It's that time of year again!                                  The time has come again!!!!! The Active 20-30 Club of Sacramento #1 is proud to announce its 44th annual Spring Party, Sactopalooza 2012. This years party is being held at a Sacramento landmark, The Sacramento Zoo, on June 16 from 5pm - 10pm. With a capacity of 2,500 party goers (21+ years old), Sactopalooza is promising to entertain with TWO top tribute bands to No Doubt and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, six bars, terrific food, mechanical bull riding, jousting, and DJ Rigatony performing on a separate dance area. - This is a Rain or Shine event and all attendee's must be 21 and over ( MUST have valid ID ) - Check in @ WILL CAL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Active 20-30 donates to local children charities Evan’s Kitchen – 855 57th Street, Sacramento, CA 95819 Thursday, April 26th 5:30pm Active 20-30 Club #1 Sacramento will be presenting checks to local charities who have benefited from donations made by the Active 20-30 club. While raising money, and participating in hands on events the members of Active 20-30 are given the opportunity to develop friendships, leadership skills, and optimize their personal growth. For over 90 years this international service organization, which started in Sacramento, has helped numerous charities. While making monetary donations to organizations such as United Cerebral Palsy, Junior

Surrounded by precious, handmade baby clothes, Cyndi Mitchell thinks back to 2009 when her tiny twin daughters were born prematurely and she was thrown into the uncertainty of what comes with a child, or children, who must be hospitalized in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Mitchell remembers those days as some of the hardest in her life, and in an attempt to help other families in similar circumstances, she and her husband Dustin founded the Alyboo and Izybee Foundation, named after their two beautiful daughters Aly and Izy. This amazing foundation is funded through donations, fundraisers and now, a children’s boutique, which had their grand opening on Saturday. The boutique, Aly &

Art does many things. It gives us a history of culture. It decorates our homes. It helps the homeless. This 2nd Saturday, Vox Sacramento art studio is giving back to the community, as well as providing a unique art show called “Home.” The studio is asking locals to bring camping equipment, blankets and coats to the exhibit. Items will be used by Safe Ground Sacramento, a homeless advocacy organization supported by a coalition of local non-profits trying to provide a safe, dry and warm solution for local residents without homes. SafeGround supports a self-governed, alcohol, drug and violence free homeless community alternative. The exhibit features several local artists, including: B. Sh

I have been a whole blood donor for more than nine years altogether now. And have contributed to my first ten gallon donation only a few years ago. I am satisfied that News10 does cooperative advertising with the Blood Source, because rewardingly that is how I really got started. Today, I have been to over three Sacramento locations to donate to the city of Sacramento my B- blood type so there will be enough blood plasma for transplant recipients and people with blood disorders. The Blood Source teaches as well as they perform their pronounced job classifications. For example, their Intake Nurse, responsible for approving me a spinning tube; was separating the cells from the blood plasma w

Sacramento Ca- Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, Metro's Firefighter Association and UC Davis Children’s Hospital have partnered with Pillow Pets for Life Foundation, a non-profit organization whose aim is to bring comfort to hospitalized children. They have come together with the common goal of collecting at least 1000 donated pillow pets, an actual snugly pillow shaped like an animal character, to distribute to children undergoing medical treatment at UC Davis Children’s Hospital. Sacramento Metro Fire is partnering with the foundation which is using Sac Metro Fire facilities as drop off locations for the Pillow Pets. Once the goal of 1000 is met, Firefighters from the Sacramento Me

Sacramento, CA- The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District (SMFD) is promoting literacy this summer through its partnership with Reading Tree. The objective is to put books in the hands of local children to promote literacy, and to support recycling and reuse of unwanted books.  SMFD Fire Chief Henke encourages the community to drop off their gently used books at the Reading Tree book donation containers located at SMFD stations starting June 17, 2011. SMFD will be hosting the Reading Tree bins through November 18, 2011.  Reading Tree and SMFD have partnered on this book collection effort to develop in-classroom lending libraries in Reading Partner Sacramento schools in the Sacramento reg

