Random Bits of Information

FOOD DRIVE
FOR
Mt. Diablo Unified School District
Volunteer Food Pantry
Assisting Families in Need in Our District Community

Families in the Mt. Diablo Unified School District need your help.  There is a food pantry at the District office which is a maintained by group of volunteers.  Child Welfare and Attendance Liaisons (CWAs), School Psychologists and other District employees pick up boxes of food from the District office and deliver them to families in need.  As food is donated, volunteers check expiration dates, box up the food (emergency 3-4 day supply) and store excess food in cabinets in their main lunchroom.  All volunteers help during their lunch hour or after work.

 The food pantry is not just for the holidays.  This is a year round project.  Please consider organizing a donation station at your school either by asking your school administrator directly or going through your PTA, PTO, or PFC organization.  It's simple, fill up some cans or barrels, then email or call Lori Amenta at amental@mdusd.k12.ca.us or 682-8000 ext 4002 and make arrangements to drop off your donations.  This is a great way for your school communities and your scouts to help families in our immediate area, as all donations are given out to families in our District.  This is also a wonderful community service project for your girls to be involved with.  If you have any questions about setting up your donations please call Gina Soleimanieh at 925-429-0433.  Thank you.

Top 10 Items to Donate

Peanut Butter
Rice
Canned Fruit
Cereal
Canned Tuna
Canned Chicken
Whole Beans
Canned Chili
Pasta Sauce & Pasta
Canned Vegetables

Other Suggested Items to Donate

Soup (Cans or Instant)
Crackers
Macaroni and Cheese
Jam/Jelly
Protein Power Bars
Granola Bars
Individual snacks such as:
Cheese & Crackers
PB & Crackers
Velveeta Cheese
Instant Powder Drinks
Canned Evaporated Milk
Juices -- no refrigeration
Pickles
Mayo
Mustard
Catsup

 All Nonperishable Items Accepted

Dear EQCA member,

Remember the uproar when former MISS CALIFORNIA USA Carrie Prejean said that she opposed marriage equality during the pageant? Rather than agree to EQCA's invitation to meet with us and an LGBT family, she used her 15 minutes of fame to become the spokesmodel for the right-wing National Organization for Marriage.

Now, the MISS CALIFORNIA USA pageant has offered EQCA and Ms. Prejean 30 seconds each during this Sunday's broadcast. We are showing an ad featuring Mary Kate, the teenage daughter of lesbian moms, who talks from the heart about her family and how discrimination in marriage hurts real people, including children.

Watch the ad on Sunday or click here to see it now, and make a donation so we can tell stories like this one to millions of Californans.

It's our stories that win hearts and change minds. Give today so Californians will hear our stories on the air and door to door.

We deeply appreciate the opportunity provided by MISS CALIFORNIA USA to show Californians how denying same-sex couples the right to marry affects real people.

All families deserve to be treated equally. Help us tell our stories.

In solidarity,


Geoff Kors
Executive Director
Equality California

Dear EQCA member,

It has been a tumultuous week since last Tuesday's elections. Maine voters stripped their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender friends and neighbors of the right to marry. Meanwhile, Kalamazoo residents voted to preserve anti-discrimination protections, and Washingtonians said "yes" to domestic partnerships. Now that the votes are in, it's time to reflect on what is next in the push for full equality.

So now what? What does the path forward look like?

1. Federal courts are considering a challenge to Prop. 8 on the grounds that it violates the United States Constitution. EQCA strongly supports this case and has filed a powerful brief urging the court to overturn Prop. 8. The Obama Administration needs to join the fight and stop the abhorrent abuse of the initiative process to eliminate the rights of any targeted minority. I strongly encourage you to sign our petition asking the Administration to file a brief in support of this case, and ask your friends and family to sign it, too.
   
