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(ARA) - Are you a teen that is going to camp, hosting a neighborhood block party, or playing baseball this summer? Are you a parent who wants to encourage your child to do something good for others or get more involved in their community? This summer, join the Do Something 101 school supply drive: www.dosomething101.org.

Each school year, many students go back to school with little more than a plastic bag and a used notebook. It's often the smallest gestures that make the biggest difference. By donating a pack of pencils, a spiral notebook or even a dollar, you can help a student start the new school year off right. It's easy to get started. Ideas include encouraging fellow campers to start a school supply drive or hosting a movie night at your house and charging a school supply as the price of admission.

Launched in 2008 by DoSomething.org and Staples, Do Something 101 is a campaign to help students in need. Nikki Reed, star of the popular Twilight movie series, is helping to promote the cause this year. The campaign encourages teens to collect school supplies and drop them off at their nearest Staples store, from July through September. In addition, customers can get involved by donating $1 at any store with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting local teens in need.

"It's so important that students have new school supplies to begin each year successfully," says Nancy Lublin, chief executive officer of DoSomething.org. "Our goal with this campaign is to make it easy for teens to help a student in need. We've provided products to hundreds of thousands of students to date, and are encouraging others to get involved to help us continue to make a difference."

Here are some tips on how parents can encourage children to get involved in community service projects:

1. Research available opportunities that your child will find interesting and fulfilling. Help guide them toward a volunteer experience that will get them excited.
2. Get involved in your own charitable cause. If they see you doing something good, they are more likely to want to participate in a similar campaign.
3. Make it a family event. By encouraging everyone in the family to join the cause together, everyone will be motivated by each other and will have fun at the same time.

New for the 2010 back-to-school shopping season, Staples is also launching a line of DoSomething.org-inspired products to help students get organized and learn about important issues impacting their communities. These new products - including planners and notebooks - inspire youth to take action and make positive change. In addition to the cool designs, they also include background on social issues and offer suggestions on how students can make a difference.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Now that summer is here, avid runners and bicyclists are out in droves, taking advantage of every opportunity to enjoy the activities they love. While it can sometimes be challenging to share the road with them, it's important to keep driving safely top of mind, especially at this time of year.

You never know when someone on foot, or on a bike, is going to run out or pull out in front of you. Here are three tips for making sure you don't end up crossing paths with a pedestrian.

1. Drive defensively - Sharing the road is important, and as the driver of a vehicle, you should always yield to runners and bicyclists. This is especially important during the warmer months, when more pedestrians and bicyclists are on the road. Even an accident at very low speeds can cause significant injuries to a runner or biker.

2. Avoid distractions - Since bikers and runners are more versatile than cars, they may appear in your lane without much warning. Always keeping your eyes forward and refraining from using your cell phone are the best ways to keep runners and bikers safe on the road.

3. Respect the bike lane - Remember that bike lanes are for bikes only. While traffic laws allow cars to temporarily merge into a bike lane when making certain traffic maneuvers, it's important to remember to signal and watch closely for cyclists before you do so. And, of course, never park in or actively block a dedicated bike lane.

For more road safety tips, log on to www.Allstate.com and type "safety tips" in the search box.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

(ARA) - We spend 90 percent of our lives indoors, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A typical day can include traveling from home to work and back home again with a few periodic trips to schools, the grocery store, the bank, malls and entertainment venues. We depend on our homes, offices, retail stores and other structures to keep us safe; but can buildings also help keep us healthy?

Recent EPA studies indicate that exposure to air pollutants may be two to five times higher indoors than outside. Air pollutants can affect all buildings equally and have many sources, including pets, tobacco products, gas cooking stoves, building materials, paints, cleaning products and pesticides. Exposure to air pollutants can lead to negative health effects like asthma, irritation of the eyes and throat, headaches, dizziness, fatigue and allergic reactions.

Although these circumstances are concerning, you can do many simple things to improve the indoor air quality you and your family are exposed to.

Also consider this: "More and more retail businesses are assimilating 'greener' operations in order to satisfy rising consumer demands to go green," says Scott Hite, chief architect at TD Bank. "As a result, consumers can choose to do business with retailers that build stores that provide good indoor air quality, make an investment in renewable energy and build sustainability to minimize their environmental footprint."

Here are a few important things to consider:

* Keep it smoke-free. At home, banish smoking indoors and if it hasn't already been done, ask your boss to do the same at work. Consider doing business with retailers that don't allow smoking inside or near their businesses in order to keep their customers safe from tobacco smoke, a harmful air pollutant.

* Consider LEED certification. Do your research to find businesses that have pledged to be carbon neutral and are building LEED certified stores. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, evaluates buildings for their overall performance in indoor environmental quality and four other environmental areas.

"There a number of retail businesses that have made commitments to building LEED certified structures," says Hite. "At TD Bank, for example, we made a commitment to be carbon neutral and to build LEED certified green stores that will benefit our customers' and employees' overall health."

* Avoid products with VOCs. Paints, sealers, adhesives and many other building products emit VOCs, volatile organic chemicals. Exposure to these chemicals can cause numerous health effects.

For your home and at work, choose products that have no or low VOCs. Retail businesses that are carbon neutral with green stores also use building materials with no or low VOCs in order to achieve LEED certification.

* Choose green cleaning. Harsh cleaning chemicals contribute to poor indoor air quality and can cause adverse health reactions. Instead, choose from a large variety of cleaning products with low toxicity levels. Wherever possible, also store chemicals and cleaning supplies in well ventilated areas.

