One Man Braves Through His Toughest Challenge, Inspired

San Francisco, CA (Vocus/PRWEB) April 05, 2011

To run a race or get to the finish line of a triathlon is a struggle between body and mind but 33-year old Filipino-American, JR Calanoc is clear on his motivation: to swim, bike and run a total of 140.6 miles within 17 hours for the children of Bantay Bata. The race is set to take place in Penticton, British Columbia on August 28th, 2011.

The Subaru Ironman triathlon is known for its grueling length and harsh race conditions. A few years ago, I went through some life-changing events and started racing to feel that I could accomplish anything I put my mind to, said Calanoc. For many poor children in the Philippines, their life stories are a contiguity of struggle and disappointment. I realized that if I could be a conduit to giving them a chance to change their lives for the better, it was a challenge I wanted to take on.

In 1996, Calanoc began a 4-year acting stint in the Philippines as JR Herrera, debuting with ABS-CBNs Star Circle as one of its teen actors. Some of his films included Batang PX, FLAMES the Movie and Tunay na Tunay, working with celebrities like Jolina Magdangal, Robin Padilla and Piolo Pascual. In 2000, he decided to return to the US to further his education and earned his economics degree at the University of San Francisco. Calanoc is president of Activentures, a dive tour company which takes divers from the US around the Philippine islands.

Working with Bantay Bata was an easy choice to make. Their many years of direct service and integrity gave me confidence that they would do the real work that could make significant change, said Calanoc. To make the country better, theres no better place to start than with the kids.

Were so happy that hes doing this for the kids of Bantay Bata, shares J. Robbie Fabian, President of the ABS CBN Foundation International. It is encouraging to find that so many Filipino-Americans choose to look back and give to the many children of the Philippines. In this day and age, no child should have to die of hunger anymore. JR is committed to being part of the eradication of malnourishment in the Philippines. We hope many young Fil-Ams follow suit.

A $ 1,000 donation to the program feeds 200 malnourished children for a six-month period and brings them back to regulated norms of health, according to UNICEF standards.

Contribute $ 5 or $ 10 to my race and run with me to the finish line, encourages Calanoc, as he prepares mind and body for his lifes toughest challenge yet. To donate online or for more information, visit http://www.seejrrun.com.

About ABS CBN Foundation International:

ABS CBN Foundation International is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of disadvantaged Filipino children and their families in the Philippines and around the world. Its flagship program, Bantay Bata (Child Watch), is a child abuse rescue operation that responds to an average of 15,300 calls for assistance a year. The program assists more than 21,000 children and families in relocation communities and feeds at least 4,400 severely malnourished children a year. Its education program serves 4.2 million elementary school children and their teachers.

In the United States, the organization partners with Filipino-American organizations and associations in addressing community issues--youth truancy, housing, issues affecting the elderly, health, and emergency needs. For more programs and information, visit http://www.abscbnfoundation.org.

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Chronicle Books and Minted Announce the Winners of their Joint Stationery Design Challenge

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) July 08, 2011

Minted (http://www.minted.com), the online store powered by a global design community, and independent book publisher Chronicle Books have announced the winners of The Chronicle Books-Minted Design Challenge. Designers from around the world were invited to submit custom stationery designs to Minted in a unique color scheme that Chronicle Books chose. This marks the first time that Minted has acted as an agent for sourcing content for another retailer.

Chronicle Books Executive Editor Christina Amini and her colleagues chose four designs from the 657 submissions, which will be printed as ready-made stationery and distributed in notecard portfolios by Chronicle Books, and as personalized stationery on Minted. The four designs will be offered in one Best of Minted notecards portfolio, complete with envelopes and the name of the designer featured on the back of each individual card, and will be sold on Chronicles website at http://www.chroniclebooks.com, in Chronicle Book stores, and in boutiques and bookstores around the world.

In addition to Chronicles picks, the Minted community voted to determine the top twenty submitted designs to be sold as custom stationery on Minted. In total, over 100 new designs were selected for sale on Minted. In addition to ongoing commissions on the sales of their work from both Minted and Chronicle Books, $ 10,000 in cash prizes was awarded.

The Pantone colors selected by Chronicle Books inspired our design community to produce the most beautiful and innovative personal stationery designs ever, says Minted CEO & Founder Mariam Naficy. Were thrilled with this first-ever partnership where we have produced design content for another retailer.

This is the first time Chronicle has sourced stationery design through a design competition and we could not have been more pleased with the result, says Christina Amini, Executive Editor, Chronicle Books. Our only difficulty was struggling to pick just four designs! The Minted design community is beyond talented and were thankful to have a role in sharing that talent with the world.

