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With June gloom behind us, the dog days of summer are fast approaching… After all the graduations, the rush of summer weddings and getting the kids off to camp, the long, warm days ahead lend themselves to outdoor activities and the overall experience of having more time to spend with loved ones; friends, family and well… pets.

Though perhaps the easiest relationships we might have are with our pets, they are also some of the most important. Our pets play a huge role in our lives and fill our hearts with almost inexplicable joy. Their pictures fill our scrapbooks, our screensavers, our wallets and cell phones. We blog about them, video tape them, talk about them — sharing stories about their all-too cute antics with anyone who’s willing to listen and we shop for them too! The love we receive in return from our pets is pure, unadulterated and simply habit forming. Because of this we, no doubt, fit them into our summer plans and activities.

Unfortunately summertime poses several threats for pets or animals not as pampered and well cared for as our own. Dogs left on tight leashes or in hot cars, cats that have not been neutered and multiply without a healthy environment to live in and horses that are overworked in the sun are just a few of the serious issues that face some of these innocent creatures.

Our featured nonprofit, ASPCA, is one of the leading nonprofit groups who take on the responsibility of being the voice for these mistreated animals. Founded in 1866 as the first humane organization in the Western Hemisphere, the group was formed to alleviate the injustices animals faced then, and they continue to battle cruelty today. Whether it’s saving a pet that has been accidentally poisoned, fighting to pass humane laws, rescuing animals from abuse or sharing resources with shelters across the country, ASPCA works toward the day in which no animal will live in pain or fear.

So this summer shop for all your camping gear, wedding gifts, BBQ tools, airplane tickets and other fun summertime stuff through www.nonprofitshoppingmall.com and support ASPCA. Check back soon to see our July retail blogs, featuring specialty pet products for those of you who just can’t help but pamper your special animals.
Also, make sure to stop by the ASPCA (www.aspca.org) website to learn all about how to be humane to animals, how to get involved with community programs and ways to teach your children or classroom about animal rights. Last but not least, before you take the mutts for a W-A-L-K… here is the ASPCA hot weather guide to keep your beloveds safe and healthy all summer long!

Hot Weather Tips:

(For a kid’s version of the following summer guide go to: http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=kids_ri_petshotweather)

In summertime, living isn’t always easy for our animal friends. Dogs and cats can suffer from the same problems that humans do, such as overheating, dehydration and even sunburn. By taking some simple precautions, you can celebrate the season and keep your pets happy and healthy.

• A visit to the veterinarian for a spring or early summer check-up is a must; add to that a test for heartworm, if your dog isn’t on year-round preventive medication. Do parasites bug your animal companions? Ask your doctor to recommend a safe, effective flea and tick control program.
• Never leave your pet alone in a vehicle—hyperthermia can be fatal. Even with the windows open, a parked automobile can quickly become a furnace in no time. Parking in the shade offers little protection, as the sun shifts during the day.
• Always carry a gallon thermos filled with cold, fresh water when traveling with your pet.
• The right time for playtime is in the cool of the early morning or evening, but never after a meal or when the weather is humid.
• Street smarts: When the temperature is very high, don’t let your dog stand on hot asphalt. His or her body can heat up quickly, and sensitive paw pads can burn. Keep walks during these times to a minimum.
• A day at the beach is a no-no, unless you can guarantee a shady spot and plenty of fresh water for your companion. Salty dogs should be rinsed off after a dip in the ocean.
• Provide fresh water and plenty of shade for animals kept outdoors; a properly constructed doghouse serves best. Bring your dog or cat inside during the heat of the day to rest in a cool part of the house.
• Be especially sensitive to older and overweight animals in hot weather. Brachycephalic or snub-nosed dogs such as bulldogs, pugs, Boston terriers, Lhasa apsos and shih tzus, as well as those with heart or lung diseases, should be kept cool in air-conditioned rooms as much as possible.
• When walking your dog, steer clear of areas that you suspect have been sprayed with insecticides or other chemicals. And please be alert for coolant or other automotive fluid leaking from your vehicle. Animals are attracted to the sweet taste, and ingesting just a small amount can be fatal. Call your veterinarian or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435 if you suspect that your animal has been poisoned.
• Good grooming can stave off summer skin problems, especially for dogs with heavy coats. Shaving the hair to a one-inch length—never down to the skin, please, which robs Rover of protection from the sun—helps prevent overheating. Cats should be brushed often.
• Do not apply any sunscreen or insect repellent product to your pet that is not labeled specifically for use on animals. Ingestion of sunscreen products can result in drooling, diarrhea, excessive thirst and lethargy. The misuse of insect repellent that contains DEET can lead to neurological problems.
• Having a backyard barbecue? Always keep matches, lighter fluid, citronella candles and insect coils out of pets’ reach.
• Please make sure that there are no open, unscreened windows or doors in your home through which animals can fall or jump.
• Stay alert for signs of overheating in pets, which include excessive panting and drooling and mild weakness, along with an elevated body temperature.

