a COOL service

From serving only five senior citizen clients back in 1970 to serving close to 50 daily, the Zelienople, PA Meals on Wheels program recently celebrated 40 years in providing residents of local communities with a much needed and appreciated service.

Barbara Kaufman, operations chairwoman, has been volunteering since the program's inception, "I started when I was in my 20's, I started the program back in 1970 and stayed with it." She also explains that the program just doesn't serve the elderly anymore, "Our youngest client was a 21-year-old blind diabetic."

The steady increase of clients is attributed to the program's huge base of volunteers, which is close to 125 today. The program has a variety of volunteers with some who have been participating since the start and are now older then a lot of their clients. Mae Wagner, 90, expresses that she is blessed to be healthy enough to be able to continue her service, "I've been there from the start, I've delivered to quite a few clients younger than me and I'll probably be doing this for a while."

Those serviced by the long running program continue to be grateful for its inception many years ago. Helen Schott, 80, states that the program has provided her with a very important lifeline, "I just depend on them a lot, they're wonderful, really nice people. I've gotten to know a lot of them, I really don't know what I'd do without it."

Here's to you volunteers at the Zelienople, PA Meals on Wheels program and other Meals on Wheels programs around the world for not only providing meals to those in need but for also providing a much needed lifeline to them throughout the week-stay positive, stay generous, and STAY COOL!

What do you think of the Meals on Wheels program in your neighborhood? Do you volunteer or know someone that does? If so, for how long have you or the person(s) you know been volunteering and what do you get out of it?

COOL neighborhood parties

Summer time for neighborhoods across the world usually means cookouts, swimming, and the occasional block party. For residents of Josephine Crossing in Billings, MT summer time means hosting a free six week concert and movie series that helps different fundraising organizations.

Brad McCall, a resident of Josephine Crossing, explains, "At first we wanted a COOL event n the neighborhood for all the neighbors. After all, we live here too, but then we got thinking on a larger scale. We thought it would be fun to open our parties to the public and if we can help out a few fundraising organizations in the process, why not?"

It wasn't an easy task to select what organizations would benefit from the concerts, with so many in the community. They finally decided on fundraisers that put an emphasis on environment and conservation.

If you find yourself in or around Billings, MT be sure to check out one of the free concerts or movies in Josephine Crossing. Food, beer, and wine can be purchased from THE SOUP PLACE and YELLOWSTONE VALLEY BREWING-the concerts go from 6pm-8pm. For more info please visit www.josephinecrossing.com.

The concert dates and benefitting groups are listed below:

6/29: The Firehouse Band (BikeNet)
7/13: The Peach Pickers (Audubon Conservation Education Center)
7/20: Chris Smith (Montana Wilderness Association)
7/27: Downtime (Yellowstone River Parks Association)
8/3: Zen (Habitat for Humanity)
8/10: Jaded Ladies (The MS Society)

Here's to you residents of Josephine Crossing for proving that thinking of others can be a blast! stay positive, stay generous, and STAY COOL!

What do you think of the residents of Josephine Crossing and their method of giving to worthy causes?

COOL neighbors

Ever leave town and think twice about if you locked your doors of if your house is safe from being broken into? Most people don't, it's not something we want to worry about while we are away on business or pleasure. It's reassuring when one lives in a neighborhood where neighbors look out for each other.

This week in Titusville, FL three suspects, all under 21 years-of-age, entered a house they knew to be vacant as the residents were out of town. They loaded a large safe and two flat-screen televisions, among other items, into their 1998 Dodge but didn't get far.

Thanks to a couple of neighbors who alertly called 9-1-1 after witnessing the suspects, 1 female and 2 males, loading up the items into their vehicle, they were quickly apprehended. Detective T.J. Wright, who was in the right place at the right time, responded to the call and arrested the three suspects minutes after the crime took place.

Here's to these two neighbors who decided to take action and get involved instead of looking the other way and here's to COOL neighbors all over the world-stay positive, stay generous, and STAY COOL!

What would you do if you witnessed a crime in your neighborhood?

a COOL donor

Maggie Wiederholt, who would have been 13 today, received an anonymous $10,000 gift in her name towards research into the auto-immune disease called "Behcet's" which led to her death this past February.

"I cannot think of a more amazing (COOL) gift for Maggie's birthday...than this money that was sent in her memory," Diane Wiederholt writes, "I have no clue who sent the money and could never even begin to thank them." The anonymous donation was the largest yet since Maggie's death.

One of Maggie's dying wishes was for more research to be done to help others that suffer from the disease that took her life. Maggie requested that an autopsy be performed on her body so that tissue samples could be tested to see how the auto-immune disease affected her organs.

Dr. Polly Ferguson, Maggies rheumatologist, explains that upward towards $50,000 would be needed to perform a "whole genome sequencing" which would provide the needed information about the DNA sequencing of Maggie's genes and the DNA in between them, and a lot more to do the research beyond that. The anonymous $10,000 gift is certainly a step in the right direction.

Here's to you anonymous donor for your COOL gift and for staying humble about it-stay positive, stay generous, and STAY COOL!

What do you think of this COOL gift and the donor's decision to remain anonymous?

a COOL 9-year-old

Camryn Chaffee, 9, is a little girl with a really big and cool heart. She hit the ground running in Cranberry, PA and placed jars in area businesses asking for donations for MS (Multiple Sclerosis). Her father drove her around and dropped her off in front of a variety of stores, she entered herself and asked to speak to the manager to get permission to leave her jars.

