Close to 10,000 people gathered at the California Museum on Thursday for the first "Day at the Museum" to get a little bit of pampering and a lot of empowerment. The star-studded event was part of first lady Maria Shriver's annual The Women's Conference in honor of Women's History Month. The day included exhibits, presentations, speeches and tours of the museum. "Today is the most successful day [at the museum] in all of California's history," Shriver told the audience. The day began early with a meet-and-greet session in the museum's lobby with Shriver, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Speaker Emeritus Karen Bass, and other female legislators, mayors and district attorneys.

How donations are helping relief efforts:   Latest update from the American Red Cross Disaster Newsroom: * This is already the largest single-country personnel deployment in global Red Cross history. The number of emergency response teams in or en route to Haiti equals those that responded to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami – an emergency that spanned 14 countries. * It is clear that what took minutes to destroy will take many years and the collective support from governments and relief agencies across the world to help mend. The American Red Cross is working in close coordination with other responding organizations and will undoubtedly collaborate on joint, long-term recovery project

In response to the recent 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Haiti, the United States has reacted quickly to raise funds and send assistance. There are organizations across the country providing assistance and Sacramentans are also responding quickly to the devastated country's call for help. On Friday, Jan. 15 Sutter Health Systems announced that it will be donating $1.25 million to Haiti relief. The majority ($1 million) of the donation will go towards Doctors Without Borders and the rest will be used to fund medical supplies and fill cargo boxes with supplies. Another large company, has made it easy for customers to donate by setting up collection boxes at check stands throughout the company

About 60 community members gathered at the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services last night to make the holidays a little bit brighter for Oak Park's children.   The Oak Park Neighborhood Association has collected 300 toys for its Oak Park Toy Give-Away, which began Nov. 22 and will continue until Dec. 18. "Imagine knowing that you may not receive a gift...Kids everywhere look forward to the thrill of opening gifts and we want to make sure that kids in Oak Park get to experience the excitement," said board member Michael Boyd, "Even more importantly, we want them to know they live in a community that cares about them; a community that values them, and a community that will help them."

Please join The Sacramento Press on Saturday for a day of fun and helping the community.  Bring new or used sports equipment and gain free admission to The Carnival at St. Rose plus a chance to win tickets to the December 6 Kings game.      WHAT:  The Sacramento Press sponsors a drive to collect new or used sports equipment   WHO:  Proceeds benefit Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services (www.sfbs.org)   WHERE:  The Carnival at St. Rose, 7th and K Sts., Sacramento   WHEN:  10 a.m. – noon on Saturday, December 5   WHY:  Underprivileged children gain equipment to play athletics   HOW:  Donation of new or used sports equipment gains free admission to the carnival   MORE:  Dona

 Below is the second series of photographs taken by David Roberts during his bike rides around Sacramento    

 Below are images from photographer David Roberts, taken during his bike rides around Sacramento.                     Check back for more from his series of photographs

The Sacramento Press at Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services' 2009 Run to Feed the Hungry  we and had the pleasure of meeting thousands of run participants that morning. Whether it was to support SFBFS, get exercise, spend time with loved ones, or a combination of all of those reasons, here are some of them.  We asked visitors that stopped by our booth to let us know, why did you Run to Feed the Hungry? Nikki Carlson, Sacramento "We participated as a way to feel like we gave something back to those who go without during the holidays in our community. It's a small gesture, but it ends up making a big difference! And It made us feel great the whole day!" Darcy Smith, Sacramento "To run

  Continued from Part 1  As participants near the finish, bystanders cheer them on and hold signs of support and thanks Kevin Johnson hangs out on the sidelines as participants complete the race 5K runners and walkers finish the final stretch of Run to Feed the Hungry Supportive onlookers wait for runners to cross the finish line, taken by George Raya  Participants pour Into the end zone of RTFTH, taken by Laura Smith   View from above the sidelines as racers finish, taken by George Raya   10K run participants, taken by Michael Fitzgerald Voyage Home Loans Team Goodness at the Finish Line (left to right): Bus. Dev. Manager Ryan Lucia, Dir. of Customer

Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services welcomed around 29,000 participants in their sixteenth annual Run to Feed the Hungry on Thanksgiving Day.  Here are a collection of photos taken by The Sacramento Press along with participants' photos from the run submitted to us.   As the sun comes up Thanksgiving morning, trucks set up the time marks along the race route on the CSU, Sacramento campus SFBFS volunteers prepare the after-party area to re-fuel runners and walkers   Corporate teams/sponsors gather in the crowded VIP tent to have group photos taken Corporate teams have their team photos taken  Teams fuel up with doughnuts, bananas, coffee, and energy bars provided by

With 6,592 turkeys collected, the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services 2009 second-annual Turkey Drive will make Thanksgiving for many Sacramento families' a bit brighter. Despite heavy rain and winds, volunteers collected turkeys and directed the lines of cars that pulled up to the food bank Friday. As the rain fell continuously, donors stayed dry in the drive-through drop-off while volunteers retrieved turkeys. "I knew I had to donate this year because there are so many people out of work and struggling just to pay their bills," said Roseville resident Karrin Segur. "Everyone deserves to celebrate Thanksgiving with their families, and shouldn’t have to worry about feeding their fami

