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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