2. We must continue to come out and tell our stories to the people that matter. We need to gain support for marriage and that means talking to people who are not yet supportive. EQCA is going door to door with our coalition partners in neighborhoods across the state. Join our next canvass or volunteer at one of our local field offices.
   
3. We must stop endorsing and giving money to candidates for office who do not support full and complete equality. Until the politicians who take our community for granted realize that they can no longer count on our votes unless we can count on theirs, they will not change. EQCA's Political Action Committee has always endorsed only those candidates who support our equality 100 percent. We must emphasize that there is no middle ground. Either you support equality or you don't.
   
4. We must also make clear that there is nothing wrong with children learning that there are LGBT people. Our children should grow up in a world where they know they are safe and can fall in love and get married regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. That is why we worked so hard to pass a bill in California establishing Harvey Milk Day, and we will continue to work for an inclusive curriculum. Those who oppose marriage equality are simply relying on blatant scare tactics. By working to ensure an inclusive curriculum we can take this argument away from them.

While I remain sad and angry about what happened in Maine, the results in Washington and Kalamazoo and the election of LGBT candidates throughout our nation demonstrate the progress we have made. Add these victories to the passage of federal hate crimes legislation, the signing of the Harvey Milk Day bill, marriage victories in Vermont and Iowa and the many other gains our community has made this year alone, and there is much reason for hope.

We are making tremendous progress, and while there will continue to be setbacks along the way, we will prevail.

With hope,

Geoff Kors
Executive Director
Equality California

Let's help this wonderful charity organization if we can.  Thank you!

All this content in one fun packed day!
Prizes, gift certificates and cash, contests, networking and guaranteed at least one tip that will earn you the cost of admission. You can't afford to miss this!
Visit www.StagersLISTExpo.com and click on Metro New York!

Keynote Speaker Christine Rae
Speaker at California Association of Realtors Convention October 2009, past recipient of RESA Innovator award, President of CSP International Training Academy, trainer and author of Wiley Publishing's Home Staging For Dummies (& a Resource for the Rest of us). This book is a terrific tool which guides the reader to discover that staging is a specialty that the average person needs professional help with.

Christine's talk, 5 Mistakes Businesses Make, 5 Steps to Turn Your Business Around, 5 Market Driven Trends to Build Revenue will inspire you to take action to turn your business around. She challenges you to answer, "What keeps you from the success you want?" You will leave motivated and ready to turn your business around. Businesses need to grow and change to increase their market share; learn the trends that can help you reach your financial goals. What heights do you want to achieve in 2010?

Melissa Marro
Founder of First Impressions Home Staging & Interior Redesign, IRIS, CSP, Dewey Trainer

Melissa will be presenting Marketing for Explosive and Consistent Sales. Learn how to effectively market your staging business with a minimal budget for consistent and explosive sales without cold calling or placing expensive media print ads. Melissa will cover e-newsletters, agent "lunch & learns", neighborhood and agent farming techniques and more. Master these topics and you will be able to break free of the ebb and flow of the sales world and launch into increased, sustained sales and bookings.

Melissa will also have a workshop titled Overcome Objections - Increase Sales. Having trouble closing the deal or even setting appointments? In this session Melissa will teach you how to overcome common industry objections masterfully and with confidence. Melissa's company has had incredible success in their marketplace, once managing 40 staged properties in one month! Learn simple, proven techniques and increase your presentation skills with this informative workshop.

Visit www.StagersLISTExpo.com and click on Metro New York!

Leigh Hagen
Photographer, professinal stager and cofounder of LH2 Staging, Leigh's work has been featured on the cover of Home Staging for Dummies, Midwest Living Luxury Tours, and International Staging Magazine Staging Standard.

Leigh is presenting our lunch workshop, Photos - the final ingredient. The Sale Begins in the MLS. Photographs sell your work, your talent and your staged properties IF they reflect what you've done. Learn how to take better photos, what you need in a camera and how to utilize your photos to sell more by marketing yourself and your work online and in your portfolio through brilliant photos.

