Check out your chance to go on a double date with two of The Salvation Army’s biggest supporters!

Chris Rock, who grew up attending the Bushwick, NY Salvation Army, and his wife Malaak are currently auctioning off the chance for a double date with courtside seats to an upcoming Knicks game. Proceeds from the auction will benefit Journey for Change: Empowering Youth Through Global Service, a program Malaak started that takes at-risk youth from several New York Salvation Army Community Centers to Johannesburg, South Africa for 2 weeks of Global Service.

Other auction items include VIP tickets to The Tonight Show (and meet w/ Jay Leno), four VIP tickets to the Today Show (and meet w/ Al Roker) and a unique folding bicycle autographed by Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Kevin James, and David Space.

Visit http://bit.ly/93eZk1 to show your support for The Salvation Army and Journey for Change and bid on the experience of a lifetime!

The new Pepsi Refresh Project is on the lookout “for people, businesses, and non-profits with ideas that will have a positive impact. Look around your community and think about how you want to change it.”

The Salvation Army of Metro Detroit has stepped up to the challenge, and they are now in the running this month for a $250,000 grant for their great idea! If awarded the $250,000, they will to use the funds to provide an additional 155,254 meals and 1,000 more nights of shelter for Detroit’s residents in need. You can find all the details of the proposal at http://www.refresheverything.com/salmich.

Now The Salvation Army of Detroit needs the support of online voters to help their idea come to fruition. The Pepsi Refresh Project awards the grant to the proposal that has the most votes, with people being allowed to cast one vote per project each day during the month of July. If you’d like to support The Salvation Army Detroit’s grant proposal, just follow these easy steps:

1. Visit their proposal page under the ‘Food and Shelter’ category at http://www.refresheverything.com/salmich.
2. Click ‘Vote for This Idea’
3. Follow the prompts

Don’t forget, you can vote once a day during the entire month of July! It’s an easy way that you can help make a difference for those in need.

Each month, the Pepsi Refresh Project awards up to $1.3 million in grants to proposals that receive the most online votes.

For more information about how The Salvation Army of Metro Detroit is “doing the most good,”  visit their website at www.salmich.org or find them on Facebook and Twitter @salmich.

People Magazine is celebrating 35 years and they’re giving you a chance to give away some gifts.

Once you register and tell People what your favorite charity is, 35 people will be chosen at random to win $1000 for that charity.   That’s a possibility of $35,000!

Do some good for the Army: learn more and register today and help The Salvation Army!

When it comes to Ben Stein – his monotone voice, dry humor and sarcastic wit – most people either love him or hate him.

The Salvation Army Greater Houston Area Command is hoping for the former.

The Houston Business Journal reported that the Command will host Ben Stein as its keynote speaker at its annual luncheon fundraiser.

Though perhaps most famously known for his role in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and as the dry spokesvoice for Visine ads, Stein is also a noted economist, bestselling author, comic, and former New York Times columnist.

The luncheon is scheduled for Nov. 3rd at the Hilton-Americas Hotel and the proceeds will benefit the Army’s programs in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties.

To learn more about the event or to get tickets, refer to the Greater Houston Area Command’s website.

Now through October 1st, shoppers at Kroger Supermarkets can “round up” the balance of their purchases to help those affected by floods in Georgia.

WTOC News in Savannah, Georgia, reported that through “The Round Up” Program customers can give money to benefit the flood victims by “rounding up” their purchases to the nearest dollar. Customers can also make a monetary donation at any Kroger in Georgia to help provide food, water, clothing, cleaning supplies and other necessities.

It is estimated that more than 300,000 families have been affected by the nearly $250 million of weather-related damage that has ravaged north Georgia.  To better assist the Salvation Army in providing aid to those affected by the severe weather and floods, Kroger’s Atlanta Division will also donate $50,000 in gift cards to the organization and will also provide two truckloads of water to those in need.

Remember those affected by the floods as you shop at Kroger and donate your change to do some good in the lives of those recovering from this natural disaster.  You can also donate – no matter how little or much – online on the national Salvation Army website, by phone at 1-800-SAL-ARMY, or by mailing a donation to your local Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army knows that need knows no season.

Unfortunately, in a troubled economy with more people than ever before seeking help from social service agencies, the Army – and many similar organizations – has found itself in need of help.

Food kitchens and pantries across the country have seen exponential increase in the community’s need for their services.  However, as need continues to rise, donations are becoming few and far between.

However, for one Salvation Army Food Pantry in Austin, Minnesota, the calvary has arrived.

The Austin Daily Herald reports that the United Way’s board of directors in that locale will make a $15,000 donation from their Emergency Fund to assist the Salvation Army in paying its bills.

According to the article, the Army had sent out a plea for help to the community and all of its major donors for help.  The United Way, recognizing the Austin Salvation Army as a sponsored partner, awarded the grant from its Emergency Fund.