She also visited neighbors to ask for donations while the jars sat in the businesses for five weeks, in all, she was able to raise $600 for MS. She even took the time to thank the participating businesses by making up specific cards for them, as an example she made a hot dog card for Johnny's Hot Dogs.

Camryn says she was inspired by a neighbor and a co-worker of her father who both suffer from MS. She also plans on making her fundrasier an annual event, "It was fun to do and it will help people with MS."

Here's to you Camryn, may your heart forever stay big-stay positive, stay generous, and STAY COOL!

What do you think of Camryn's efforts to raise money for MS? Who's the youngest fundraiser you know? How old are they and what cause did they raise money for?

a COOL pre-wedding bash

When getting married one not only looks forward to the special day but also to the bachelor and bachelorette parties that precede it. Well, Christine Buono of Hopewell, PA and her fiancee, Justin Harrison of Hampton, PA, decided to throw a fundraiser instead.

The both of them decided on organizing a car wash to benefit the North Hills Community Outreach. With family and some members of the wedding party they were able to collect food and money for the community agency while having fun and spending time with each other. Ms. Buono explains, "We decided we wanted to do something for someone else. We're not 25 and don't need to party."

Also, the couple plans on forgoing wedding favors and making donations to the food pantry and Music for Life in honor of their guests. They will let their guests know through notes or the program who was helped by their generous actions.

Mr. Harrison's aunt is not the least bit surprised by the couple's actions, "Nothing surprises me that they do. They're always doing something for someone else."

Here's to you Christine and Justin, may you be happy and blessed for years to come-stay positive, stay generous, and STAY COOL!

What do you think of Christine's and Justin's idea of throwing a fundraiser in lieu of bachelor and bachelorette parties?

it's COOL to just be good

As life gets busy and chaotic at times it is often very easy for us to forget about taking care of ourselves as we jump from one task to another. Well, help is out there to coach and provide us with the proper nutrition so that we can be at our optimal health. Don't forget, to be able to be there for those we love and care about we must first take care of ourselves.

At www.Tonessi.net one can find a variety of items to get on the healthy track and with their Just Be Good (to your body) slogan and T-shirts be inspired to stay there.

The founders of www.Tonessi.net have dealt with many severe health issues throughout their family and have lost loved ones in the process. At present, a serious health issue threatens an immediate family member.

However, they have decided to not stand idly by and accept their situation. They have done extensive research and basically changed how they eat and live. With a positive attitude and mind set of treating their bodies right, they started a journey that included the mind and spirit, "We strongly believe that the power of your mind is more important than anything else, with this power you can literally change your life. With the right thoughts and attitude anything is possible!"

As they help themselves they look to help others-a very COOL attitude-Their mission, through research-certain products-books-organizations, is to inspire others to take that first step to start their own journey towards optimum health.

Here's to you Tonessi.net for inspiring and helping others to start a journey that will be well worth it, stay positive, stay generous, and STAY COOL!

For more information please visit them at www.Tonessi.net or call toll free at 877-283-2494.

What do you think of www.Tonessi.net and their efforts to inspire others to be at their very best mentally and physically?

one COOL pitcher

This story has made national headlines and could be construed as a sad story with an unfortunate ending but it turned out to be a great lesson in COOLITICS.

Armando Galarraga, pitcher for the Major League Baseball team Detroit Tigers, was on the verge of pitching a perfect game which is a very hard and rare feat in baseball. In fact, he would have been only the 21st pitcher in history to complete such a feat. It would have been a great night for baseball as this rare accomplishment would have been the third one this season and second in four nights.

With two outs in the ninth inning the batter at the plate, Jason Donald, hit an infield grounder that was handled cleanly and thrown to first base clearly beating him to the bag. The announcers yelled he's out and were dismayed when they saw first base umpire, Jim Joyce, raise his arms and declare him safe. The replay clearly showed that the ball beat the runner to the bag. Armando stayed focused and retired the next batter thus ending the game but leaving him without a piece of history.

Armando could have easily lost his cool and berated the umpire, which no one would have blamed him for. However, Armando kept his cool and though he didn't want to talk about losing his perfect game due to a bad call he did meet with Jim Joyce afterwards who offered him an apology, "You don't see an umpire come out after a game and say, 'Hey let me tell you I'm sorry,'" Galarraga said, "He felt really bad. He didn't even shower."

Armando is truly a COOLITICIAN, he realizes that mistakes are made and that he can either let them bring him down or, as he has done, be the COOL person in such an unfortunate situation. Also, Jim Joyce should be commended as well for him taking responsibility for his mistake and not making excuses, "It was the biggest call of my career and I kicked the @#!$ out of it. I just cost the kid a perfect game," he admitted, "I thought he beat the throw. I was convinced he beat the throw, until I saw the replay."

So here's to you Armando for staying cool in your moment of blown glory and to you Mr. Joyce for admitting and taking responsibility for your mistake. Hopefully, adults and children alike will learn from your cool responses when being in the fire-stay positive, stay generous, and STAY COOL!

What do you think of how Mr. Armando Galarrago and Mr. Jim Joyce have responded to their much publicized event?