For our troops

I didn’t publish an entry yesterday as I was having a great day with my daughter and then a fun family evening, but I published two on Friday and I’ll try two today, so … I’m still going to surpass 31 entries in 31 days.

This entry is completely in the spirit of the theme of the month:  Mitzvah and our chosen definition of it as “Giving.”

There is not a more pertinent, *real*, living example of  “giving” than the American Soldier (Sailor, Pilot, Marine … you all are included!!).

Being so far from home and loved ones must be hard all year round, but especially during the holidays!

Please remember to think of our soldiers who are giving up Christmas with their families in order to make sure that we can all continue to celebrate Christmas/Hanukkah/etc. as we see fit.

Here are a list of websites where you can send care packages and the like to soldiers overseas, if anyone is interested in doing so:

• www.aafes.com offers options to send calling cards or gift cards to deployed soldiers that they can use at any px anywhere in the world
• www.ourmilitary.mil offers a way to send care packages
• www.adoptaussoldier.org as can Soldiers’ Angels can give you a name and address and you can adopt your very own soldier.
• If you prefer to chose a particular branch of the armed services:
• Air Force
• Army
• Navy and Marine Corps
• Coast Guard
• You can even volunteer to help out a deployed soldier’s family through Operation Homefront Wisconsin’s Chapter is HERE or the USO, or volunteer for the VA or the USO.
• Plus, there is the American Red Cross that does so much too!!

Our all volunteer services answer the call and especially at this time of  year, giving back to them can’t be stressed enough!

What’s your number?

No, this isn’t a new generation “hey, baby, what’s your sign?”  Rather, many employers have wellness programs and hire firms to conduct HRA’s (health risk assessments) for their employees and, often, the spouses of employees on their health plan.  Cholesterol numbers, ratios, BMI’s etc. those are the numbers reported from HRA’s.

My husband’s company (where we have our health insurance) started them last year for employees and added them for spouses this year.  So, this morning, I headed off for my appointment (after fasting for 12 hours – *gasp* no coffee until after my appointment).  Other than the weigh-in (YUCK) and my blood draw, it was relatively painless.  As I helped craft a comprehensive worksite wellness program about 5 years ago, I absolutely believe in wellness.  I don’t practice everything I’ve learned and know, but, I try!

Wellness programs can make a dramatic difference in a population, not just in health insurance costs (think long term here CFO’s, not this year or next year) as well as improving productivity, presenteeism or absenteeism as well as  worker satisfaction and commitment to an employer.  The current situation notwithstanding, a workforce shortage still looms.  76 million people are baby boomers and while, for many, retirement has been delayed; their physiological clock still demands that they will retire, and probably sooner rather than later.  Employers will still have to deal with that loss of knowledge, ability and sheer manpower numbers.  It only makes sense to treat your employees well, so that they will think fondly of you – and with loyalty – with this tide turns.  Wellness programs are one way of doing that.

They are not without cost however.   A few weeks ago, I blogged about one organization, the United States Wellness Chamber of Commerce, which received a grant earlier this year to assist employers in having a healthier workforce WITHOUT ANY EMPLOYER INVESTMENT. Some of these funds remain and they are urgently looking for employers interested in participating in the grant before the funding expires and the deadline has been extended to 12/31/09.

In July, they were awarded grant funding allowing them to assist employers in having a healthier workforce. Specifically, it provides for a continuum of programming designed to identify and mitigate behavioral and lifestyle risk factors resulting in reduced claims/health insurance costs, increased productivity, and decreased absenteeism.

December is an ideal time to launch or expand an initiative to improve the health of your workforce and to illustrate your commitment to their well-being.

To determine if you qualify for participation in the Healthy People 2010 Grant, you can learn more by any of the following:

• View an on-demand, recorded webinar accessible through their website (www.uswellnesschamber.org)
• Register for an upcoming live webinar from their website (offered weekly)
• Contact them directly at (800) 429-4556 or expiring_grant@uswellnesschamber.org

Call, email, contact – it may be a GREAT thing for your company and your workers.

Today’s giving

This fall, I joined Service League of  Green Bay, a group dedicated to improving the lives of women and children in Brown County; a cause near and dear to my heart.  Today was our “Holiday Social”  to spend some time sharing holiday cheer and joy with those who have supported Service League over this last year.  I made Seven Layer Bars last night and took them to the function today.   You may consider this to be a stretch of the “give of yourself everyday” since I’m a member of the group, but … I knew I wasn’t staying for the joy and cheer and I didn’t have a single bar!

I think it counts!!

How about you?  Did you perform an act of giving or human kindness today?  I’d love to hear about it.

New month, new badge, AND a theme!