California Family Fitness has partnered with Sport Chalet to participate in a shoe drive to benefit the tsunami victims in Japan. All shoes that are donated will be sent directly to Soles4Souls for distribution to the Japanese people. “We highly encourage everyone in the community to donate at least one pair of shoes,” said Randy Karr, President of California Family Fitness. “It is devastating to see how the tsunami and earthquake in Japan has affected so many, which is why we have partnered with Sport Chalet in Soles4Souls to lend a helping hand and make a difference.” To donate to this very worthy cause, people can drop off gently worn shoes at either Sport Chalet or a California Famil

If you have been following the news, or driving along any freeway in Sacramento the last few days, you have likely seen the hash tag #HereWeBuild. If you don't know what it is all about, refer to my article from a few days back for the details. For a grassroots movement that just started Tuesday, #HereWeBuild has raised more than $400,000 dollars. No money has been collected, but the committed individuals behind the movement are taking this Twitter campaign to the next level. In a statement released by idea man Carmichael Dave on the #HereWeBuild website, a team is being formed to take this groundswell of Twitter pledges to a viable donation campaign. "Version 2.0" as Dave calls. #HereWe

After a night full of deep sighs and deep sadness at the reality of the Sacramento Kings taking their game south, imagine my surprise when I logged-on to my Twitter account and saw post after post with the hash tag #HereWeBuild. What? It was obvious to me that this was Kings related, because this season has been "Here We" {insert hopeful verb here}, but Here We Build was a new one to me. So I followed the trail. I had no idea that a movement had started in this city last night. A serious movement. A movement independent of the government, of the politicians and a movement that was as heartfelt as anything that has happened since the beginning of this whole mess. The people of Sacramento a

Each day there are hundreds of individuals and families living without basic human needs, such as food and shelter right in our own Sacramento County. Using Sacramento Community Family Resources website statics which received over 97,000 page views since January 1st 2011 there were over: • 1,728 Unique page views from words such as “homeless shelters in Sacramento”. • 2,945 Unique page views from words such as “food closet locations in Sacramento”. The list can go on and on, but the most important thing to know is that each of these numbers is an individual or family that is in immediate need of food or shelter. The question is “do we really need research and statistics to tell us that t

In celebration of Black History Month, the Old City Cemetery Committee will be giving a free tour at 10 a.m. on Saturday detailing the fascinating history of African-Americans during the 1800s. Bob LaPerriere will be the main tour guide Saturday along with other members of the committee. “I was involved in starting the Old City Cemetery Committee,” LaPerriere said. “ Now I’m the tour coordinator for this particular tour”. LaPerriere has been giving tours for 25 years. Every year he conducts a tour at the old cemetery, which covers the extensive history of physicians and medicine from the 1800s. This tour celebrating Black History Month is not shown every year. It’s been at least eight

I live in the ‘burbs and I can get to feeling pretty isolated from my neighbors. Okay, I have that feeling a lot of the time. It’s mostly my own fault – I don’t always make the effort because I’m kinda shy and different… I don’t always know where to start. Give me the right setting and a reason to chat, well that definitely helps. I’ve discovered one such setting and no, it’s not a support group (though I could probably use one of those). It’s a new shop near El Camino and Fulton called Chic for Change. Teshala Paradiso, who everyone calls “Tesh,” is working to realize a vision that came to her during a year-long turn with a very serious illness. She described how on one particularly bad

When visiting the downtown/midtown area of Sacramento, be on the lookout for Sacramento’s favorite alien, the Brutha From Another Planet (B.F.A.P.). He can be spotted performing his unique dance moves to his favorite music on his space age music box which includes 70’s and 80’s funk, disco, and dance music from all eras. The B.F.A.P. was named by a group of admirers who first witnessed his funky dance moves. Meeting and greeting the B.F.A.P. is easy. He is very family friendly and is a great crowd pleaser. Youngsters of all ages are delighted and frightened by his robotic dance movements after seeing him frozen in place. Ruben of South Sacramento, age 10, described the B.F.A.P. as “Reall