Water Safety

For a lot of families, summertime means swimming time. If your pooch will be joining you on your adventures, be it lakeside, oceanside or poolside, please read our following tips:

• Do not leave pets unsupervised around a pool.
• Not all dogs are good swimmers; so if water sports are a big part of your family, please introduce your pets to water gradually.
• Make sure all pets wear flotation devices on boats.
• Try not to let your dog drink pool water, which contains chlorine and other chemicals that could cause GI upset.

Help us honor the ASPCA and its work with a fun little ‘pin-up’ activity — come by our myspace page at: http://www.myspace.com/nonprofitshoppingmall and post your cutest pet pictures on our interactive cork board. Thanks for stopping by and a big summertime ‘cheers’ from our family of happy pets: Tinkerbell, Joe-Joe, Wayah, Jack, Oliver, Nibbles, and Blaze!

Mother’s Day – it’s really a shame that it’s only once a year because there are just so many great ways to show mom how much she means to you. One extraordinary and very funny mom I know also happens to be a Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Ambassador and graced our inaugural People Who Care feature last October. This would be, of course, Good Enough Mother author, René Syler.

Scheduled to appear on NBC favorite, The Today Show on Friday, May 9, you can catch her segment and help support Susan G. Komen for The Cure® by shopping for mom or any woman in your life this Mother’s Day right here on www.nonprofitshoppingmall.com.

We’ve tried to make it easy for you by adding a Shop For The Cure category but rest assured — you can choose any retailer, any product — and still give a great gift that gives back.

And while we’re on message for Susan G, Komen for the Cure®, I was genuinely surprised to find an email from American Airlines outlining its 20-year relationship with the organization and its Miles For The Cure campaign. Since supporting the first race in Dallas in 1983, American has become an Official Race Series Partner of the Susan G. Komen

Race for the Cure® team. Twenty-five years ago, when there were less than 50 events across the country, American was named the official carrier of the Races and has been a member of Komen’s Million Dollar Council since 1992. For those of us who are AAdvantage® members, we can earn an additional 5 AAdvantage® Bonus Miles for every $1 donated directly online to Susan G. Komen For The Cure® through the 31st of May. There are some pretty tight Terms and Conditions to this promotion but I thought I’d go ahead and post them so you could make an informed decision. By making a donation directly to the organization through American’s Miles For The Cure program, we can all share a role in supporting Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and its vision of a world without breast cancer.

• Offer valid on contributions made online at www.komen.org/aa
• Minimum $25 donation required
• Promotion dates are April 16 through May 31, 2008
• Mileage cap for a 12-month period is 50,000 for U.S. members; 60,000 for international members
• Bonus miles do not count toward elite-status qualification
• Donations are tax-deductible minus the value of benefits received. Please allow up to eight weeks for the bonus miles to be posted to your account. Donations can only be accepted in U.S. dollars. All gifts are welcome; however, miles will only be earned for donations of at least $25 USD. Donations are tax deductible less $.022 per mile earned.
• Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and Miles for the Cure™ are marks of Susan G. Komen
• American Airlines reserves the right to change the AAdvantage® program at any time without notice. American Airlines is not responsible for products or services offered by other participating companies. For complete details about the AAdvantage® program, visit www.aa.com/aadvantage.