Suzy Minken
Home stager and Feng Shui practitioner

Suzy's workshop is Feng Shui - The Home Staging Connection. Suzy blends home staging and Feng Shui with great success. Staging IS Feng Shui. Feng Shui does three things: 1. Harmonize space, 2. Neutralize space from negative emotions, 3. Direct energy to a specific goal. For home stagers that means creating space that buyers "feel" at home in. Learn how home staging and Feng Shui blend and compliment each other. Realtors know how a home feels makes a difference in what properties buyers will spend more time viewing. Stagers use these techniques all the time. Suzy will teach you why it works and help you understand how to use them with purpose and intention for even more success and SOLD properties.

Visit www.StagersLISTExpo.com and click on Metro New York!

Chris Fisher
Creator of StagersLISTWebsites.com, blogging expert and virtual assistant

Chris' workshop is Websites, Blogging, SEO - The Key To Building Your Business. Learn how you can get a web presence on YOUR budget. Do you have a website? Do you know it doesn't have to be expensive to be effective? If you have a website, is it active, engaging and bringing you business? You may only need slight changes to improve your existing site dramatically? Do you know that blogging is bringing Realtors and home stagers across the country business? If you answered no to any of these questions, this workshop is for you! Drive business to your door without spending a fortune doing it. Take this workshop and receive a FREE blog header for the blog platform of your choice.

How to Create and Solidify Realtor Relationships

We have three successful professional home stagers to talk about how they create partnerships with their Realtors and continue to get business. Sid Pinkerton has been featured on TLC as a home staging expert and has staged hundreds of apartments in Metro Nerw York in the last six years. Kate Hart is an award winning home staging expert, has helped hundreds of families prepare homes for sale, has mentored and trained thousands of Realtors and home stagers. Lynelle Hartman has been a trainer for the two largest staging training companies in the US, trains in the Dewey Color System and authored a continuing education course on vacant home staging.

Visit www.StagersLISTExpo.com and click on Metro New York!

Dear EQCA member,

President Obama has said he is opposed to discriminatory ballot measures. It’s time for him to do something to stop them.

The President can do something today to prevent future ballot measures designed to take away LGBT rights by asking the federal court to rule that Proposition 8 and similar measures violate the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Join the more than 18,000 people who are already demanding that President Obama and Attorney General Holder act now. And if you have taken action, please forward this to everyone you know.

If we can just get the President to act, we can help to ensure that what happened in Maine and California never happens again.

And if politicians want our support, then they must speak out and act when the rights of any minority are threatened.

Urge President Obama to have a brief filed in the federal Prop. 8 court challenge, arguing that no minority should ever have their rights taken away at the ballot box.

The case is set to be heard in U.S. District Court in early January — so please act now.

In solidarity,

Geoff Kors
Executive Director
Equality California

P.S. With emotions still raw from Tuesday, we need to make sure we turn our anger into action. Pledge to volunteer. We need help calling to get our supporters involved, office help, and people to join us in going door to door to talk directly with those who are not yet on our side. Volunteer >

FREE HIV Testing

Friday, Nov 6, 6-8pm
Monday, Nov 9, 6-8pm

When was the last time you got tested? Have you talked with anyone about ways to protect yourself against HIV?

Come to the RCC on Friday, Nov 6 & Monday, Nov 9 between 6-8pm and you will get:

• FREE HIV oral rapid testing- You will know the result in 20 minutes with 99.7% accuracy;
• FREE safer sex counseling;
• FREE condoms & lube;
• Peace of Mind that comes from knowing you are taking care of yourself!

Rainbow Community Center (RCC)
3024 Willow Pass Road, Suite 200
Concord, CA 94519-2588
Phone: 925.692.0090
Fax: 925.692.0091

The RCC also offers counseling, support groups, food services and so much more.  If you'd like to donate to help this wonderful organization, please click here.  If you'd like to learn more about their programs and services, visit their website.

