poverty, a high rate of uninsured population, a high incidence of infectious disease, a low rate of high school graduation and many preventable hospitalizations.

The report also states that after a decade of robust gains, America’s health has leveled off and may be poised to take a plunge. Not great news - but as individuals you can do a lot to maintain your own health so start by eating healthy, exercising, and not smoking.

Where do you live? Check your state’s health ranking as well as others.  The entire report is available online.

Filed under: Charity/Cause, Health, Nutrition by jane
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December 1, 2008 - Looking for something to do this month? Snow is falling across North America, and slopes are opening from East to West so we found some wintery events that sound like fun (though sadly we won’t be attending any of them).

Down-Mountain and Cross-Country: 140 Years of Skiing in Maine Dec. 1 - Maine’s skiing history goes back farther than any other New England state and a digital slideshow produced by the Ski Museum of Maine backs up that claim. The show will be presented Monday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m.

Celebrity Skifest Dec. 5 - 8: Deer Valley is kicking off the ski season with Celebrity Skifest . The invitational ski event pairs former Olympic ski legends with television and film celebrities for a weekend of skiing, live music and fundraising for the environmental group Waterkeeper Alliance, which supports and empowers member organizations to protect communities, ecosystems and water quality.

The DV Celebrity Skifest will include giant slalom races on the ski resort’s Birdseye run, and the public is invited to watch as some of the best-known legends of U.S. skiing compete in this year’s event, including Deer Valley’s own Ambassador of Skiing, three-time Olympian Heidi Voelker. Celebrities scheduled to attend include Larry David, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Matthew Modine, Scott Wolf, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Gloria Rueben, Ian Ziering,  Rob Morrow, Patrick Warburton, Neil Patrick Harris, Dylan Bruno, and Camyrn Manheim. The Skifest Race will be televised by CBS on Sunday, December 21st following NFL Football.

Free skiing at Hidden Valley Dec. 6-7: With 20 inches of snowfall so far this season and ideal snowmaking weather, Pennsylvania’s Hidden Valley ski and snowboard resort in the Laurel Highlands near Pittsburgh is open for skiing and riding with free lift tickets Dec. 6 - 7.  In addition to the free skiing, Wintersports U, the resort’s new snowsports school, will offer 90 minute group ski or snowboard lessons at no charge to guests age seven and older through December 19th.

(more…)

Filed under: Charity/Cause, Entertainment, General, Ski, Snowboard by maddy
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November 24, 2008 - Lots of feel-good stories around the holiday season. From Ana Ivanovic’s website comes news that the star tennis player is launching a charity holiday campaign complete with cuddly teddy bears that can be given as gifts:

Ana is the figurehead of UNICEF’s Christmas gift campaign in Serbia. Together with basketball legend Sasha Djordevic, Ana is appearing in print advertising to promote the items, which are sold on a 100 per cent charitable basis.

“When I was a kid I used to receive UNICEF cards,” said Ana. “Now, I am sending them. It is a special pleasure to know that each UNICEF card and product, apart from making a person who receives it happy, directly helps at least one child.”

Items for sale in Serbia include teddy bears, greeting cards and toys such as the “Brio Ant”. Visitors in Serbia can buy the items by visiting the UNICEF Shop.

Funds raised through the gift campaign are used within Serbia to fund UNICEF’s priority programmes, which are aimed at promoting a rights-based approach to the survival, development and inclusion of all children from conception through adolescence.

There is a particular focus on the rights of those children who are excluded due to ethnic background, disability, poverty, violence, abuse or exploitation. Ana fronts the “School Without Violence” programme and she visited a Belgrade school earlier this month.

Ivanovic, who grew up in battered, war torn Serbia (along with Jelena Jancovic),  has an on-going relationship with the UN. Last year, she was named UNICEF National Amabassador for Serbia. In that role she uses her name and fame to advocate for child rights in Serbia, particularly in the areas of education and child protection.

Good stuff Ana.  To see who else is giving selflessly back - check our post on Random Acts of Kindness.

Filed under: Charity/Cause, General, Tennis by jane
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November 18, 2008 - If you think all social networking happens on Facebook, think again.

Sports giant Nike - long an advocate for empowerment and change in the world of women in sport - has just joined forces with the non-profit Ashoka organization - a global association of social entrepreneurs -  to launch “GameChangers: Change the Game for Women in Sport.”

Gamechangers is an online competition that challenges young social entrepreneurs to come up with ways to “leverage sport for positive social change in the lives of girls and women.”