In this month’s blog, we cover a rather difficult topic – that of rape, sexual abuse and incest. Until we started working on this piece featuring Christina Ricci, the national spokesperson for RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network) – the country’s leading anti-sexual assault organization, I wasn’t truly aware of the staggering numbers associated with these heinous crimes, their ongoing psychological effects and where public policy issues currently stand with respect to reporting, prosecuting and DNA testing. I was also sadly ignorant of the wide range of personal violence that often goes hand-in-hand with sexual assault. While disturbing on many levels, the wealth of information available on the RAINN website is an invaluable tool and I hope you’ll take the time to read through and learn from its hugely important messages.

The timing on this is especially crucial with schools letting out soon for summer and with graduation holidays just around the corner. RAINN is the go-to site for first-time freshman going away to college, anyone planning to move out on their own or those getting that first job away from home. On April 14, 2008, RAINN launched its newest outreach program, a safe, secure, anonymous place for victims to get help online. Using an instant-messaging style format, the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline allows sexual assault victims to communicate directly with trained crisis support volunteers available on www.rainn.org Together with its tele-based National Sexual Assault Hotline (800.656.HOPE), the organization will be able to provide a lifeline to victims trapped in situations where their only safe and secure link to the outside world may be through the Internet.

According to Scott Berkowitz, president & founder of RAINN, somewhere in America, someone is being sexually assaulted at the alarming rate of every two minutes. Almost half of these victims are under 18 and 80% are under 30. The new National Sexual Assault Online Hotline provides the services these young victims need, using the technology they embrace. In addition to providing support to victims of sexual assault, the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline provides information about recovery, medical issues, the criminal justice process, and local resources for family and friends of victims.

We hope you find this month’s feature a worthy one and that you’ll shop online to support RAINN programming now and going forward. We want to especially thank Christina Ricci for her participation in bringing this to our and your attention and before signing off, encourage you to become a RAINNMaker to support the organization’s ongoing initiatives.

We’ll have more on RAINN with our regular features in our May newsletter – coming soon.

One of the world’s deadliest diseases – malaria – is an indiscriminate killer, affecting all age groups and primarily found in the worlds poorest nations, whose populations are least able to combat it. WORLD MALARIA DAY was established in order to raise awareness for and understanding of malaria as a global emergency that is both preventable and curable. It replaces ‘Africa Malaria Day’ which has been commemorated on April 25 since 2001.

Africa Malaria Day was a day that was set aside by African governments committed to rolling back malaria and meeting the United Nations malaria-related Millennium Development Goals. But now Member states of the World Health Organization agree that greater awareness is needed. It is hoped that with an internationally recognized WORLD MALARIA DAY, communities and organizations worldwide will mobilize and get involved in this continuing battle.

You can help by shopping online here and choosing The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as your nonprofit. The Global Fund provides more than two thirds of all international malaria funding.

There’s no way we could let Earth Day go by without saying something of note – however – with the hundreds of thousands of articles, blogs and events already out in the e-sphere to commemorate the day, we didn’t feel like we had any new or unique content to contribute. We hope you’ll take the time to visit our Shop Green section and purchase something you need while at the same time acknowledging those retailers and products that are good for you and the planet as a whole.

In the meantime, I found this article written by Jocelyn Rice and Amber Fields in Discover Magazine called 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Recycling, which I found to be both strangely fascinating and just a little disturbing. I’m sharing it for just those reasons and hope you’ll forgive me if you find it a bit too weird for your tastes. This is a cleverly written piece and flows well, especially when read in order.