Thank you!

I received this email from my friend Adryon and I think it's a cute way to remind us that she's raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society by participating in Team in Training. If you'd like to see more information about Adryon, visit www.AdryonRocks.com.  Then donate if you can.  This Winter my grandpa, who passed away from Multiple Myeloma, will be one of the team's honorees.

I think you should dress up as a PHILANTHROPIST! It's a super easy costume to make - you don't even need to leave your house or even your chair!  Plus, everyone will be dressing up as The Cat in The Hat - why not step outside of that box!

 To make the costume, follow ALL of these steps:

 1)     Donate to my fundraising page http://pages.teamintraining.org/aketcham

2)     Print out the receipt

3)     Tape the receipt to yourself (wherever you choose!)

4)     There you go! You are now a PHILANTHROPIST! Just like the Rockefellers! J

If you like, you can even print out the name tag I've provided below and wear it - but only after you follow the steps above!

Go Team!

Adryon Ketcham

  Run when you can, walk when you have to, crawl if you must, JUST NEVER GIVE UP!

Marriage Equality-No on 1!

This Sunday, Nov 1, 2-4:30pm at the RCC
No on 1 Phone Bank
Make the difference on the last weekend before Nov 3!

Join Courage Campaign in helping protect marriage equality in Maine!

After a bill to allow same-sex marriage in Maine was signed into law on May 6, 2009, Maine became the fifth U.S. state to recognize same-sex marriage and the second to do so through legislative process rather than through a judicial ruling. The law would have taken effect on September 11, 2009, but will now be subject to a potential "people's veto" in Maine's November elections.

The stakes are extremely high in Maine. Right now, the same people that launched Prop 8 are airing fear-mongering TV ads in Maine that are carbon copies of the ads they aired last year in California.

In an election that is so close, a robust and disciplined field campaign can make all the difference. The Maine "NO on 1" campaign needs help making voter ID and persuasion phone calls. And that's where you can help.

Come make calls the whole time, or just some of the time. We need you!

Rainbow Community Center (RCC)
3024 Willow Pass Road, Suite 200
Concord, CA 94519-2588
Phone: 925.692.0090
Fax: 925.692.0091

To make a donation to RCC, click on this link.

According to the Clayton Pioneer a rare white hummingbird has been spotted in Clayton California.  Read the entire article by clicking here.

According to the hummingbird website www.RubyThroat.org this is extremely rare. 

Couple things I learned while visiting www.RubyThroat.org were that hummingbirds are rarely seen in Europe and those are birds that have escaped captivity.  I had no idea they didn't have hummingbirds in Europe.

I also learned about hummingbird moths, which apparently act so exactly like a hummingbird that they are often mistaken for baby humming birds.  Hummingbirds do not leave the nest until fully grown, so you won't see a baby one flying around anywhere.

I just thought that was interesting, and it did remind me to fill my hummingbird feeder.  : )

www.LH2Staging.com. Lynelle Hartman is one of the pioneers in the industry working as a trainer for the two largest staging training companies in the US. She also trains in the Dewey Color System and has authored a continuing education course for stagers on vacant home staging. Lynelle and her partner Leigh have perfected the art of staging vacant (as well as occupied) homes in and around Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photography of their work has been showcased locally and in magazines. The best home staging trainers understand the industry because they run successful staging businesses and stage every day alongside their peers. In addition Lynelle had a 10 year Real Estate career and understands Realtors and their clients.

Lynelle will be a part of our Professional Home Stager and Designer Panel at the Real Estate Home Staging Expo on November 12, 2009.  You won't want to miss this!  The panel will focus on How to Create and Solidify Realtor Relationships.

Don't forget to register before November 1, 2009 to receive the Churchill Furniture Rental special price!