Sadly, the story of the Austin Salvation Army is commonplace the nation over.  While are generous during the Army’s Red Kettle Campaign at Christmas, donations of time, talent and money are less plentiful throughout the year when the funds are still needed to support daily social services to the community.

You can help the Army in your area, too, by making a donation.  Online donations can be made here or you can call 1-800-SAL-Army.  You can even mail donations to your local Salvation Army using the National Website’s zip code locator, located in the upper right-hand corner of the site’s homepage.

Be a hero…do some good!

(photo by Eric Johnson) Lori Blanton, case manager for the Salvation Army, stands in the a store room at the Salvation Army that sits low on food items. The Salvation Army, a source for those in need, has now found itself in need, partly because of the struggling economy.

I’m a huge fan of the television show “The Amazing Race.”  I enjoy watching the wacky team challenges and the team dynamics each week.  It’s a fascinating show simply because you get to see human communication and teamwork at its best – and sometimes its worst.

While I doubt I’d ever be brave enough to tryout for that show…or find a partner crazy enough to pair up for me for the weeks-long, globetrotting expedition, the Western Pennsylvania Salvation Army’s “The Most Amazing Race” looks like it’s going to be just as much fun.

Beginning with a qualifying event today, and the real, scavenger hunt-like challenge tomorrow, 25 teams will race around the city of Pittsburgh, completing zany physical and mental tasks along the way, for a chance to win a prize package that includes $5,000 for first place, two 32-inch flat screen televisions, four Steelers tickets and more.

All they had to do to earn a spot in the race was fundraise a minimum of $500 in the name of The Army.  The team that fundraised the most money will also win a cash prize at the race’s conclusion.

For those of you in the Pittsburgh area who’d like to cheer on the Army’s Most Amazing Racers, an itinerary of tomorrow’s events can be found here.

If you aren’t in the immediate Pittsburgh vicinity, but would still like to participate, consider making an online donation to the Army instead.

I was in high school, maybe college, before I realized that there was something known as a vintage doll community.  In it, the most avid of collectors often pay top dollar to add old Barbies and baby dolls to their collections.

By the time I was graduating college, some of the dolls I’d played with as a child were increasing in value.  Certainly though, after the many home haircuts and make-up experiments I’d put my dollsthrough as a child, they wouldn’t be worth anything to a collector.

But for those who held on to their childhood toys, keeping the packaging sometimes and ensuring their pristine condition, it can be an opportunity to do some good for others.

A Times Union article tells the Seventh Annual “Every Doll Needs A Home” Doll Auction.  The event supports The Salvation Army’s Evangeline Booth Miracle Home in New York, an emergency homeless shelter for women and their children, and this year 110 different dolls will be auctioned off.

Scheduled for next week, Thursday, September 24th, dolls are expected to go at prices anywhere from $2 to $200 and the proceeds go directly to maintaining upkeep at the Booth home and educational programs to help the women who stay there improve their lives.

I hadn’t the foresight – or the patience – to preserve my dolls as a child, but it’s encouraging to see that others are putting their collections to good use.

Do you have a unique collection or talent that you think could do some good for The Army?  Put it to use and do some good for someone else!

Linda Haskins, places a donation in the Salvation Army Kettle in front of Farmfresh located at 30 Town Center Way. (Karen Hymes, Daily Press / July 25, 2009)

We’ve been hearing a lot lately about how many local Salvation Army units across the country are putting out red kettles a bit early this year for special summer fundraising efforts. The New York Times even blogged about the effort a few weeks back and NBC mentioned the campaign on the Nightly News.

As Nightly News anchor Brian Williams put it:

“While they may seem out of season, for the first time since the recession back in the ’70s, they have been forced to fan out early in 25 cities, from New York to Cleveland to Lawrence, Kansas, because they need the money for those they care for.”

While it’s not unheard of for a local community to put out kettles “off-season,” it is unusual and we’ve definitely seen more of it this year during the economic slowdown.

Now some areas have completed the campaign (for the summer anyway) and had a chance to count up the money that will go to help people in need. The public’s continued generosity, even during these difficult times, is truly impressive. In Hampton Roads (Tidewater), VA, for example, The Salvation Army raised more than $17,000 during the month-long campaign.

As always, this money will go directly back to the community to support local programs. In the Tidewater region, fundraising will support Veterans Transitional Housing program for military veterans:

“More than $2,700 of that money will go toward the Veteran Transitional Housing program run by the Virginia Peninsula Command, which represents Newport News, Hampton, Gloucester and lower York County. The program provides housing for homeless veterans, said Matthew Pochily, spokesman for the Tidewater Command, which serves Norfolk, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. He said the remainder of the money will go to programs in the Tidewater Command.”

Read more from the local Daily Press newspaper here.