Things You Should Be Doing: Weeknight 5K's

You always mean to go do a 5K race or fun run, but the problem is that they happen on Saturday mornings. And Saturday mornings are rough because Friday nights are so much fun. The good news is, that worthless excuse of being too tired or needing to sleep in on the weekends is gone with two fabulous weeknight 5K's coming up. So register and mark your calendars for these two great weeknight runs that are right around the corner!

• The Man Run - Wednesday, May 2 - $20 - 6:30 p.m. at Reverchon Park - Ryan Harms is competing in the One Man Dallas competition and his service project is The Man Run. The Man Run will benefit Back on My Feet, a local nonprofit helping the homeless population of Dallas. Beneficiary: Back on My Feet is committed to creating independence and self-sufficiency within the homeless and other underserved populations by engaging them in running as a means to build confidence, strength and self-esteem. For more information about Back on My Feet, please visit www.backonmyfeet.org. To register for this awesome run, visit  http://www.themanrundallas.com
• The 14th Annual Michelob Ultra Katy 5K - Thursday, May 10 - $40 - 7 p.m. at Reverchon Park - The Katy 5K is a great 5K, but more importantly, it's the best post-race party in town. You and 5,000 of your closest friends will run, drink free beer and enjoy free food from 50 of the best restaurants in town. Oh, and all the money benefits the Friends of the Katy Trail. They're the ones responsible for keeping the Katy Trail clean, safe, beautiful and AWESOME. Register at www.KatyTrailDallas.org 

There's no reason for you not to be there. There might be a reason for you to skip work after the Katy 5K.

Pub Crawl for a Cause

Buy Art to Help Alley's House

Alley’s House helps teen mothers with counseling, tutoring, life skills, mentoring and job training. Part of its mission is to prevent drop outs and help teen mothers succeed in their education.

The nonprofit is holding an online art sale to raise funds. Local artists donated work, and each piece is for sale at $160. All of the proceeds go to helping the Alley’s House mission.

Alley’s House also will hold an art auction atRising Art Gallery downtown, from 7-11 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4. Tickets are $25.

You can also give money to Alley’s House, or buy and donate something that’s on its wish list.

Put on Those Stilettos and Strut for a Cause!

Doing Nice Things for Others: Give to the Family Place

Saw this this morning and just couldn't pass it up. We love that mothers actually get to choose and wrap gifts for their children. You can support The Family Place through its Adopt-the-Shelter program and help stock the Safe House Holiday Store. Brighten the lives of family violence survivors by purchasing new toys, clothing, and gifts from their wish lists. Mothers staying at the Safe House get to choose and wrap gifts for their little ones—and select something special for themselves. Don’t have time to shop? Make a donation and The Family Place will do the shopping in your name. Simply email Karen at kadegraffenreid@familyplace.org or call 214-443-7714 to participate. For more information, visit familyplace.org.

Online Shopping for a Good Cause on Amazon

It's the holidays and the  malls and horrible, with a capital whore. So, in the interest of avoiding said whores at all cost, you probably do your shopping online. Namely, at Amazon.com. They have everything. You've seen us mention Back on My Feet before. It's a fantastic nonprofit organization working to end homelessness through running. No, you don't have to run. No, you don't have to donate. There's just 1 thing we're asking you to do as you continue online shopping.

Click on the link below, and it takes you to a webpage that has 1 more link into amazon.  That’s all you have to do!   Bookmark this link NOW.  If you do any purchasing on Amazon this holiday season,  do it through this link and Back On My Feet will earn commission for each order placed.  It does not cost you anything.   It just takes your time to remember to click through this link to give a great organization a credit!

http://www.fundinco.org/bomf.php

The Ultimate Toy Drive - Drive an Exotic Car for Free for Bryan's House

Cocktails for a Cure for The Resource Center at Hotel Palomar

12 Hours on a Treadmill to Help End Homelessness

West Village & The Friends of The Katy Trail Dog Trot Event: October 30, 2011

On Sunday, October 30 from 1 to 5 p.m. West Village will host the Fourth Annual Dog Trot & Treat benefiting The Friends of The Katy Trail, an event geared for our furry friends and the people they own. Pooches and their owners will parade in costume through West Village gathering treats at various boutiques along the way. When their bags are full, guests are invited to enjoy live entertainment, nibbles from Grimaldi’s Pizzeria and Pinkberry, and sips from Cork Wines.

Canines will also be entered into a costume contest, where the top three winners will take away a doggie bag full of goodies. Register today!

Vendors will be on hand offering everything from pet portraits to samples of all natural baked food for dogs. 

Hang Out on a Ducati for a Cause on Saturday

Your Thursday Night Plans: Go Out and Give Back

It's Thursday, it's like the new Friday. Here are two great choices for your evening plans. 

