Make A Shoe Donation-Make a Difference

Lands’ End and Soles4Souls™ Invite Customers To Donate Shoes At Chicago-area Inlet Stores
Help Change The World – One Pair At A Time

Lands’ End and Soles4Souls™ have paired up to invite customers to donate new or gently used footwear for people in need – around the corner and around the world. It is estimated that Americans have 1.5 billion pairs of unused shoes lying in their closets. Anyone who donates a pair will receive a voucher good for 10 percent off the purchase of Lands’ End footwear at a Lands’ End Inlet location or the Lands’ End Warehouse Clearance event.

Make a Donation – Make a Difference
Lands’ End Inlet stores will collect footwear donations from August 1 – 30. Look for the Soles4Souls collection box at each participating location. From August 5 – 10, customers can also make a donation at the Lands’ End Warehouse Clearance event being held near the company’s headquarters at the Harris Park Ley Pavilion in Dodgeville, Wis.

“If you have shoes that you don’t wear anymore and they are just taking up space in your closet, please bring them in and donate them to this worthy cause,” said Marla Ryan, vice president, retail for Lands’ End. “As families continue to tighten their budgets, every measure counts – especially as kids are heading back to school. Many will be faced with the reality of needing new and dependable footwear that is suitable for fall and winter. Through the amazing work of Soles4Souls, with the help of Lands’ End hosting this footwear donation drive, more children and adults in communities across the United States will benefit.”

Lands’ End will accept all types of new or gently worn shoes including athletic, dress, snow boots and sandals for men, women and kids. Gently worn shoes should still be wearable, have solid soles with no holes, laces (if applicable) and be clean and free of mud. All sizes, from toddler to adult, will be accepted.

Recycling Soles to Change Lives
“We can use the shoes taking up space in your closet to change the world one pair at a time,” said Wayne Elsey, founder and CEO of Soles4Souls. “It’s one of the most simple, yet profound, gifts you can make, because it will greatly improve someone’s life in the most difficult of times.”

The idea behind Soles4Souls is a simple concept; collect shoes and give them away. In the aftermath of national and international disasters such as the Asian Tsunami and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Soles4Souls has provided more than five million pairs of shoes to people who desperately needed footwear.

All area Lands’ End Inlets are accepting donations through August 30:

Lands’ End Inlet
7205 W. Dempster
Niles, IL 60714
847-470-0320

Lands’ End Inlet
1522 E. Golf Rd
Schaumburg, IL 60173
847-413-0100

Lands’ End Inlet
20 Convenience Center
Corner of Butterfield & Highland
Lombard, IL 60148
630-953-8855

For more Lands’ End Inlet locations, visit www.landsend.com/shops.

About Lands’ End
Lands’ End® is one of the world’s largest retailers of clothing for the family. In addition, Lands’ End offers an innovative collection of fine quality goods for the home. Lands’ End merchandise can be purchased online at www.landsend.com, by calling 1-800-800-5800, and by visiting the Lands’ End shop at Sears. Lands’ End is a proud member of Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD). And, all high-quality Lands’ End merchandise is Guaranteed. Period.®

About Soles4Souls
Nashville-based Soles4Souls™ facilitates the donations of both new and used shoes, which are used to aid the hurting worldwide. Soles4Souls has distributed more than 5 million pairs (currently donating one pair every 13 seconds) to people in over 125 countries, including Honduras, Uganda, Romania, and the United States. The charity has been featured in Runner's World and the Green Guide by National Geographic. It has also appeared on CNN, NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS, BBC and hundreds of regional outlets around North America. Soles4Souls is a 501(c)(3) recognized by the IRS; donating parties are eligible for tax advantages. Visit www.giveshoes.org for more information.

Guest Post by Robyn O'Brien

This special blog post is from my dear friend, author and healthy food advocate, Robyn O'Brien. 

when finished reading this insightful article, please log on to www.Robynobrien.com to find out more about Robyn's amazing story and what she's doing to protect all of our children!

Enjoy, 

Beth

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As headlines swirl, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the nation's food safety laws have an eerie similarity to the federal approach to safe guarding our citizens from exposure to toxic chemicals and toxic financial assets.  If our federal aviation system were to adhere to the same loose, deregulated standards that we are now seeing in the chemical industry, the financial industry and the food industry, we'd be allowed to board airliners without first being checked for bombs, guns, knives, or any other objects designed to harm passengers and the crew.

That said, legislation will soon be introduced in the House and Senate that if it becomes law will protect every single American, including babies not yet born from a life of daily contamination to a host of toxic chemicals, some of which are extremely potent at even low doses.

New Jersey's senior Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D), a kind hearted senior Senator with ten grandchildren who I had the honor of meeting last month in Washington, DC,  and Chicago Congressman Bobby Rush (D) are poised to offer a landmark reform plan - The Kid-Safe Chemicals Act -  to fix the failed federal toxics law that instead of protecting humans and the environment from the dangers of chemical exposures, has in fact allowed an entire population of people to become polluted, beginning in the womb.

The Kids Safe Chemical Act addresses the fact that back in 1976, with the passage of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), legislation was approved that allowed over 60,000 chemicals in existence at that time to be deemed 'safe' for use without a single thorough test to prove that to be true. And in the three-plus decades since the law was passed, and additional 20,000 chemicals have been rushed into the marketplace with little or no safety tests.

