If you are woman resident of Virginia between the ages of 50 and 64 and are uninsured or underinsured and meet certain income qualifications, you may qualify to receive a free MAMMOGRAM & PAP SMEAR TEST. Got to www.vahealth.org/breastcancer or call 1/866-395-4968.
Stock photo from: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net
Click to donate to animals and others. The Animal Rescue site also has partners that you can access to click to donate free food to hungry people, for child health issues, breast cancer, the rain forests and for literacy.
These clicks are free to you & take only seconds of your time.
Spread the word: the more people that click everyday, the more donations.
The sites also have shops that give most of the proceeds of sales to their respective causes.
Play FREE RICE and expand your vocabulary while giving free rice to needy, hungry people! It's fun, free to you and educational!
Now more than ever, the FOOD BANK needs your donations of non-perishable foods, (watch those expiration dates and no glass containers, please!) toiletries, baby supplies, pet food,etc.
Because of the economic downturn and many job losses, recently the FOOD BANK has seen a rise in need of 20%-40%.
Please give as much as you can either directly to the FOOD BANK or through the many drives sponsored by workplaces, houses of worship. community groups, scouting troops, postal service, grocery stores and supermarkets, etc.
If you have enough food, you are blessed ! Please pass on that blessing to others in need!
With many people losing jobs & falling behind on mortgages, rental housing is now an important option for many more people in Virginia.
Go to http://www.virginiahousingsearch.com/ to search for affordable housing in Virginia.
The site has a calculator and chart to held you determine how much you can afford to spend on rent.
Tomorrow I am going to go to the Williamsburg/Yorktown area. While in Williamsburg, I am going to check out the Williamsburg Farmer's Market .
Like many such markets, it is seasonal and held on Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. to 12 noon.
I heard about this market on Travelscope, a wonderful, friendly little travel program featuring traveler Joseph Rosendo. It's on PBS, (non-cable Channel 57 or 23-2) .
For cooling assistance for senior citizens call 804-343-3005.
Leave your name, phone number and a good time to call and someone will get back to you ASAP.
I heard about this on WWBT-TV.
Market Umbrella is an organization dedicated to bringing European style markets featuring fresh local food and wares from artisans to Richmond.
Their current markets are:
Market Emporium @ Bryan Park
Lakeside Ave and I-95, exit 80
TUESDAY'S from 3 - 7 pm
May - December
South of the James Market @ Forest Hill Park
Forest Hill Ave & 42nd Street
SATURDAY'S from 8 am - 1 pm
May - December
Market Umbrella 1st Fridays @ Quirk Gallery
311 W. Broad Street
1st FRIDAY of each month from 6 - 10 pm
Year Round
A bus, driven by Mark Lilly, is bringing fresh produce to lower income areas of Richmond, areas not traditionally served by farmer's markets and vendors of fresh and healthy produce.
Read the article in Style Weekly:
http://tinyurl.com/lwob2r
HP(of computer and printer fame) offers some great free classes and learning tools at:
www.hp.com/go/learningcenter
HP offers a wide variety of computer and IT classes, as well as basic business and home office education. The classes are free, totally online and lead by working professionals. You can ask questions of the instructors and chat with your 'classmates' on the discussion boards.
After succesful completion of your class, you can print out a certificate for that class.
You won't get college credit (unless your college accepts these as life long learning credit. You could ask!) but you will get excellent information and training for free.
I've taken several of these courses and I learned some skills and information at HP that weren't included in the advanced IT courses I took at my community college!
Many of you may be filling out forms these days for various reasons; job applications, college applications, loan and financial aide applications, insurance forms,etc.
I work with forms everyday and we send back forms that have not been filled out completely and according to the instructions on the forms. We have to send back as many as 100 incorrectly or inadequately filled forms a day and many people are waiting for our forms as a part of a job application process!
So a word of advice;
FILL OUT THOSE FORMS COMPLETELY AND CORRECTLY!
If an area is not applicable to you, write N/A. If information is unknown to you or you don't remember, indicate UNK (unknown).
If you need to get your signature notarized, do so and make you you bring proper I.D. to the notary public and that the notary's term is still current and that they have a notary number and seal.
If you are under 18, get your parent or guardian's notarized co-signature.
Respect any date deadlines.
If payment is required, pay only in the manner requested. Money orders are almost always acceptable.
Don't fill out or sign any area that is not yours to sign. For some reason, many people sign and date the area that is indicated for the office staff only!
How would you feel if the ONLY reason you lost out on a job opportunity or a loan was an incorrectly filled form?
Follow the above guidelines and save yourself time, money and a lot of grief.
Microsoft is teaming with Workforce Alliances and Community Colleges to offer free courses toward various Microsoft Certifications. Some are more basic or user-oriented such a Windows or Office but others are I.T. professional courses.
These courses are offered to help the growing ranks unemployed and the under-employed prepare for today's workforce.
West End Produce, which sells vegetables, fruits, flowers and plants as well as some breads and jams,etc., has found a new location! YEAH!!!
I was so dismayed when they closed the old location and hadn't heard if they had found a new location. Today we drove as we drove up Patterson Avenue heading towards Route 288, I noticed the new stand as we drove by.
The new location is still on Patterson Avenue (Route 6) but is about a mile or more further west on Patterson Avenue than the old stand, which was at Patterson and Gaskins . The new stand is on the south side of Patterson Avenue.
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/insurance/dealing-without-health-insurance-1.aspx
Bankrate's article gives advice on coping if you have no health insurance or have recently lost your insurance. You can also use the site to compare insurance plans and costs.
It has some ideas for the 47+ MILLION WORKING AMERICANS (shameful! just shameful!) who are un or underinsured. (Even with ACA.)
The state of medical insurance or lack thereof is the shame of America! We are the land of the free, the home of the brave and a country in which it seems many government & private concerns don't care if we live or die!
America is the only major 1st world, industrialized country that does not provide some sort of medical care and social safety net for ALL its citizens.
In America, you have to be rag-tag poor (esp. here in Virginia) to get help & then many people look down on you & think you are a lazy bum.
How can we purport to be a GREAT country if we treat a good portion of our citizens like beggars & instead, we reward greed?
America, our country is now reaping what we have sown in so many ways & unfortunately, the many are paying for the gross abuses of the few.
http://www.gcflearnfree.org/
FREE ONLINE CLASSES FEATURING ACCREDITED INSTRUCTORS & CONTINUED LEARNING CREDITS & CERTIFICATES FROM GOODWILL.
The classes & skill levels are basic/beginner but I am sure many people could benefit from these classes. I could use the EXCEL classes myself.
The site even has some very basic Photoshop lessons!
Years ago there used to be lots of rooming houses and shared housing. I used to manage a rooming house in the Fan. This form of housing was extremely commonplace during the Great Depression and is still commonplace among new immigrants to the U.S.Nowadays, however,it seems everybody and their blasted American brother feels they must own a McMansion for with enough space for three families, even though only a small family may actually reside in the place. A big part of the housing crisis stems from people buying over-priced McMansions and assuming more mortage than they could actually afford. With the housing and mortage crisis and ever rising rents and utility costs and with the call for more sustainable living, perhaps it's time we revisited the concept of shared housing. Shared housing has kept some people from foreclosure, others from homelessness. Here's a link to a national effort for shared housing.If you have a house with some extra rooms and need some more money or you are looking for a place to live, this might be a solution for you!http://www.nationalsharedhousing.org/