1. Drink up: It takes three months for a recycled aluminum can to make it’s way back on the shelf in reincarnated form.
2. Or build a bridge: In 2002 researchers from Rutgers University built a 42-foot-long bridge over a river using plastic beams made from polystyrene cups and polyethylene milk jugs.
3. Or construct a boat: During World War 1, enough metal was salvaged from corset stays to build two warships.
4. As of press time, the boat Earthrace was being prepared for an attempt to break the maritime around-the-world speed record. It will use biofuel, some of which comes from liposuctioned human fat.
5. No fat here: During Britain’ 2007 Recycle Now week, svelte models strutted down Brighton beach wearing swimsuits made of steel cans.
6. These boots were made for flooring: Nike gathers old athletic shoes and turns them into raw material for “sports surfaces” like tennis courts or running tracks.
7. Meanwhile in China, more then 1 million unsold copies of British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams’s latest CD will be used to resurface roads.
8. Last year Chinese hair salons caused a stir by unlawfully recycling used condoms, possibly donated by local nightclubs into hair ties.
9. Elsewhere in Asia, an enterprising dental technician established the Japan Denture Recycle Association in 2006 to cash in on the precious metals in discarded choppers. Proceeds go to UNICEF.
10. Each year Americans junk more than 80 million dollar’s worth of copper, gold, silver, palladium and platinum in the form of retired cell phones.
11. Cell phones, laptops, and, um, personal massage devices: New British laws mandate that old electronic appliances-including sex toys-cannot be dumped. They must be recycled with other so-called e-waste.
12. E-waste is for the birds: An Australian nut orchard converts the shells of vintage Macintosh computers into houses for pest-eating birds.
13. Humans need house too: when Luiz Bispo built his house in Rio de Janeiro slum out of construction waste last year, city authorities threatened to destroy it. Now the house-which floats atop a junk-filled river on a base of plastic bottles-is being touted as an icon of sustainable development.
14. Cities have long been goldmines for recyclers: Beginning in ancient times, tanners collected human urine to use in turning animal skins into leather.
15. In the middle ages, urine was also used to make saltpeter, an essential component of gunpowder.
16. Cities get recycled too: Masonry from Roman settlements made a handy source of stone for medieval church builders.
17. But enough is enough: In 1821 Turkish soldiers surrounded Greek forces holed up in the Parthenon and started stripping lead from the temple columns to make bullets. The horrified Greeks promptly sent the enemy a fresh supply of ammunition to discourage further recycling.
18. Using every part: There are now sheep-poo air fresheners. Sterilized sheep droppings are turned into packets stuffed with grass-or daffodil- scented material.
19. Green to the end: The Doggone Project in Mannheim, Germany, can recycle deceased pets into fertilizer.
20. You, too: Ecopods, a British company, sells stylish coffins made from hardened recycled paper, available in a range of colors including indigo and silver leaf.

For those of you unfamiliar with autism and its varied spectrum of disorders, take this month to learn more, as April is Autism Awareness Month. Additionally, through a UN resolution passed in 2007, April 2 is now officially World Autism Awareness Day. This UN resolution is one of only three official disease-specific United Nations Days and will bring the world’s attention to autism, a pervasive disorder that affects tens of millions. The World Autism Awareness Day resolution encourages all Member States to take measures to raise awareness about autism throughout society and to encourage early diagnosis and early intervention.

Autism is a complex neurobiological disorder that typically lasts throughout a person’s lifetime. It is part of a group of disorders known as autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Today, 1 in 150 individuals is diagnosed with autism, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. A random disorder, autism crosses all racial, ethnic, and social boundaries equally and is four times more likely to strike boys than girls. Autism impairs a person’s ability to communicate and relate to others. It is also associated with rigid routines and repetitive behaviors, such as obsessively arranging objects or following very specific routines. Symptoms can range from very mild to quite severe.

Across the globe, the autism community is celebrating its members and holding special events to raise awareness and money for research to find answers to the questions of its increasing prevalence in children in all regions of the world. One of the most successful events bringing this community together is the Autism Speaks Walk Now For Autism - Virtual Walk sponsored by Toys R Us.

This month we offer an introduction to this growing global health crisis and its premier advocacy organization, Autism Speaks. In our interview with actor John Schneider, whose roles span from television’s Dukes of Hazzard to Broadway’s musical hit, CHICAGO, Schneider offers insights to his personal experience with autism and talks about his greatest role, as a father with an autistic son.

