The ROARsome Ramblings of Emmett Cullen: Issue 3

Christmas is more than a time to give and recieve gifts. It’s a time for family and friends, a time to give thanks and be merry. Often we get caught up in the commercial aspect of it and forget about those less fortunate. I decided to scout out a list of charities that you can help with this time of year. You never know, giving just might make you feel better than any gift you could receive.

Christmas Charity-#1
Make-A-Wish Foundation
The Make-A-Wish Foundation helps grant wishes for children with life-threatening health conditions. By donating to this charity for Christmas, you can help make a wish come true for a child that may not have another Christmas. Knowing that you helped put a smile on the face of a child that is battling a life-threatening condition is a great feeling.
www.wish.org

Christmas Charity-#2
The Salvation Army's Angel Tree
The Angel Tree program is a charity that provides new clothes, toys, and other gifts for needy children for Christmas. Paper angels are attached to Christmas trees that are located in malls, stores, and other locations. The paper angel contains the first name, age, and gender of the child. You can choose one or more of the angels from the tree and purchase age appropriate gifts and clothes for the child. Return the purchased gifts back to where you adopted the angel and the parents of the child will pick up the items to give to them on Christmas day.
www.salvationarmyusa.org

Christmas Charity-#3
Toys for Tots
The U.S. Marine Corps Reserves holds their Toys for Tots campaign each year during the months of October, November, and December. Unwrapped toys are collected to be given to needy children at Christmas. The gifts are distributed in the communities where they are collected.
http://www.toysfortots.org/

Christmas Charity-#5
Local Food Banks
Local food banks donate food baskets to families so that they can have Christmas dinner. Most food banks accept food and monetary donations. If you don't have much money but still want to help, consider donating your time to help the food bank put all the boxes together and deliver them.

Christmas Charity-#6
Local Schools
Many local schools try to provide food or gifts for needy students and their families. Contact the school system and ask if they are taking donations or if you can donate gifts or food.

Christmas Charity-#7
Homeless Shelters
Volunteer your time to help cook Christmas dinner at your local homeless shelter. This is a great charity that you can get the entire family involved in. Start a Christmas tradition where the family spends a couple of hours every Christmas volunteering their time to make the holidays better for others.

Christmas Charity-#8
Local Nursing Homes
Sponsor an elderly person this Christmas. Some people in nursing homes don't have family that visits during the holidays. Get in touch with the nursing home and see if they can give you some information on a patient that doesn't have family. Find out what the person likes or needs at take it to them this Christmas. A small gift and a few minutes of company can make the day of some of these patients.

No matter what charity that you decide to donate to this Christmas, you will feel wonderful knowing that you helped brighten this Christmas for someone else.
Merry Christmas from Cullensonline!

The ROARsome Ramblings of Emmett Cullen: Issue 2

Emmett is concerned!

I was on a last minute hunt the other day when I stumbled upon a herd of deer. Okok, I know you don’t want to hear this but I am getting to my point. After my snack, I had a weird taste in my mouth and thought to myself how the deer’s blood didn’t taste as good as it usually did. My brain went into high gear and came to the conclusion that it had to be the environment the deer were in.(yes I know what your thinking and I do have a functioning brain).

To make a long story short, our earth is very precious to us. We should take care of our environment seeing as we need it to live in it. Not helping in the aid of protecting in it results in things such as bad air quality and bad living environments.(yes that means it can hurt us physically, such as the deer)

Are you thinking that just because you're one person that you can't make much of an impact? Well your wrong. If tons of people just change one way in their lifestyle then it can make a huge difference. Below I have a couple of tips as to how you can help the environment. The great thing about these tips is that in most cases you really won’t have to change your lifestyle radically to have an impact on the environment.

Turn off lights and televisions when not using them. Less energy being used helps out big time plus it will cut down the energy bill which will make your parents or yourself much happier.

Carpool or walk to closer areas.-Big help in cutting back on gas use(which yet again saves money)and less exhaust fumes.

For more advice and tips on how to help the environment here are a couple of websites to visit

http://www.practicalenvironmentalist.com/21-practical-ways-to-help-the-environment

http://www.50waystohelp.com/

Random fact of the week-Karoke means "empty orchestra" in Japanese