Chronicle's Selections:

Spring in Bloom, by Kelly Maron Horvath

Pretty Poppies, by Paper Dahlia

Ballooning, by Momo

Crosshatch Confetti, by Annie Clark

The four winning designers commented on the inspiration behind their designs:

Kelly Maron Horvath: When I read that the Chronicle Books team was looking for over-the-top-pretty-designs, I knew I wanted to do something with flowers. I know that seems obvious but wanted to make them these modern, graphic flowers instead. Their color palette also really helped to amplify this idea of a bright, spring-time feel with a modern twist.

Paper Dahlia: Pretty Poppies is inspired by wood block and etching printmaking techniques. The heaviness of the poppies is balanced by the delicate detail of the herringbone background pattern.

Momo: Die cuts, blogs and Esquire magazine were my main sources of inspiration. Die cuts help me decide on shapes and color relationships. Blogs allow me to see all the amazing work thats already out there. Esquire magazine is full of great design elements and inspired me to use texture in my design. I wanted to create something that would make people smile. Ive never been in a hot air balloon, but they have such a recognizable shape and look like fun!

Annie Clark: Crosshatch Confetti is the design that I would want to purchase Im slightly obsessed with confetti right now and have always loved polka dots. I played with the crosshatch texture and made the circles slightly irregular in shape to make it more than just your everyday polka dot pattern.

About Chronicle Books:

One of the most admired and respected publishing companies in the United States, Chronicle Books was founded in 1966 and, over the years, has developed a reputation for award-winning, innovative books and quality merchandise. The company continues to challenge conventional publishing wisdom, setting trends in both subject matter and format, maintaining a list that includes titles in fine art, cookbooks, childrens books, music and popular culture. To visit Chronicle Books online, go to chroniclebooks.com.

About Minteds Design Challenges:

Minted's mission is to allow consumers to discover design genius from all over the world, providing an opportunity for designers to build their careers on merit alone. Minted holds monthly design challenges to source designs from a large global community of designers. The Minted community selects the best designs in a highly competitive and meritocratic process, yielding a top selection of the freshest, finest cards in the world. To that end, Minted's 2011 Holiday Card competition was the company's biggest challenge yet: over half a million votes were cast for 2,554 designs, and the top contenders were chosen by Minted's community for sale

About Minted:

Minted is a venture-backed design community and online store, crowd-sourcing graphic designs and content from a global design community and selling those as premium printed paper products initially focused on the $ 10 billion stationery, invitations, and cards market.

Minted has radically transformed what consumers now expect in holiday cards, wedding invitations, save the dates, birth announcements,business cards, and other personal stationery. The company's paper and printing is of the highest quality and it leads the market with the freshest designs, newest formats and most coveted details. Minted's fresh, unique designs have been featured on The Today Show and The Early Show, and in Real Simple, Town & Country, InStyle Weddings, Food & Wine and other major national magazines.

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Pork Barrel BBQ Counters PETA Tofurky, TX Challenge

Washington, DC (PRWEB) November 18, 2011

Americans can cast their vote in favor of #TofurkyTX or #BarbecueTX on the Pork Barrel BBQ website at http://www.PorkBarrelBBQ.com/vote

In response to the open letter from PETA (http://www.peta.org) Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman calling on Turkey, Texas to change its name to Tofurky, Texas, co-founders of Pork Barrel BBQ, the nations fastest-growing barbecue sauce company, have presented Pat Carson, the Mayor of Turkey, Texas with an appetizing offer to temporarily change the towns name to Barbecue, Texas.

Heath Hall and Brett Thompson, widely recognized for creating the award-winning all-American BBQ sauce and spice rub company and their reality TV show appearances on ABCs Shark Tank, are offering to fork over $ 1,000 immediately and $ 5 from every Picnic or Party Pack sold on its website from November 18th through December 9th in exchange for the town changing its name to Barbecue, Texas for 16 hours - split evenly between three Turkey, Texas Charities:

1)

AMA National Champion Rickey Gadson Signed on to Host 'The Motorcycle Challenge'

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) September 13, 2006

The Motorcycle Challenge AKA MAD are excited to announce that eight time AMA National Champion Rickey Gadson has signed on to host the pilot. The Motorcycle Challenge AKA MAD is a Reality Series where the Nations finest stunt riders will compete in a game of H-O-R-S-E using their motorcycles. Hollywood Stunt Coordinator / 2nd Unit Director, William Washington, created this innovative new show.