As a former Development Director for Special Olympics Southern California I have had many opportunities to interact with children and adults affected by varying degrees of autism. I am amazed at the progress that Autism Speaks has made in the short years since its inception and hugely impressed that the organization has been able to galvanize so many of the major autism nonprofits to act with one voice in its efforts to find answers to autism’s cause and to support the research efforts in discovering a breakthrough.

I’m also happy to highlight two of our retailers in conjunction with our focus on autism – please take a couple of minutes to see how they each support Autism Speaks

This April, more than 500 Barnes & Noble stores around the country will host special autism Storytimes. Everyone who has been touched by autism should know about them. A complete listings of all the event times and locations can be found here.

We’ll have more on these retailers and others in our April newsletter – watch for it on the 6th. We’ll also introduce some of our new partners, keep you posted on our financial, tax and insurance services and give you the scoop on how to stop junk mail AND save trees at the same time.

Please make a commitment to become a do-er and keep Do Something in mind when looking for volunteer opportunities for teens, young adults and you this summer. We thank our gracious hostess Emme for her support here and her ongoing dedication to awakening the spirit of giving inherent in each of us.

In case you missed us on The Montel Williams Show - Living Well: Five Ways to Change Your Life which aired on February 27, here’s an additional opportunity to participate in his audience give-away running through March 27. Montel and his panel of experts outlined the top 5 life-improving solutions that will help you improve your health. Terra Wellington, a sleep expert, explained why sleep is so important to our daily health. To ensure a good night’s sleep, Montel tried out a Tempur-Pedic bed right on stage and one lucky audience member won the bed and got to take it home! To help you live well, Montel is giving his viewers and our visitors a chance to win a Temper-Pedic bed too, valued at $3,600!

In addition to the bed you can also win 100% organic cotton luxury sateen sheets and duvets, valued at $404.90, from one of our retail partner organicstyle.com.

When doing your shopping you can donate to The Montel Williams MS Foundation as a charity choice to thank him for giving us the opportunity to make this happen.

Click here for more information about the bed and to enter to win.

I know that technically speaking, it’s still winter – but for some reason, I feel like spring has sprung. With retailers showing bright colors, lush florals and dreamy vacation spots that constantly sweep across my screen, I think I may actually have a case of spring fever. Okay, so it might be a little early, but the upside to my restlessness is that I’m energized, excited and feel a change on the horizon – a change for the good and one that, with the help of Do Something, can be driven largely by young people from coast to coast.

It so happens that our people who care spokesperson for March, Emme, supermodel, television personality, best selling author and big time Do Something supporter, feels like I do. Emme also believes that young people have the power to act, to make a difference and to implement change. We are delighted to welcome her here and to introduce Do Something and its mission to those of you who might be unfamiliar with this dynamic youth-oriented organization. Do Something aims to inspire, support and celebrate a generation of do-ers: people who see the need to do something, believe in their ability to get it done, and then take action. The Do Something website is a community where young people learn, listen, speak, vote, volunteer, ask, and take action to make the world a better place. Currently, only 23% of the youth demographic actively volunteers. Hoping to create a do something generation: a world where more than 51% of young people are involved with community action, the Do Something site has something for everyone with their highly interactive, multi-media approach to inspiring change.

I was first introduced to Do Something on a flight from LA to New York, when by chance I was seated next to Mandy Moore’s guitar player who was on his way in to play the Brick Awards. Later, as I was looking for a community service activity for my 15 year-old, I was hugely impressed by the wide variety of options available to him both locally and abroad. Do Something makes it easy to get involved – whether you’re young or ‘old’, just watch this video and find your SOMETHING!

Our March newsletter will follow within a couple of days – watch for information about new nonprofit partnerships, eco-friendly office supplies and culinary news.Thank you again to Billy Bush and the Lollipop Theater Network for hosting our February homepage. We will keep Lollipop on our list of nonprofit partners and we encourage you to visit their site and keep the good work they’re doing in mind when you shop.

