Charitable giving, nonprofit tax rules, and what donors and organizations need to know to give (and receive) the right way.
Teenagers and young adults of low socioeconomic status who have a history of in-depth arts involvement earn better grades and have higher rates of college enrollment and attainment than those that are not exposed to the arts. They are more likely to work in a professional career, volunteer, vote, and read a newspaper. In fact,…
Sea turtles inhabit all of the world’s oceans except the Arctic. There are seven species of sea turtles; five of these are found in my home state of North Carolina. The most abundant species in North Carolina is the loggerhead that nests annually on our beaches. Loggerhead and green sea turtles are listed as “threatened”…
When a crisis hits, we tend to think big. But what if helping was as simple as finding relief inside a green box? ShelterBox is an international disaster relief charity that provides temporary shelter and life-saving supplies to displaced families. These families could be displaced due to earthquake, volcano, flood, hurricane, cyclone, tsunami, or conflict….
Let’s talk celebrity crushes. When I was a kid, I had a few, some of them a bit less humiliating than others. On the list? Greg Evigan (I was a huge BJ & The Bear fan), Scott Baio, Erik Estrada, Jon Bon Jovi, John Stamos, and Jon Cryer (apparently I had a thing for Johns)….
My brother got married yesterday. He’s in the military so the service was arranged in between deployments. His new wife understands that their lives will be largely like this: planning for birthdays, anniversaries and other events in between being shipped in and out. It is tough but it is the life that he signed on…
Over the span of three years (1967-1970), a civil war raged in Nigeria. When it was over, nearly three million people were dead, and many more were suffering from the effects of hunger and poor sanitation. In response to the crisis – and the 1970 Bhola cyclone, which killed at least 625,000 in Bangladesh –…
One out of every 45 children – some 1.6 million – in the United States is homeless, according to a report released by the National Center on Family Homelessness. The majority of the children are under age 7, about the same age as my youngest children. Even more grim: almost 40% of the homeless population…
Statistically, students who are involved in music (either appreciation or performance) do better in school. According to the American Chemical Society, nearly 100% of past winners in the prestigious Siemens Westinghouse Competition in Math, Science, and Technology (for high School students) play one or more musical instruments (The Midland Chemist (American Chemical Society) Vol. 42,…
If you ask most young parents how they spend the first year as a mom or a dad, they’ll likely tell you “changing diapers.” Assuming that you change a baby 7-10 times per day (or 5-7 times per day as they get a little older), you’ll change between 1825 and 3650 diapers per year, or…
Last month, we had to say goodbye to our beloved dog, Lyle. It was truly difficult because he had been a member of the family for more than 13 years. Our dog came to us via a shelter in Philadelphia. It wasn’t a “no-kill” shelter which means, of course, that it did kill if dogs…