DiningDallas - Katie and Clayton are great and so is the cause.
What: The local charity that hosts monthly foodie events to raise money for ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) sets up table on the rooftop of budding Lower Greenville resto Rohst.
Why: Barbecue pork ribs, grilled shrimp salad, lettuce wraps, and Korean tacos.
When: Thurs., 7-10 p.m.
Where: 2817 Greenville Ave. (214-823-8730).

Sit Down to Stand Up for Kids- um, decorated cool tiny chairs, because tiny is in
What: A silent auction of tiny handmade chairs decorated by twenty-plus Etsy Dallas artists alongside free food, drinks, and music.
Why: All proceeds benefit Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center, a nonprofit agency serving abused kids.
When: Thurs., 6:30-9 p.m.
Where: South Side on Lamar, 1409 S. Lamar St., Blue Room.

Kidd's Kids Day at McKinney Avenue Tavern

It doesn't even matter if you like the music they play on KISS FM. The cool thing is that Kidd Kraddick and his team take terminally ill and Chronically disabled kids AND their families to Disneyworld. You've got to do lunch, happy hour or dinner somwhere today, so make it the MAT. If you're lucky, or not lucky, Al might hit on you. Have fun!

Be a Food Truck VIP for Half Price!

We all know I'm a huge fan of food trucks. I think today's Living Social Deal might have been designed for me. It's VIP, it's cheap (relatively) and it's benefiting a good cause. Check it ou:


It has indeed been drier all summer than a slab of Texas toast with no butter, but other parts of the world are facing an even drier spell. Today's deal for a VIP ticket from Ten for 10: Water for Africa is a unique way to give the world water crisis a kick in the pants while sampling some of Dallas's finest fare. Just $50 gets you a VIP ticket to the Food Truck Smackdown at Sunset Lounge on Friday, October 21, where a caravan's worth of local cuisine goes head to head to gain your favor (a $100 value). With your ticket, you'll enjoy a private happy hour, a goody bag full of treats, a preview of the night's events, a sampling of each food truck's dishes, live musical entertainment, and the chance to vote for your favorite truck. Get swept up in this flood of foodie fun and philanthropy before it dries up.


Get your deal here!

Extreme Mutt Makeover is Coming!

The Extreme Mutt Makeover event is open to the public free of charge with the exception of the finals performances that will be on Saturday evening.  Tickets must be purchases to see the finals.  They can be purchased here.  The entire event will be held at the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Ft Worth at 3401 W Lancaster Ave, Ft Worth, TX 76017.

There will be 15 dogs & their trainers that compete in 3 rounds of preliminaries then, based on the 4 judges scores, the top 3 compete in the finals round. 

My friend (and dog trainer) Stacy, has been working with Jazz. Go cheer her on and become a fan of Jazz on Facebook!

The Grape is Great and They're Doing Good for the Stewpot

July 28-30 The Grape (yum) will hold the 2nd Annual Feast of St. Martha benefiting one of the most important charities in the city, The Stewpot. Every day, 365 days a year, hundreds of homeless in Dallas are fed, sheltered and helped through The Stewpot at the Second Chance Cafe inside The Bridge on the edge of downtown. Over 1300 volunteers contribute their time and energy to The Stewpot each month, improving the lives of the homeless in Dallas.


For three days Chef Brian will serve a special $38 three course meal($55 with wine) created to honor Saint Martha, the patron saint of kitchen workers and servers, with $5 of each meal going to The Stewpot Alliance, created to support The Stewpot. Reservations are recommended. 214-828-1981

Cold Beer and Wet Noses at Ginger Man to Benefit Metroplex Mutts

We know you love dogs. And beer. So head to the Ginger Man on Boll Street for this MetroplexMutt fundraiser. For ten bucks, you get a raffle ticket and the warm fuzzy feeling knowing that you helped provide care for sick and injured pups. 6-9 p.m. Be there.

Get Wet on Wednesday at W Dallas' Wet Deck for a Winning Cause

72 Hour Challenge - Build a Better Block on Ross Avenue

Volunteer for a Chance to Win Southwest Airlines Tickets!

If you haven’t heard, I have recently signed up for the 40 For 40 campaign with the Volunteer Center of North Texas (VCNT).

VCNT is celebrating 40 years of community impact by challenging the community to pledge 40 hours of service between April 1, 2011 and February 28, 2012, or donate $40 to help the organization continue impacting the lives of individuals, youth, families and corporations as they connect them to the nonprofits that need their assistance!

The goal of the campaign is to reach 100,000 hours in service to the community and to raise $100,000 in donations, and VCNT needs our help!

Visit www.vcnt.org/40for40 to pledge 40 hours of service or donate $40 to help the Volunteer Center of North Texas continue transforming communities and strengthening nonprofits through volunteerism and receive a free “I Am A Volunteer” t-shirt. (I got mine and it's cool!)

Also, by joining the campaign, you will be entered into a drawing to win two round-trip tickets courtesy of Southwest Airlines and VCNT. But you need to act fast! The drawing ends July 15th.The winner will be announced on July 20th.

Thank you for your help and happy volunteering!

Do something good. Join the campaign today!