Washington has been in the Motion Picture business for over 17 years. He started out as a stuntman performing the most extreme stunts Hollywood could throw at him. After a few years he had the opportunity to coordinate the stunts for, "What's Love Got to Do With It", starring Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett, which was a huge success. A large list of credits followed after this movie including; Why Do Fools Fall in Love, Biker Boyz, Johnson's Family Vacation and Player's Club. The fight scene in Player's Club went on to be recognized as one of the greatest fights on film to date. He then received his DGA card after directing 2nd Unit on B.E.T's Ten Arabesque Novels. The credits continued to grow in that area of film making as well. Hes written several screen plays and reality shows and is now taking it to the next level by producing, The Motorcycle Challenge.

Contestants are confined to an eighth of a mile straight track where they will perform motorcycle stunts such as; twelve o clock wheelies, no-handed wheelies, rolling indos, elevator moves, high acrobats on one wheel or any other stunts they have created. The first contender will perform a stunt that if successfully completed, must be emulated and successfully completed by the other four contestants. Who ever does not complete the stunt successfully, receives a letter. Each competitor performs under the same criteria and the process of elimination is repeated until four contestants have spelled out the word M-A-D, because that is exactly what the participants will be when they lose this high energy, ego- driven competition.

The five contestants competing in The Motorcycle Challenge are vying for a $ 5000 cash prize and an opportunity to proceed to the 2nd round for an additional $ 5000 and lastly, the Grand Finale to win $ 50,000. A 2nd prize of $ 2000 will also be awarded at each event. Based on the success of this debut event, Washington plans to travel to ten other major cities in search of the nations greatest motorcycle stunt rider, who will ultimately win over $ 50,000.

The Pilot will be filmed October 1, 2006 12:00pm-4:00pm at The Los Angeles Sports Arena, 3939 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90037. Tickets are on sale now at all Ticketmaster outlets! A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will be donated Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Southern California. For more information please call William Washington (888) 989-3111 or (818)618-2670.

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ABC News and The UN Foundation to Launch the Million Moms Challenge

New York, NY (PRWEB) September 19, 2011

Today ABC News and the UN Foundation will launch an initiative engaging millions of Americans to support millions of moms across the globe around the critical issues of pregnancy, childbirth and children's health -- moms here helping moms worldwide.

The Million Moms Challenge will be featured on weekly segments on ABC News broadcasts including Good Morning America, World News with Diane Sawyer, Nightline, and 20/20, as well as other ABC News platforms including ABCNews.com and ABC News Radio. The initiative will lead up to a one-hour prime time special on maternal health anchored by Diane Sawyer on December 16, 2011.

There is so much we can do together so many simple ways for us all to link arms to make sure every mother and child has a chance to lead a healthy life, said ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer.

Using the latest in social media strategies together with world-class broadcast and digital news platforms, this initiative will build a vibrant community that connects moms everywhere around things all mothers care about: the right nutrition to support their pregnancies, trained midwives to assist in safe deliveries of newborns, and vaccines that allow children to survive to celebrate their first birthdays and beyond.

Through broadcast stories focusing on personal stories and innovative solutions from around the world, the Million Moms Challenge will raise awareness about the extraordinary difficulties faced by mothers and babies in the developing world:

Every 90 seconds a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth, yet we have the knowledge to prevent 90% of all maternal deaths.

More than 50 million women give birth without a skilled birth attendant every year.

Boulder Tech Startup BlogFrog Powers Online Community for Abc News and United Nations Foundations Million Moms Challenge Campaign

New York, NY (PRWEB) September 19, 2011

Today BlogFrog is joining ABC News and the United Nations Foundation to help launch the Million Moms Challenge. This first-of-its kind initiative will connect millions of Americans with millions of moms in developing countries around the world to engage on the critical issues of pregnancy, childbirth and children's health -- moms here helping moms worldwide.

The Million Moms Challenge provides a vibrant community that connects moms across the globe by using the latest social media strategies together with world-class broadcast and digital news platforms to shine a light on the extraordinary challenges faced by mothers and babies in the developing world. The community will also feature personal stories of motherhood from over 900 mom bloggers participating in the movement.

Stories based on compelling characters and innovative solutions will be featured on ABC News broadcasts including Good Morning America, World News with Diane Sawyer, Nightline, and 20/20, as well as other ABC News platforms including ABCNews.com and ABC News Radio. The initiative will lead up to a one-hour prime time special on maternal health anchored by Diane Sawyer on December 16, 2011.

There is so much we can do together so many simple ways for us all to link arms to make sure every mother and child has a chance to lead a healthy life, said ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer.

