My students know that I have followed Warren Buffet since I was little and that I am fascinated by his life story. I even own stock in his company Berkshire Hathaway! But a few years back, when Buffet and Mr. and Mrs. Gates announced the Giving Pledge, my admiration and appreciation for Buffet and Gates took another step up. Their plan? Their goal? To get the billionaires in the world to pledge half of their worth to charity. To show the Billionaires how easy this could be, Bill and Melinda Gates pledged 95% of their new worth and Buffet pledged 99%. Sure, these are rich people and even keeping just 1-5% of their money would still keep them in the multi-millionaire range, possibly still near a Billionaire, but that is still amazing to part with so much money. A recent episode of "60 minutes" highlighted their ongoing project. Take a look at this 12-minute video over the Holiday weekend and remember that there are some rich people out there trying to do the right thing as well.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

JC Penneys to Offer Free Haircuts Every Sunday!

   Just wanted to give everyone a heads up about a new promotion that JC Penney's stores are doing. Well, they have done it in the past to help kids get ready for school, but now they are doing it every Sunday for kids. FREE HAIRCUTS!! In this day and age, not much is free anymore, so this is a great bonus and I hope it can help out families that might need this free service. Please click on the article below to read more and notice that the promotion will not start up until November. Hope some of you can use it!

JC Penney's free haircut Sundays click here!

Great Interactive Slideshow Showing Poverty Levels in the U.S.

   Please take a moment to click on this link and click through the 6 slides this website has about Poverty in our country. Many of the slides are interactive where you can learn more by hovering over certain parts. Really makes you think about the poverty in our country and how large of an issue it truly is. The part that really got to me was seeing how children in poverty really make up the biggest population of Americans currently below the poverty level. People are below the poverty level for a variety of reasons, but one reason that jumps out in these slides is education. The less education a person has, the more likely they are to be below the poverty line. Whatever the reason, we need people to help lift people out of poverty, especially the children. At Carlisle, our counselors are always looking for resources for families in need. So, if you are a family in need or find yourself at some point during this year in crisis and in need of something, please contact us. Call, email, come in to see us, whatever, just let us know what you need and we can see if we can track down the resources to help. Also pay attention to updates throughout the year for clothing drives, shoes and boots that fit programs, Operation Backpack, supply drives, and many other programs we help to offer. And again, please take a look at the website below to see the most current data. Thank you!

Poverty Data click here!

Middle School Helping the Community in 2 Ways This Week!

Our middle school students are very busy this week trying to help needy families this holiday season. First off, our 7th graders are collecting canned and boxed food items for the local food pantry. All of this food goes directly to our local families, many of who are greatly in need due to both a shortage of food in their homes and in our food pantries. Each STAR group is collecting food and having a contest to see which group can bring the most. Even if you don't have a 7th grade child, feel free to send a couple food items with your child this week to donate to the cause.

Secondly, all students are raising money for the Toys for Tots program. This year, Mrs. Beydler and her students are using all of the money raised to help a couple local Carlisle families have toys and new clothes for Christmas. Our school goal is $1100 as we raised over $1000 last year and think we can beat it this year. One staff member has already pledged to match up to $100 if students can bring $100 this Friday!! Each day, a few students will visit every first period class in search of spare change or even a dollar bill or too. You would be amazed at how the spare change adds up. If each student were to simply drop a quarter in the bucket each day, we would raise over $700 in 6 days! If a student were to drop a dollar bill in one day or maybe a few quarters, our goal would be easy. So, again, a very simple request of our students, but adding it up, it can help so many people here right here in our community.

Please consider these 2 great causes this Holiday season. Also, please talk with your kids about charities and helping others as these are great conversations to have with kids at this age. They should be learning lots about handling and working with money both at school and home and charitable giving is one key piece of that education. Happy Holidays!

Local Job Fair to Hire 30 New Workers...in the NEXT 2 WEEKS!!

Just a quick post to alert all of you so that you can spread the word. Dr. Lane has just forwarded me an email about an upcoming job fair in Indianola put on by a company called MarketLink. They are looking for people with good people skills, personal communication skills, and a positive attitude. And they are looking to hire immediately. I have copied/pasted the flier as best as I could below so that you have all the necessary information you need. If you are not in need of a job, please refer this information to people in our community who you know might need a job. What a wonderful holiday present....the gift of employment and a paycheck. I hope this helps several in our community.

Friday, December 9th from 1:00 - 6:00 PM

at our Indianola facility at 1801 W. 2nd Avenue.

We need Account Specialists to sell telecommunications products by phone

AND WE’RE HIRING THEM NOW!

We are also hiring a Sales Supervisor and a Recruitment Specialist!

If you’re highly dependable, have excellent verbal and PC skills and a positive attitude.

Come in this Friday. WE’RE HIRING NOW!

1801 W. 2nd Avenue · Indianola, IA · 515-961-3165

School Supplies If You Are in Need!

Parents and families, if you are in need of school supplies and feel you cannot afford them this year, please keep reading. And if you can afford supplies but know someone who might not, please pass along the information in this blogpost. School supply costs can add up even though each item might not seem too expensive one at a time. And of course the economy has not come back like we all hoped and many families are still struggling to make ends meet. Now the school year begins and the best way to get a student off to a great start and feel comfortable and ready to learn is to have their supplies all purchased and ready to go. So what do you do if you cannot purchase these supplies?? Well, I have two options that have come available to start the year. One is literally today and tomorrow only and the other is ongoing. Please see details below.

Option 1: School Supply pickup at Cottage Grove Presbyterian Church, 1050 24th St., Des Moines, IA. For more details than I can provide, please call 279-9998. It is for grades Pre-K through 12. Family income must be at or below 150% poverty level. Bring proof of income and IDs for all members of the family. If you qualify, here are the dates and times you can stop by:

August 11th from 5-8 p.m.

August 12th from 10 a.m. to noon

I know it is short notice, but if it benefits at least one family from Carlisle, I will be very grateful for this service.

Option 2: My office! We collected gently used and unused supplies from students to end the year and I organized these in my office. We also took part in a local supply drive and are getting more from a Des Moines supply drive next week. Bottom line, I have a ton of supplies for students in need. These are available anytime, just email or call me. Students also know they can get more supplies during the year if they are in need and cannot afford it. They just have to stop into my office.

I hope this helps some families who are in need. There is a lot more than just intelligence that goes into learning and getting good grades. Having the needed supplies and being "just like everyone else" when it comes to having good, working materials is very important. And if you don't have these to start the year, you may never have them. So please, use these resources if you can. Thanks! (Ben Barry, 989-5413, ben.barry@carlisle.k12.ia.us)