From now until February 11, 2009 the site will be accepting submissions and nominations for innovative solutions in the field of sport for social change.  Early entrants are also eligible to win a camcorder and digital camera so they can make a video for the site!

Judges include soccer player Abby Wambach and Mystics owner Sheila Johnson who will  select 10-15 finalists; the Changemakers online community will then vote for the 3 winners. Even non-contestants are encouraged to join the dialogue by making suggestions and recommendations in Changemakers’ online forum.

This is a great idea on so many levels so get your creative juices flowing. Not only does the competition inspire empowerment by offering winners the chance to see their proposals realized, but it also provides the opportunity for young women to get plugged into a global community of activists. 

Now that’s teamwork.

Filed under: Charity/Cause, News Bytes by jane
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November 16, 2008 - US Open and Australian Open tennis champion  Serena Williams headed to Africa this week and visited Kenya for the first time.

Sunday Nation followed her visit and noted that activity came to a stop in the sleepy village of Matooni as the world number two ranked tennis player opened a secondary school named after her in the area on Friday. The Serena Williams Secondary School,  south-east of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, was built in record one month, and is fully equipped with a computer laboratory and Internet facilities for the students. Wonder how long it will take for these kids to discover MySpace and Facebook?

Serena, the younger of the two Williams sisters famous for their tennis prowess, is on an African tour as the global ambassador for Hewlett Packard HP, who have teamed up with Build African Schools Foundation to put up learning institutions equipped with the latest technology.

For the better part of this week, Serena has been on a similar trip in Johannesburg, South Africa, working with the Starfishgreatheart Charity for orphans infected with HIV. On her website she wrote:

“This charity helps give aid, care, and housing to kids with AIDS. These kids are mostly born with AIDS and they don’t have the care that they need or can live with. The kids I met today were orphans. It was so sad to see them in this situation. They had so much hope and love in their eyes, yet a tinge of sadness behind their pupils bringing me to tears. …”

Her foundation, which concentrates mainly on education projects for the poor, has set up another school in Senegal.

Nice to see athletes giving back. Keep up the great work girl!!

Filed under: Charity/Cause, Serena Williams, Tennis by jane
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November 13, 2008 - You don’t get to be the No. 1 women’s golfer in the world by backing down from challenges.  Lorena Ochoa is a perfect example. And it’s the mental as well as the physical challenge that she enjoys.

Since she joined the LPGA in 2003, Lorena Ochoa’s 24 tournament victories are second only to Annika Sorenstam. Last year she became the first woman to earn more than $2.9 million in a single season, topping $4.3 million in prize money.

Ochoa, who turns 27 on Saturday, takes another big step in her career today when she plays host to the Lorena Ochoa Invitational at her home course in Guadalajara, becoming the 15th woman in history to have her own LPGA tournament.

The LA Times reports that while Ochoa has come to define women’s golf, the sport is a long way from defining her.

“Who wins a golf tournament or leaves with that beautiful trophy is only a memory for a while,” Ochoa says in a second-floor ballroom overlooking the Guadalajara Country Club course, where she learned to play the game while in kindergarten. “And it’s only satisfaction mostly for you and the people around you. It sounds a bit selfish. I prefer to be remembered for other things. Being a good person. Giving back to the community and help[ing] others.”

Ochoa’s humility is evident in all aspects of her daily life. While others on the LPGA tour travel in private jets or at least fly first class, Ochoa insists on going coach. And as many as a dozen times each year she sets aside a morning to meet or make breakfast for the groundskeepers at tour stops.

The world’s No. 1 women’s golfer also has a foundation that helps with education in her native Mexico. She helped save an elementary school in one of Guadalajara’s poorest neighborhoods and now La Barranca has 245 students and a waiting list of dozens. Ground is about to be broken on a high school complex next door, a $650,000 project funded by Ochoa’s foundation.

For Ochoa, challenges come in a variety of shapes and sizes and she tackles all of them with a stroke of genius.

Filed under: Charity/Cause, Golf, Profiles by jane
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November 7, 2008 - The Jonas Brothers, pop-music heartthrobs and stars of the Disney Channel original movie, “Camp Rock,’’ will join Olympic gold medalist and “Dancing with the Stars’’ champion Kristi Yamaguchi for one rockin’ evening of entertainment.

The “Bayer Diabetes Care Presents Friends and Family Ice Show” was filmed last month at the U.S. Airways Arena in Phoenix.  It will be broadcast this Saturday, November 8th, from 4:00pm – 6:00pm ET on NBC (check local listings).

