Hey, Kind Kids!

Today we revel in the good will of humanity as it is World Kindness Day. What better reason to celebrate something about ourselves than the boundless expansion of human compassion. Appreciated by everyone, kindness never grows weary, never dies out. It fights the good fight and always remains, standing victorious over the likes of carelessness and greed.

It’s good to be kind. Kind acts spread kindness. But it doesn’t only benefit others. No, siree! Committing random acts of kindness is certainly advantageous to you as well. How can treating others nicely benefit me? you wonder. Well, simple—it makes you feel like a good person! After all, being mean STINKS! It’s no fun to be mean. Much better to see the good in yourself and everyone else whose lives you touch.

In order to help the kindness chain to spread beyond you, I compiled a list of ideas you can use to help make someone’s day by delivering a random act of kindness. If you can put one of these ideas to good use (or an act of kindness you thought of on your own), then you’ll have had a successful Kindness Day!

• Rake your neighbor’s yard along with them. Your neighbor will really appreciate you cutting their work in half!
• Pick up trash. Taking care of litter in your yard or around your neighborhood is a wonderful way to keep your area looking nice. Your neighbors will appreciate it as well.
• Help out around the house. Making dinner or doing the dishes afterward is a great way to pitch in and keep your home a happy one.
• Help keep your classroom clean at school. Your custodian will really appreciate that.
• Bring your teacher a little token of appreciation. It doesn’t have to be an apple, but your teacher would probably love it if it was.

I hope you find these ideas helpful! And don’t forget, while it’s important to squeeze in some kindness today, especially, it’s important to keep kindness alive every day. Thanks for reading.

- John

Hello again, Canine Lovers!

There’s a dog out there for everybody. We all love them and they certainly love us! We all know that dogs are extremely fascinating creatures. When we look into their eyes, we so often see a piece of ourselves. That’s probably why we have a month dedicated to the adoption of dogs in shelters.The beginning of November marks the end of National Adopt of Dog Month (a.k.a.—October). As I mentioned at the beginning of October, everyone here at Everything Summer Camp is a big fan of our canine companions who are already in our homes. And because we love our furry friends so much, we wanted to do something as a company to help spread awareness that October is Adopt a Dog Month.

I blogged about it, but—unfortunately—there aren’t a whole lot of people following a summer camp Blog site this time of year. We also made our ‘live love adopt’ T-shirt to sell and donate those proceeds to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), a non-profit organization which is dedicated to preventing cruelty toward animals.

We did not sell a crazy number of T-shirts. No, we sold six. And, while it may not be a lot, every little bit helps, so Everything Summer Camp wrote a check out to the ASPCA for $52.50 and got it in the mail this morning.  Since we didn’t sell nearly as many as we would have liked, we also donated 100 dog I.D. tags to a local dog shelter.

But just because October has ended and it’s no longer National Adopt a Dog Month, doesn’t mean that it’s too late for you to make some lucky dog’s dream come true by giving it the home it needs or by helping to create awareness. As always, thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Fire Prevention Folks!

Are you and your family prepared against the risk of uncontrolled fire? If not, it’s the perfect time to make sure everyone in your family is aware of fire safety tips and what to do to help prevent fires. Not only is today National Fire Prevention Day, but the entire week (until Saturday) is dedicated to the awareness of preventative fire tips.  

This is a week that goes back to 1925 when the President, Calvin Coolidge, proclaimed the week of October 9th ‘Fire Prevention Week.’ This week is recognized as Fire Prevention Week due to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. While the cause of the fire is unknown, one of Mrs. O’ Leary’s cows gets a bad rep, blamed for having kicked over a lantern in the barn.

The fire spread feverishly through Chicago, leaving death and destruction in its wake and burning for more than 24 hours. On behalf of Everything Summer Camp, I’d like to share some tips on fire safety to help spread the word of fire prevention awareness:

•    Working smoke alarms reduce the risks of fire fatality by almost 50%. You should test your smoke alarm once a month to make sure the batteries are still good and that they’re working properly. You should install smoke alarms on every level of your home and every bedroom.

•    Talk to your kids about fire safety. Tell them never to play with matches or lighters. Be sure you always keep these items up and out of reach of young children.

•    Have a plan for an emergency escape of your home in case of a fire. You should have two exits in mind and go over the plan with everyone in your family. Practicing drills like this can be just as fun as it is smart.

•    Teach your children to get low and not to panic when they hear the smoke alarm go off.

•    Never leave a hot oven, stovetop, or fry pan unattended.

•    Practice proper limits on power from a single outlet.

Thanks for reading, Fire Preventers. Stay safe!

- John

Hello, Students!

Now that you’re starting to get settled into this still-fresh school year, I’ll bet it’s nice and refreshing to see those familiar faces of your school friends. Sure, it’s great to see those guys, but (sometimes) it can be just as good to see your teachers too (sometimes). Everybody has their favorite teachers from grade school, high school, college, and beyond. And since our teachers can often times play such an important role in our lives, we show our appreciation for them today, on World Teachers’ Day. Imparting knowledge, philosophy, and wisdom—as all good teachers do—is such a noble cause, they deserve nothing short of a day dedicated solely to them. What’s really great is that Teachers’ Day is recognized in over 100 countries as teaching requires a little more travel than the conventional U.S. schoolteacher.

I don’t mean commuting either; I’m talking about teachers who travel all the way around the world to reach students in certain countries that cannot provide their own teachers.

Since 1994, World Teachers’ Day has saluted teachers and teachers’ organizations the world over. Education International is the global union federation of all professionals in the field of education everywhere in the world. The extensive recognition of World Teachers’ Day is mostly due to the public awareness campaigns launched by Education International every year that point out the contributions made from the profession of teaching.

It doesn’t matter where you receive your education, if you go to public school, private school, if you’re home schooled, none of it matters nearly so much as the person that’s actually teaching you. Make sure that person knows just how much you appreciate their teaching and their guidance. You better double-check that you have all your homework done too!

As always, thanks for reading, School kids! On behalf of Everything Summer Camp, happy World Teachers’ Day!

- John

Hey, Dog Lovers!

Are dogs dear to you? Do you care for canines? Most people—especially those of us who love dogs—would agree that, specially speaking, dog is man’s best friend. But what kind of a friend is man? We have the power to be the sunshine or rain in a dog’s life; what you do with that power is up to you.

And no matter what you decide to do with that power, two things are for certain: 1.) There will always be dogs in shelters and 2.) Any and every one of those dogs would love for you to take them home with you. There’s absolutely no shortage of dogs that could use a good home. That’s why October is National Adopt a Dog Month!

As was mentioned on this Blog at the end of last August (on National Dog Day), everyone here at Everything Summer Camp is a big fan of our own canine companions. That got us to thinking, aside from adopting more dogs, what can we do as a company to help our furry friends throughout the month of October?

We landed on the idea of selling our ‘live love adopt’ T-shirt and donating the proceeds to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), a non-profit organization which is dedicated to preventing cruelty toward animals. The ASPCA is based in New York City and has been since it was founded in 1866.

So get your own T-shirt from Everything Summer Camp in celebration of National Adopt a Dog Month and help us spread the word to increase the awareness of this month. Give your hesitant friend or relative the push they need to make the right decision. Anyone can help get a good home for a dog!

As always, thanks for reading, Blog fans.

- John