Run to Feed the Hungry 2009 Race Zones/Areas   How Do I Exit My Neighborhood During Our Race? We encourage you to avoid driving in your neighborhood between 8:40 am – 10:20 am. If you must drive, please allow us to provide you with the following instructions so that you may safely and efficiently leave your neighborhood. Area 1 – Use “D” Street and head to the corner of 39th St & McKinley Blvd. A police officer will guide you across McKinley Blvd. to “C” Street once there is a gap in runners. Take a left turn, only, once you reach “C” Street. (Note: runners will arrive at the corner of 39th & McKinley Blvd. at approximately 9:05am). Area 2 – Take “H” St. to 36th Street. Go right –

Most people probably wouldn't just give away a $25,000 ring without thinking twice about it. But Andrea Stirling and AJ Elftmann did. In June, Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services (SFBFS) hosted a text message scavenger hunt, "The Race for the Rock," which led 1,000 Sacramentans around the city following a series of clues leading to the ring. The race raised more than $4000 for the food bank. The "Hearts on Fire" ring, donated by Rogers Jewelers, was eventually found by long-time Sacramento residents and couple, Stirling and Elftmann. The timing of their win was made even more special since they were still celebrating Elftmann's two-year remission from Hodgkins Lymphoma just a couple m

Get ready Second Saturday, there’s a new gallery in town. Bridge to Art, KLSC Studio and AIM HIGHER are coming together on Second Saturday to celebrate the grand opening of a 10,000-square-foot collaborative gallery, the “U20 Artist Studio Club”. “With this particular location at U and 20 streets, you can truly have it all: great artworks in huge spaces, free parking, very good restaurants, easy freeway access and no mobbed congestion feeling. We call it a breathable fine art experience,” said Kevin Santos-Coy of KLSC Studio. The daylong celebration will feature live music, art from children's group "KidzArt" and more than 200 original landscape, abstract, figurative and architecture pa

Sacramentans were given a taste of glamor and high fashion rarely seen in our city on Friday night. The 2009 Capital Fashion Awards were held at The Park Ultra Lounge, where the nightclub was transformed into a runway showing off fall collections for Sacramento's top designers. "There are so many other events for different genres but not any for fashion ... so we decided to do something different," said Richard Hallmarq, a local designer who coordinated the event along with six others from the local beauty and fashion industries. The group got together and chose 13 judges that work in the local fashion, beauty and media industries. The judges were given paper ballots with each category

Joanne Neft is on a mission to change the poor eating habits common in many households today. "We're eating really inappropriately," she explained to dinner guests at her home this past week. She pinpoints Americans' "inappropriate" eating habits to the cause of many problems. "We eat subsidized food because it's cheap, forgetting the huge price we pay for the resulting obesity, diabetes, cancer, and coronary problems. Americans pay a high price for cheap food." She is currently self-employed and owns a couple of commercial properties but these days she is putting most of her energy and passion into a crusade against poor eating habits found in the form of a cookbook. Neft and her clos

As part of Air Force Week, the California Capital Air Show invaded Mather Airport over the weekend for two days of power and patriotism. "It is an exclusive honor to be selected to host Air Force Week and we are one of the only civilian airshows in the country to do so with our partners Travis Air Force Base and Beale," said Abby Lacheur, the "air-tern" (intern) to California Capital Air Show executive director. When the air show first began five years ago, it consisted of only static displays of aircraft. Throughout the past few years, organizers added actual air demonstrations and it has since grown to the massive event it is today. The audience of around 100,000 people per day was t

Members of the Regional Food System Collaborative (RFC) turned their attention again Thursday morning to improving the region's food system. The gathering, hosted by Valley Vision, couldn't have been held at a more fitting location. While colleagues gathered inside the Sacramento Food Bank, the hungry lined up outside to receive bags of free food. Attendees came from local organizations that have a stake in our food system and share common goals: improving our eating habits and the way the local food system functions. The discussion was facilitated by Valley Vision's Bill Mueller and the group of more than 50 broke into three subgroups to put their plans for change into action. The coll

To call them simply “firefighters” is an understatement. The men of Station 6 of the Sacramento Fire Department in Oak Park do more than put out fires. Out of more than 20 stations within the Sacramento Fire Department, the station is the busiest. Year after year, the station has also been ranked as one of the busiest in the nation. During their time at the house, firefighters are on-call to respond to a wide range of calls. Many are legitimate life-threatening emergencies, but a number of them don’t necessarily warrant a 9-1-1 response. A faked seizure, a man unconscious in the bushes covered with ants and foaming at the mouth, a woman who claimed she had been assaulted by six men and a

Krazy Mary's Boutique is bringing fashion and philanthropy together this weekend. This Saturday, Aug. 1, from 3 until 8 p.m. the ladies of the trendy boutique and its sister store Sugar Shack will be hosting an awareness and pre-sale event to help bring attention to the popular eco-friendly shoe line's charitable efforts. Started in 2006, the TOMS footwear line began when founder Blake Mycoskie visited Argentina and was struck by the amount of people who didn't have something that many people take for granted: shoes. He decided to redesign the "alpargatas," the flat moccasin-like shoes typically worn by locals, and started his "One for One" program that donates one pair of shoes to a chi