FIRST:

Yes, I’m a total geek.  I love Sci fi, technology AND politics.  I’d be embarrassed if I was my teenager (although isn’t embarrassing my teenagers my payback for all those sleepless nights, the terrible two’s and that whole year of THIRTEEN?).    And, more than being a geek – I did it!  Not only did I post 30 posts in 30 days, I posted 32! So, I’m trying it again for December, 31 posts in 31 days.

Which brings me to the new badge!  (look to your left)  Right now you are thinking “what does that have to do with anything?”  Well, funny story behind that badge.  Nearly two years ago at another Social Media/Networking site, one of my friends post a “meme” (pronounced me-me, in other words, they are some fun quirky assignment with a chain letter feel) having an assignment like a scavenger hunt to create the “album cover” for our very own rock bands.  (Go here, find that and it is your “band name”; then go there, find this other thing and it is “album name”;   to go to another place, find this other thing and it is “your album background picture”.    You are probably STILL wondering why I chose it.

Here’s why:

• Alcibiades Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in early October at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky. A Grade I race, it is open to two-year-old fillies willing to race one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt.   – I’m a filly and I’ve been at the De Pere Area Chamber 2 years now.  And the rest?     *handwave*
• The background makes me think of this time of year and it makes me feel tranquil
• And the name, “not to give it” brings me to this month’s blog theme, which is “mitzvah”

Mitzvah, according to dictionary.com is:

1.  any of the collection of 613 commandments or precepts in the Bible and additional ones of rabbinic origin that relate chiefly to the religious and moral conduct of Jews.
2. any good or praiseworthy deed

And, the term mitzvah has also come to express an act of human kindness.  This month’s challenge is to give something everyday.  Not necessarily a “thing” or even with a monetary connotation, but more importantly, to give of self.

*That* is where my “album name” comes in.  “not to give it” is a foreign concept to me, I really try to give, to pay it forward, to help.  But, I don’t consciously think about giving every-single-day.  That is what December is about.  So, for December, not only will I post everyday, I will include a report of my giving for that day and a challenge to have all readers give each day – and to share with me what that giving is so I can pump you up!  (though I know that isn’t why we give, it still feels good to give and get encouragement).

So, today’s giving from me, I’ve long volunteered for Junior Achievement in 3 levels of the school program, the elementary program, I’ve taught 2 sessions of the “Economics of Staying in School” to 8th graders and for 6 school years now, I’ve taught Economics one day a week at Bay Port High School; which I really enjoy.  But, today, I gave 2 hours at St Norbert College to 2 classes in “Principles of Management” trying to relate some insight on how the economy is impacting business in general, our local economy in specific and what the Chamber is doing with regard to these challenges.   The students seemed to enjoy it and I had a GREAT TIME.  I definitely enjoyed it and it was a very pleasurable 2 hours.  I almost feel like it shouldn’t count as “giving,” but, hey – I don’t make the rules!

And, today’s news tidbit:  Stimulus stimulating science

A massive U.S. effort focused on energy is creating employment opportunities for the knowledge workers who have lost jobs in this economic recession (see “GDP Shell Game” in this issue).

Budgets for the nation’s 17 federally–funded research facilities will increase 18% in fiscal 2009 to support more aggressive research on new sources of electricity, fuel–efficient cars and climate change. On top of the budget increases, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science will also receive $1.6 billion in stimulus funds, most of which will be earmarked for work conducted at the research facilities and participating universities. The boost in funding is significant and follows a period where funding remained flat. It is being described by The Wall Street Journal as rivaling the Manhattan Project, a “once–in–a–generation shift in U.S. science.”

The funds will create opportunities for scientists, engineers and researchers –– as many as 1,400 research jobs at 10 laboratories across the nation and another 1,400 jobs at universities conducting energy–related research. For example, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge TN plans to increase its staff by 25% over the next 18 months, which represents 800 new positions.

The increased funding represents the third growth cycle in the relatively short history of the nation’s network of national laboratories. The facilities were originally established during World War II to conduct research on nuclear weapons and energy. The second growth spurt occurred following the oil embargo in the early 1970’s when the Carter administration increased funding to find alternative energy sources. Between growth spurts, the federal laboratories have been at times neglected; funding was severely cut during the Reagan administration; a 1995 task force even concluded that the labs should be “de–federalized.”

Yet, government–funded labs have generated notable successes including basic research that led to the human genome project in 2000.

For now, the growth in energy–related funding is sparking renewed energy in labs across the nation.

Why, you may ask, do we care in Northeastern Wisconsin about labs doing study in alternative energy?  Well, not only is it the way of the future, but the Fox Valley is a “wind sector” and research into alternative energy forms will hopefully lead the way to enhance that sector and thereby enhance the economic climate of our area!