Location:
Churchill Furniture Rental
56 Utter Avenue
Hawthorne, NJ 07506-2117

Join us and learn from Lynelle and our two other Panel Experts, Sid Pinkerton and Kate Hart.  Learn how to solidify your Realtor relationships and keep your business thriving in ANY market.

This expert panel is just one feature of the full day's events.  Check out the full Real Estate Home Staging Agenda and join us November 12, 2009 for a great day of learning and fun!

www.FromDrabtoFab.com  Sid Pinkerton was featured on TLC as a home staging expert. Sid has staged hundreds of apartments in Metro New York in the past six years. "Even in this market, we continue to have more than 90% of our staged properties of those within 7 days," says Sid. Sid says his clients are the Realtors and he is acutely aware of that. Sid's business is referral and word of mouth only.  Learn how Sid turned his love of Real Estate into a passion that earns him a six figure income with NO outside marketing. We will talk about Sid's philosophy and how he maximizes the Realtor relationships in a challenging and unique marketplace, New York City.

Sid will be a part of our Professional Home Stager and Designer Panel at the Real Estate Home Staging Expo on November 12, 2009.  You won't want to miss this!  The panel will focus on How to Create and Solidify Realtor Relationships.

Don't forget to register before November 1, 2009 to receive the Churchill Furniture Rental special price!

Location:
Churchill Furniture Rental
56 Utter Avenue
Hawthorne, NJ 07506-2117

Join us and learn from Sid and our two other Panel Experts, Kate Hart and Lynelle Hartman.  Learn how to solidify your Realtor relationships and keep your business thriving in ANY market.

This expert panel is just one feature of the full day's events.  Check out the full Real Estate Home Staging Agenda and join us November 12, 2009 for a great day of learning and fun!

Volunteers Needed

Kind Hearts Program

Please donate your used and clean shopping bags to help our Program participants transport their groceries.

Friendly Visitors Program
This great program increases the social connections of RCC's community through volunteers making home visits and phonecalls to program participants. This will require five hours per month(four with clients and one in meetings/training) and regular documentation of services.

Kind Hearts Food Program
We need Home Delivery Volunteers on Thursday mornings and afternoons to help pick up and deliver food to our elderly and HIV-impacted clients. This program ensures that these underserved communities will continue receiving much needed basic goods. We are especially looking for volunteers with trucks to pickup and deliver large quantities of food. Contact Wade at (925)692-0090 or via email at wade@rainbowcc.org

The above volunteer positions are available at the Rainbow Community Center in Concord, California.  They provide some wonderful programs for our community and it's very important that we all help out where we can.  If you are able to help out with one of these programs, please do.  If nothing else I'm sure we all have a pile of paper shopping bags we can donate.  Thank you!

Many of you remember how vocal I was when California's Proposition 8 was on the ballot, and how devastated when it actually passed.  I believe it passed partly due to confusion about how to defeat it, and partly because many of us did not show up to vote.

In 12 days (November 3) Maine is voting on Prop 1.  We can help the NO on 1 campaign by calling people in Maine and reminding them to vote, and to vote NO on 1.  Click the image to the right if you are able to sign up for a phone shift.

Thank you for your help!

Here are links to 3 wedding stories I posted during the Prop 8 campaign.
Wedding Story #1
Wedding Story #2
Wedding Story #3

I'd love to hear more wedding stories, please share if you would like.

Don't Miss Our 2nd Annual Real Estate Home Staging Expo in the New York Metro Area!!
November 12, 2009
We welcome everyone to our expo, you do not have to have any designation or be a member of any organization to attend.

Churchill Furniture Rental offers their preferred customers the RESA price if they register before 11/1/09. Churchill Furnitire Rental is proud to sponsor the 2009 Expo. Last year was GREAT and this year will be even better. All new format and topics.

Don't just survive - thrive.

ALL NEW TOPICS - Speakers include Christine Rae, who appeared as Staging Training expert for HGTV's The Decorating Adventures of Ambrose Price (soon to be released in the US) talking about 5 Mistakes, 5 Solutions, 5 Market Driven Trends.