The Jonas Brothers — Kevin, Joe and Nick — are the music headliners for Yamaguchi’s annual “Friends and Family” ice show, which features Olympic and world-class skaters and their children.

Bayer Diabetes Care, the lead sponsor of the“Friends & Family” ice show, recently announced a partnership with Nick Jonas, who has type 1 juvenile diabetes, to launch the “Walk In Nicks Shoes” campaign to help young people with diabetes and their families simplify life with diabetes. Information and updates from Nick are available on www.nickssimplewins.com.

The “Friends and Family” show concept has been something dear to Yamaguchi’s heart. She and husband, Bret Hedican, are parents of two daughters. Keara was born in 2003, and Emma arrived in 2005. Their children have big skates to fill as Yamaguchi has won a gold medal and Hedican was part of the Carolina Hurricanes team that won the coveted Stanley Cup title in 2006. Yamaguchi has always been involved with children’s organizations and established her Always DreamFoundation for children in 1996.

Among the skaters expected to join Yamaguchi in the show this year are Olympic gold medalists Jamie Sale and David Pelletier, who will be making their first appearance in the show after becoming proud parents of son, Jesse, on Sept. 30,2007. Two-time Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan, who gave birth to her third child, daughter Nicole, in May, also will take to the ice.

Other members of this star-studded cast are two-time Olympic gold medalist Ekaterina Gordeeva, Olympic gold medalist Viktor Petrenko, and four-time world champion Kurt Browning. Children of the skaters also participate in the show.

On the musical front, Demi Lovato & Jordan Pruitt also perform.

Sounds like a great kick-off to the holiday season. I’ll be setting my DVR.

Filed under: Charity/Cause, Entertainment, Figure Skating, Music, TV by jane
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November 3, 2008 - On the eve of election day, we thought this video - produced by the White House Project - was appropriate. If you’re a mom, consider taking your daughters to the polls tomorrow. And daughters, ask your parents or older siblings if you can be their +1 in the voting booth. More information about The White House Project.

Filed under: Charity/Cause, News Bytes by jane
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October  31, 2008 - A little over a year ago, we did a post about cyclist Tara Llanes who was badly injured in a race. Her road to recovery has been long and hard fought and her many friends and fellow cyclists have teamed up on numerous occassions to help her out.  The latest event to get Tara back on her feet is a race next weekend at the Sand Hill Ranch Bike Park in Brentwood, California.

Check out the Road to Recovery race:

Filed under: BMX, Charity/Cause, Cycling, Mountain Bike by jane
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October 21, 2008 - When U.S. Snowboarding’s Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, VT) isn’t busy dominating every man woman and child that dares to challenge her snowboardcross skills, she likes to spend her time shedding light on something close to her heart - animals.

“I just absolutely love animals - all different kinds,” Jacobellis said. “We’re surrounded by animals because of growing up in the country and I really got a lot of exposure to them.”

Jacobellis’ love of animals took a shift towards trying to improve their quality of life when she started watching the cable network Animal Planet.

“Since I like animals so much, I started watching Animal Planet and just seeing the Animal Cops shows made me so angry,” Jacobellis said. “Sometimes people had the means to take care of an animal and didn’t or just neglected it. “It just made me upset, so I got information about the ASPCA online and I decided that it was the charity that I wanted to be involved with.”

While she began by making annual donations, Jacobellis has started getting more closely involved with the organization.

“I recently took a tour of their facility and am going to a fundraiser this month,” Jacobellis said. “It wasn’t as heartbreaking as I thought it was going to be. They refurbished the entire facility and made it look almost like a pet shop instead of having cold cement floors and cages. It was more inviting and the animals were great.”

As she spent time with the animals, Jacobellis took in some facts about the organization that really hit home with her.

“It was so nice to hear that they never put down an animal - it can stay there as long as it needs to and whenever they adopt an animal, they go right to the animal control in the city and fill their spots with animals from there,” Jacobellis said. “They’re constantly getting in new cats and dogs and whenever there’s room, they take as many as they can.”

Though she heads back to the slopes soon, Jacobellis has some tips for busy people like her who want to be involved in helping animals out.

“The easiest thing is to go to the Web site, but, if you live in the city, it’s a great thing to do on the weekends because you can walk dogs and spend time with the animals,” Jacobellis said. “It also fills people’s needs - if they want to have an animal but don’t have all the time for one, they can take time with them there.”

For more information on how you can help visit www.aspca.org

(via release)

Filed under: Charity/Cause, Snowboard by jane
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