It’s that charitable time of year again. During the holidays, many feel compelled to share with those around them. In the spirit of the holiday, The Sacramento Press set out to find people who do give back and where they do it. A few givers wished to remain anonymous. One man shared that his family adopts a couple of families for the holidays, buying gifts for them instead of each other. A woman said she donates to the local county animal shelter and the Best Friend Animal Society, a no-kill animal shelter. Another man said his family donates to an organization that provides animals to families in Africa. A couple said they donate to Sacramento Loaves & Fishes and the Salvation Army in do

Rarely will you be solicited for a used toilet paper roll, but perhaps you’ll hand one over for the sake of art. What else are you going to do with it? The third annual Crayons to Canvas Art Drive is accepting art supplies of all varieties this month as organizers work to supply the Stanford Home for Children’s new art therapy room. Begun in 2008 by the sibling duo of Sacramento artist Raphael Delgado and publicist Veronica Delgado, the drive provides resources for an art-based therapy approach for at-risk youth. Stanford Home Development and Marketing Manager Sarah Mentze said the art therapy room, which opened in June, works as a supplementary resource to therapy programs offered by S

Everything is Awesome, a solo exhibition of photographs by Keith Telfeyan, opens at Cuffs, 2523 J Street, Midtown Sacramento, on December 11, 2010 and will remain on view through January 7, 2011. Cuffs is open Mon-Sat 11am-7pm and Sun Noon-7pm. The public is invited to a reception with the artist on December 11, from 6pm-10pm, as part of Sacramento’s 2nd Saturday Art Walk. Enjoy holiday snacks and drinks and Christmas tunes dj-ed by Shaun Slaughter while taking in the show. Cuffs is also sponsoring a toy drive to provide holiday gifts for children in need. Anyone who donates a toy will be entered in a drawing for a $50 certificate to the shop. For his first solo show at Cuffs, Keith has

On Thanksgiving morning, a woman out walking came upon an emaciated, starving and freezing little dog. He was lying on a thin sheet curled up in the tightest ball under a tree. She took him home and bundled him up and gave him food. It soon became clear he needed emergency vet care. Mueller's Pet Medical Center initially thought he might have stomach cancer, but surgery revealed he had eaten a corn cob. Because he has been in starvation mode for so long, his recovery has been complicated. He weighed in at 22 pounds. He should weigh about 45 pounds. He has been receiving 24-hour care since Saturday, and his bills are about $1,200. He is a very sweet and loveable greyhound mix. The new own

Books - the basic building block in the foundation of learning - were missing from a new high school in Natomas, and it sounded like a job for the community-minded Sacramento Kings. As part of the 2010 NBA Cares Week of Service and to celebrate the five-year anniversary of NBA Cares, the Sacramento Kings landed the Kings Karavan bus along with several players on Saturday at Natomas Pacific Pathways Preparatory School (NP3) for a community book drive in an effort to fill those barren shelves in the school’s library. The slight drizzle turned to rain as the temperature dropped and the waterproof ponchos were handed out. That didn’t stop Darnell Jackson, Pooh Jeter, Jason Thompson and Dont

A couple of Sacramento Kings players visited a West Sacramento youth gathering site the other day, and while it wasn’t a typical day at the office for Francisco Garcia and Beno Udrih, it was, in some respects, much more rewarding. Garcia and Udrih were at the Collings West Sacramento Teen Center on Tuesday to announce a special gift to the kids at the center and youngsters like them across the area. Between the two of them, they have purchased 50 lower-level season tickets to give away to children considered at-risk in our community. For each of them, it was just another in a long line of gifts they’ve given the area that they hope will keep on giving. The setting was perfect for the gen