Workshops to build your business, income and proficiency. Home Passport Program - meet the sponsors that want to earn your business and meet your challenges.

Program Highlights:

• 5 Mistakes, 5 Solutions, 5 Market Driven Trends to Build Revenue
• Websites, Blogging and Social Media, SEO Made Easy
• Overcome Objections
• Add Revenue Streams, Dynamic Floral Demonstration
• Marketing and Networking for RESULTS
• Professional Stagers Tell ALL... Panel Discussion
• How to Take Brilliant Photos Sell, Lights, Camera, Action

Our 2008 Event SOLD OUT, so register today!
Coordinators:
Expo, Juliet Johnson
Expo & Sponsors, Ginger Pugliese,               732.718.8068         732.718.8068, ginger_pugliese@hotmail.com
Expo & Sponsors, Cindy Mussman,               732.763.3692         732.763.3692, ckminteriors@aol.com

Our Expo is brought to you by these fine sponsors:
Bekins
Certified Staging Professionals
Staging and ReDesign
The Interiority Complex
Real Estate Staging Association
Churchill Furniture Rental
Exclusively Staged Florals
LH2 Photography

I thought this was a very important story to share, thank you Janice.

WOW!  Great review of the Indianapolis Expo from Gary Barnett.  Big thanks to Gary and Linda and their whole team for helping make this event the success that it was!

When Robert Swetz asked me to help him out with his contest, Memories at Active Rain, I did not know what I was getting into!  Judging all these wonderful entries was very difficult for everyone.  I did love reading them all and learning more about the Active Rain members who posted.  Thank you so much to everyone who entered this contest.

The prizes are:

3000 for first
 2000 for second
 1000 for third

 200 for every entry (in addition to the points you got for posting the blog)

And my favorite:

In addition to the points that will be awarded to the winners starting with (fourth) place to (twenty fifth) place, these winners will be given a signed photograph print from Robert Swetz (11x14) in size and mailed directly to you.

That is a total of 21 photo prints for winners!  I'd trade my points for that any day.  I have a signed photo from Robert, it's truly a work of art.

So, the winners are:

First place: Marchel Peterson
Marchel's post tied her Active Rain points memories to real life events.  I remember her 300,000 points and our Son out of Iraq post and remember being so relieved for her family that her son was home and safe. 

Second place: Lori Cain
Lori's post was about a mistake that she made and shared here on Active Rain.  C Tann Starr featured her mistake in Club Chaos and hilarity ensued.  That's when Lori finally felt at home on Active Rain, the day her fellow rainers laughed WITH her.

Third Place: Clint Miller
Clint's post is very personal.  He shared with us his life's journey and was very open about choices he's made along the way.  Thank you Clint for reminding us to be thankful and to honor our paths.

In no particular order, the winners of a signed photograph from Robert Swetz (click their name to view their contest entry, they are all very good):

Jason Crouch
Donna Harris
Robin Rogers
Martha Brown
Russel Ray
Judi Barrett
Matt Stigliano
Steve Shatsky
Kevin and Monica Ray
Michael Thornton
Sheldon Neal
Tammy Lankford
Loreena Yeo
Maureen Megowan
Fernando Herboso
Lenn Harley
Matt Grohe
Norma Toering
Al and Peggy Cunningham
Chris Ann Cleland
Debra Walsh

Congratulations to all our winners and all our participants.  You ALL did a great job, you made it very difficult to choose only a few winning entries!

You can shop for your photographs by visiting www.SearchMyPics.com or visiting Robert's blog on Active Rain.  Have fun shopping!  I have one at my house and I LOVE it.  Be prepared to spend some time there, there is a lot of variety and so many to choose from. Then simply email Robert and he'll take care of the rest.

- offering website design, maintenance, hosting and virtual assistance