COOL angels

Its never been easier to know an angel here on earth or to become one yourself. To become an angel all that one must do is send a letter or card once a week and a small care package once a month to a deployed member of the United States military.

Soldiers' Angels is a non-profit organization providing aid and comfort to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces and their families. It was started by Patti Patton-Bader, a self proclaimed ordinary mother, who has had two sons deployed to Iraq over the years.

While on deployment in 2003 her oldest son, Brandon, explained his concerns to his mother that some of his fellow soldiers never received any mail or care packages from home. Patti vowed to not let a situation like this continue and contacted friends and family to see if they would be interested in supporting a soldier or two on deployment. Before long, Soldiers' Angels became an Internet community with thousands of angels around the world and reorganized as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in 2004.

Soldiers' Angels volunteers have not stopped at sending over hundreds of thousands of letters and care packages to service members deployed all over the world, they have sent First Aid Packages to the wounded at various military hospitals in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as stateside, they have provided emergency aid to military families in need, and have provided technology that helps assist the severely wounded such as voice-controlled/adaptive laptops. Other efforts have helped provide Kevlar armored blankets for vehicles and flights to soldiers or members of their families when needed as well as other services that help to honor and uphold the memories of those that have sacrificed the ultimate price for the freedom and safety of us here at home.

Here's to you Patti Patton-Bader and the rest of the Soldiers' Angels that walk among us here on earth, keep up your COOL efforts to assure those soldiers deployed that they are not forgotten back home and are much appreciated-stay positive, stay generous, and STAY COOL!

For more information about these angels please visit them at:

http://soldiersangels.org

What do you think of Soldiers' Angels and their efforts to provide aid and comfort to United States Military members deployed around the world? Do you think you would like to be a member of Soldiers' Angels?

COOL wings

When Marla Zack of West Burbank, CA was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago she was determined to beat it. Marla had lost her mother, stepmother, an aunt, and several friends to the disease and knew her outcome was going to be different, "It was like a light bulb went on, I went into survival mode. I needed to see someone beat this disease, and it became clear that I was going to be the one to beat it."

After being diagnosed during an annual checkup with her doctor, Marla ended up going through a bilateral mastectomy, chemotherapy, and a hysterectomy after the cancer spread to her lymph nodes and now that she is cancer free she is not waiting until the five-year mark to proclaim herself a survivor, "I felt like a survivor straight away because the cancer was no longer in my body."

She now finds herself, after reconstructive surgery, working hard to bring awareness to the disease and raising money for cancer charities along the way. She is focused on a jewelry business she started that is dedicated to cancer patients, survivors, and their loved ones.

She went to a jeweler friend after she created a picture of a butterfly around the breast cancer ribbon, calling it "WINGS OF COURAGE", and asked her to make it into a pendant. The friend, Laura Elizabeth, taught her how to make it herself. Marla's husband, Michael, presented the idea of stamping the word "believe" on the back of the pendant and her son, Sullivan, helped pick out the chain.

The handmade pendants can be bought on her website, www.wingsofcouragebelieve.com, for $100 with 20% of the proceeds being split between Young Survival Coalition and weSPARK Cancer Support Center. Here's to you Marla for having a can't be beat attitude, for giving back to those in need, and inspiring others to do the same-stay positive, stay generous, and STAY COOL!

What do you think of Marla's attitude to survive breast cancer and her efforts to raise awareness of it and money for cancer charities?

a COOL bike ride

Cyclists involved in this year's Journey of Hope ride took off in June from San Francisco, CA and Seattle, WA heading towards Washington D.C. where they will dismount in August after thousands of miles traveled. Journey of Hope, created by Push America, is the largest fraternal fundraising and awareness event of its kind comprised solely of members (current and alumni) of Pi Kappa Phi from universities around the U.S. This COOL event raises money and awareness for people with disabilities.

The inaugural ride, in 1988, raised $20,000 and has now expanded to three different routes, all ending in D.C., and annually raises over $500,000. The cyclists average 75 miles a day but bike riding isn't the only way they give back. Along the way they visit local groups, in the 32 different states they pass through, that support people with disabilities, take part in a game of wheelchair basketball, educate children on the abilities of people with disabilities, and learn life lessons that remain with them long after the journey has concluded.

Brad Ray, a wheelchair athlete who hopes to make the 2012 Paralympics in London, expresses that it means a lot to have Journey of Hope raise money for their activities, "It' super important, our equipment is super expensive."

Joey Stassi, 21 and a cyclist, expresses that the summer fundraiser was the main reason he joined the fraternity, "It was the idea of riding your bike across the country and making a big difference in people's lives. The riders get as much out of their encounters with people with disabilities as they do."

Here's to you Journey of Hope cyclists-keep riding for a great cause, stay safe, stay positive, stay generous, and STAY COOL!

For information on this COOL bike ride please visit: www.pushamerica.org

What do you think of the Journey for Hope ride and its message of acceptance and understanding for people with disabilities?

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?