Buildings can be healthy through a combination of good technology, the right products, and a healthy dose of good old common sense. Knowing which rules to enforce at home, which products to purchase and choosing retail businesses that are making strides to provide healthier indoor air quality for their customers, can prevent many potential health problems in the future.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

(ARA) - We respect and admire volunteers for their devotion to a cause and their willingness to sacrifice their own needs for the needs of others. These selfless acts can often be life-changing for the person on the receiving end, but what about the person volunteering?

The health benefits of volunteering are well documented and include reduced stress and an increased feeling of self worth. It is no wonder that for many people with chronic conditions, volunteering can even help maintain or improve one's physical health.

Hand in Hand for RA (www.handinhandforRA.com) is a national awareness campaign that encourages people with the painful chronic joint disease rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to learn about the benefits of volunteering and share their own inspirational stories.

"Volunteering is a huge part of my life that has really helped me through some tough times dealing with a chronic disease," says Seth Ginsberg, cofounder and president of grassroots arthritis group CreakyJoints, a sponsor of the campaign. "Things as simple as getting involved with senior citizens in your local community - reading to them, driving them to the grocery store and even just talking with them - all help keep your mind off your disease."

When Debbie McGrady, a 55-year-old mother of two and part-time bank teller, was diagnosed with RA, she decided she wasn't going to allow the disease to take over her life. Debbie has gotten involved with Hand in Hand for RA and has found volunteering to be very rewarding and fun as she drives seniors to their doctor's appointments, to the drugstore and on other errands.

"Helping others and giving back to the community has assisted me in keeping the focus on my life and not on my disease," says Debbie. "Volunteering can be as simple as supervising children at an after-school program or coaching your children's sports team."

Volunteering also is a way to connect with others and offers people living with RA an opportunity to talk about their disease and communicate with people going through the same things.

To take advantage of what your community may offer or to find ideas, try visiting your local recreation center, YMCA or town hall. These places post community activities and list where volunteers are needed. Also, visit the Hand in Hand for RA website to learn about how other RA volunteers are giving back.

Other tips on volunteering for RA patients include:

* Participate in a beautification project by planting a garden.
* Get involved in a local fundraiser for a good cause; or create one.
* Deliver meals to seniors in town.
* Help paint a local house in disrepair.
* Mentor youth.
* Volunteer at an animal shelter.

Before starting on any new activity, it is important to talk first with a health care provider about what volunteer activities would be the best to pursue based on your individual health status.

For more information on how to get involved with Hand in Hand for RA visit www.handinhandforRA.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

(ARA) - A new study released by the Corporation for National and Community Services reported that the number of volunteers in America rose 1.6 million in the past year. The dramatic increase ultimately demonstrates that people are contributing to their communities at an increasing rate, even during financially challenging times.

Nonprofit organizations of all scales - small or large, local or international - rely on the generosity of others to support research and programming, increase awareness and ultimately help those in need. While individuals often lend a hand through social or religious groups, corporations are also playing a large role in giving back to an array of causes.

According to a new report released by the Giving USA Foundation and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, though 2009 was financially challenging for many nonprofits due in part to a 3.6 percent decrease in overall contributions, corporate donations increased more than 5 percent from 2008.

In 2009, Delta Faucet Company, an Indianapolis-based faucet manufacturer, contributed to the corporate total with donations from its flagship Delta Faucet brand to programs benefiting local health services and rebuilding organizations in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina.

This year, Brizo, a high-fashion faucet brand and part of the Delta Faucet Company, pledged to dramatically increase its philanthropic efforts through a first-ever national sponsorship of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Dream Home Giveaway program. As part of its sponsorship, the brand is providing Dream Home builders, designers and contractors with hands-on support and more than $430,000 in products.

"Having Brizo's support helps St. Jude in a multitude of ways," said Alan Johnson, St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway program director. "Their contribution at a national level allows us to free up valuable resources at the market level and lend additional effort to promoting the campaigns and cultivating other opportunities. We are also able to capitalize on the relationships that Brizo has with top builders and designers across the country, allowing us to expand our reach and provide more assistance to the hospital and the children it treats."

The St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway was created in 1991 and has since become one of the largest single-event fundraisers for St. Jude nationwide, raising more than $175 million for research and patient treatment.

"It is inspiring in this economy to encounter a company willing to devote such significant resources and attention to a cause that falls outside of day-to-day business concerns, such as fighting childhood cancer," added Johnson.

While financial support is integral to the livelihood of nonprofits and fundamental to enabling the organizations to improve the lives of those experiencing hardship, corporate sponsors are also becoming increasingly engaged and involved in hands-on activities and programming.

"We see our relationship with St. Jude as a partnership. Certainly our support benefits its fundraising needs, but participating on a more literal level is equally rewarding to our team," said Brian Nobbe, director of Brizo brand marketing. "This type of hands-on engagement helps to strengthen the emotional connection for us."

Habitat for Humanity is another organization that has benefited from large corporate support. Over a number of years, Bank of America has donated $20 million, as well as 150,000 volunteer associate hours, to Habitat for Humanity to support its efforts to build homes for those in need. The donations from Bank of America have helped the organization build more than 160 houses in the United States, as well as 100 houses in Mexico.

Whether donations and volunteer support is needed for research, rehabilitation or development, the continuation of support is important to the livelihood of any non-profit. To search for charities and locate an organization in your area, go to www.irs.gov.

Courtesy of ARAcontent