Today, 1 in 3 American children has allergies, ADHD, autism or asthma, with the Centers and Disease Control recently reporting stunning increases in the number of children expected to be insulin dependent by the time they reach adulthood.  With 17.6% of our GDP being consumed by health costs, there is an urgent need to address the health of our children and the impact that this generation of children is having on our country, our families and our health care system. 

The Kid-Safe Chemicals Act, or Kid-Safe, would help protect the health of the American children by placing the burden of proof on the chemical industry, requiring manufacturers to first prove a chemical is actually safe before it's allowed into a consumer product. Currently, all of these chemicals are allowed into the marketplace until they are proven dangerous. 

As I highlighted in a recent presentation in Atlanta, the American Cancer Society reports that the United States has the highest rates of cancer of any country in the world and that migration studies show that if someone is to move here from a country like Japan, their likelihood of developing cancer increases fourfold, which chemicals should they test first? Why not start with those founding people, particularly babies.

Readers can learn more about the Kid-Safe legislation, its amazing efforts to improve the health of our children and even join in the discussion as scientists, researchers, lawmakers, policy analysts and journalists interested chemicals policy reform engage in an online back-in-forth at this new site hosted by my friend and heroes at the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

As has been repeatedly demonstrated over the last several months, our system has some pretty significant shortcomings so a strong grassroots contingent of committed individuals will be key in order to deliver legislation to President Obama.

The chemical industry's lobbyists, a group worthy of a John Grisham novel, as I highlight in my book The Unhealthy Truth have and will continue to spend millions to defeat any real reform efforts, and are gearing up for battle at the very moment.

As a matter of fact, The Washington Post recently revealed that the chemical industry lobbyists recently joined forces with the food and beverage industry at a secret meeting to develop a plot based on "fear tactics" to put the breaks on plans to mildly restrict the use of just a single chemical, BPA. At this point, they may be enlisting the help of one of the most infamous players in the lobbying game, a man who has earned the nickname of "Dr. Evil."  

But these industry funded folks may not realize what they are up against.  We are mothers, fathers, creators and nurturers. We are teachers, lawyers, accountants and writers. And our children's futures rest in our resiliently remarkable hands. We are soundly educated, compassionately connected and have been given the tools through this remarkable legislation to affect change.

As a mother of four, with a background in finance, I am profoundly grateful for the Kids Safe Chemical Act and invite you to learn more about this important legislation and to participate in affecting this extraordinary change for our children. 

The opportunity is tremendous. The adventure is ours for the taking.

If we each take action, together we can begin to restore the integrity that is now lacking in our system.  We can create a ripple of hope whose force is more powerful than any one of us could achieve individually, and Dr. Evil and his gang of lobbyists won't stand a chance!

 To learn more, I invite you to visit http://www.ewg.org ; www.ewg.org and www.robynobrien.com.

Cherries, Basil and More!

Summertime means fresh basil, cherries and more! With farmer’s markets brimming full of fresh fruits and vegetables, I thought it might be nice to focus on three of my favorites.

 

Cherries, so delicious right now, you could eat them by the bagful (just avoid the pits). Cherry season is short so hit your local farmer's market and try the fantastic selection of summer cherries available right now!

 

A growing body of science reveals tart cherries, enjoyed as either fresh, dried, frozen cherries or cherry juice, have among the highest levels of disease-fighting antioxidants, when compared to other fruits. They also contain other important nutrients such as beta carotene (19 times more than blueberries or strawberries) vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, iron, fiber and folate. 

Emerging evidence links cherries to many important health benefits – from helping to ease the pain of arthritis and gout, to reducing risk factors for heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers. Cherries also contain melatonin, which has been found to help regulate the body’s natural sleep patterns, aid with jet lag, prevent memory loss and delay the aging process. Cherries also contain an ibuprofen-like substance that works as an anti-inflammatory. This substance helps reduce arthritis pain. Besides helping promote sleep, cherries also have many anti-cancer properties, and a substance in cherry juice may help prevent tooth decay!

 

For a quick snack pack a small container full of fresh or dried cherries for a nutrient-rich sweet treat.

 

This month on my FHI Online magazine read Kath Ibbetson’s article, Basil, King of Italian Herbs, to find out some interesting information and cooking tips/recipe on this fragrant edible herb.

 

The herb that’s most popularly associated with Italian cuisine is basil (Basilico). There are several varieties, but you’re most likely to find sweet basil in the shops—it has large, aromatic leaves. Cooking with basil, especially if you grew it yourself, is wonderfully satisfying (continue reading). 

 

The benefits of certain healthy “skin” foods can be read in Cher Murphy’s article, Dining Tips for Healthy Skins. According to the CDC, there are around 25 million visits to dermatologist offices in the country. The largest organ of the body, skin weighs in between 6-9 pounds and covers two square yards. It plays an essential role in the body, providing everything from protection from viruses to sensing hot and cold, and even regulating our body temperature. Our skin is also the most noticeable thing on our bodies, and our diet can have an impact on whether it looks dull or glowing (continue reading).

 

Whether you’re going to the beach or heading to the office, be sure to pack your bag full of healthy fresh grown local fruits and vegetable this summer—your body will love you for it.

For more useful tips and ideas about healthy living visit my website, ForHerInformation.com