The Million Moms Challenge will focus on things mothers care about: the right nutrition to support their pregnancies, skilled attendants to assist in safe deliveries of newborns, and vaccines that allow children to survive to celebrate their first birthdays and beyond.

As part of the initiative a dedicated website (http://www.millionmomschallenge.com) will provide a live, interactive forum for some of the nations top mom bloggers to share their stories and ideas through blogs and video posts in real time with moms and midwives in the developing world. Viewers who want to know more and get involved will find ways large and small to make a difference in their own communities and around the world. The Million Moms Challenge wants a million Americans to join the movement by signing up on the Challenges website and /or on Facebook.

As the largest network of mom blogs on the web, we are honored to power the Million Moms Challenge community and enable women from across the globe to connect, share and learn about safe childbirth and childrens health, said Rustin Banks, co-founder and chief executive of BlogFrog. "The Million Moms Challenge campaign demonstrates the power and influence that is created when like-minded people engage in conversations about passionate topics that matter."

You dont have to be a mom to help a mom, said Kathy Calvin, CEO of the UN Foundation. A healthier tomorrow for our world starts with healthy moms and babies today. The Million Moms Challenge gives us the chance to make history by sharing stories, ideas and sparking a global conversation that will help the United Nations build a global partnership for healthy lives, she added.

In addition to BlogFrog, the Million Moms Challenge partners include African Medical and Research Foundation, CARE, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, GAVI Alliance, mothers2mothers, ONE Campaign, Partners in Health, Riders for Health, Save the Children, UN Foundations Shot@Life campaign, U.S. Fund for UNICEF, White Ribbon Alliance, and WorldVision.

The Million Moms Challenge is a joint effort of ABC News and the UN Foundation, in conjunction with corporate partners Johnson & Johnson and BabyCenter. BabyCenter will encourage its 10 million moms in the US and 14 million moms overseas to join the Million Moms Challenge. For the first 100,000 people who sign on to the Million Moms Challenge, Johnson & Johnson will donate $ 100,000 to some of the biggest NGO partners helping moms and babies overseas.

The Million Moms Challenge is part of an ABC News year-long global health series Be the Change: Save a Life, which is sponsored in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

For more information about the Million Moms Challenge visit http://www.millionmomschallenge.com. To get involved in the conversation about healthy moms and babies around the world, follow @AMillionMoms on Twitter and use the hash-tag #AMillionMoms. You can also like Million Moms on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/millionmomschallenge.

For more information:

BlogFrog contact: Courtney Walsh / courtney(at)theblogfrog(dot)com / 303.875.9007

ABC News contact: David Ford / david.ford(at)abc(dot)com / 212.456.7243

U.N. Foundation contact: Eric Porterfield /eporterfield(at)unfoundation(dot)org / 646.637.6438

About BlogFrog

BlogFrog is an online community platform used by bloggers and brands to enable readers to interact with each other, engage in like-minded discussions, and share rich media content. The companys community and sponsored conversation technology platforms help brand marketers build relationships and trust among women and mom consumers online. BlogFrog is a private company headquartered in Boulder, Colo. Visit http://theblogfrog.com or follow @theblogfrog.

About ABC News

ABC News is responsible for all of the ABC Television Networks news programming on a variety of platforms: television, radio and the Internet. Its flagship program is World News with Diane Sawyer with other programs including Good Morning America, Nightline, Primetime, 20/20, and the Sunday morning political affairs program This Week with ChristianeAmanpour. With an average television and radio audience of 180 million people in a given month, ABC News surpasses the competition. More than 2,400 affiliate stations broadcast ABC News Radios global news coverage. In addition, ABC News NOW is a 24-hour news and information network currently available to 44 million users across cable, broadband, and mobile platforms. NewsOne, the affiliate news service of ABC News, provides live and packaged news, sports, and weather reports, as well as footage of news events, to 200 ABC affiliates and more than 30 domestic and international clients. Visit http://www.abcnews.com.

About the United Nations Foundation

The United Nations Foundation, a public charity, was created in 1998 with entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turners historic $ 1 billion gift to support UN causes and activities. The UN Foundation builds and implements public/private partnerships to address the worlds most pressing problems, and works to broaden support for the UN through advocacy and public outreach. Through campaigns and partnerships, the organization connects people, ideas, and resources to help the UN solve global problems. The campaigns reduce child mortality, empower women and girls, create a new energy future, secure peace and human rights, and promote technology innovation to improve health outcomes. These solutions are helping the UN advance the eight global targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Visit http://www.unfoundation.org.

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