I can’t believe it’s the first of February already – so much is happening here at nonprofitshoppingmall.com that I can’t even begin to cover all the new ground we’ve broken since the holidays in this short blog space. First of all, we actually have two blogs goin’ within this site – this one and another, dedicated to retail promotions, on our shop the mall page. There, you’ll find Valentine’s Day ideas from ICE.com and Organic Style and an overview of our new eco-lifestyle retailers featured in our shop green category.

Before I introduce Billy Bush for our February people who care feature, I have to say, if and when you have an opportunity to visit the Los Angeles area, you must visit one of Chef David Myer’ restaurants – the food is amazing and we thank him for sharing his time with us and with Surfrider Foundation.

Amazing in a wholly different arena is the work being done by Lollipop Theater Network, the nonprofit organization chosen by Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush and highlighted as our default beneficiary for the month of February. For those of you who either openly or secretly follow entertainment news and personalities, Billy Bush is pretty much a household name. In addition to his on-air duties at Access Hollywood, Bush also serves as a contributor for NBC’s top-rated morning news program, Today, and is a member of the Board of Directors for Lollipop Theater Network — a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the magic of movies to children confined to hospitals nationwide due to chronic or life-threatening illnesses. Whether you’re a 5th grader, a college student or just love films, you’ll know that there’s nothing like counting down the days until the season’s big blockbuster movie hits the theaters. If you’re a child confined to a hospital bed due to chronic or life-threatening illnesses, you can imagine that the thrill of seeing that first-run movie is unlikely to be on the agenda. Through Lollipop, these kids don’t have to wait for DVD releases, because they literally roll out the red carpet, distribute movie tickets and memorabilia, and screens movies only available in theaters. To ensure that no child ever misses a movie, Lollipop provides multiple screenings in group and bedside settings. In this month’s People Who Care feature, Billy Bush tells us how his commitment to Lollipop was sealed with his appearance on Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader, when he missed the answer to the question, ‘What was Civil War general “Stonewall” Jackson’s real first name?

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, eco-lifestyle retailer OrganicStyle.com introduces
Freedom® – A Rose in Honor of Rosa Parks.

Universally revered as the Mother of the modern day Civil Rights Movement, this new rose pays tribute to Rosa Parks’ birthday on February 4th and features lush, vibrant red, large-headed, long-stemmed, long lasting roses with minimal thorns in one or two-dozen bouquet options.

On December 1, 1955, 42-year-old Rosa Parks boarded a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama and ultimately changed a nation. When a few stops later, a white man boarded the crowded bus and had to stand in the aisle, the driver demanded that she give up her seat for the man, but Parks remained seated. The driver called the police, who arrested Mrs. Parks, but her courageous act initiated a citywide bus boycott led by Martin Luther King, Jr. that lasted 381 days.

On February 1, 1956, the Montgomery Improvement Association filed suit in the U.S. District Court, challenging the constitutionality of segregated public transportation. In June of 1956, the U.S. District Court ruled in favor of the Improvement Association. When the city appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, the higher court affirmed the lower court’s ruling, declaring segregation on buses unconstitutional. The decision was implemented on December 20, 1956. With her quiet strength, Rosa Parks gave birth to the modern day civil rights movement.

We will honor her memory through February 20, 2008 with our special 10% contribution offer, matched by another 10% from Organic Style for a total of 20%. We hope you will keep her in your thoughts as well by purchasing these lush, vibrant red roses through our site now and throughout the year to support The Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development.

The Rosa and Raymond Institute for Self Development was founded by Rosa Parks in 1987, in honor of her husband, with the aim of motivating and directing youth to reach their highest potential through multicultural, hands-on experiences that build practical day-to-day living skills while nurturing a global and inclusive perspective. Based on Mrs. Parks’ philosophy of ‘Quiet Strength’, The Institute’s core program ‘Pathways to Freedom’ traces the Underground Railroad into the civil rights movement and beyond. Students, traveling primarily by bus, experience a unique, empowering and interactive research journey that brings the history of the civil rights movement to life, giving the participants the needed skills to model Mrs. Parks’ work for human rights in all areas.