Thanks to Walgreens for sponsoring my writing. Help Walgreens help others! Visit their Facebook page here to learn about their charitable partners and decide which cause Walgreens will donate to with a quick vote.

Giving back to our community is a priority that I have scheduled for my family. Sure, our calendar is full just like many other families, but community giving doesn’t have to take a ton of time. It is a responsibility that I want my children to understand and can cost as little as a purchase of trash bags at your local grocery store.

Community Giving Ideas

1. Clean up. Cleaning up around your community and neighborhood is a great opportunity to get involved and get the young ones involved for their first time. It’s not time consuming, everyone in the family can’t help out, and costs truly nothing. Check out local parks, your neighborhood, and community centers.

2. Look next door. Your own neighbors may be in need of help. You can help with mowing the lawn, taking the trash to the curb, cleaning gutters, even carrying in groceries. My teen son helps our neighbor out and it has been a great reward for him.

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Wanted to share an email with you all…

Henkel is at it again! Making fitness a priority for our children in school.

Henkel will give three winning schools (one elementary, middle, high school) $10,000 each towards their physical education program to help keep our children fit and healthy. All you have to do is nominate your child’s school to get them in the running! How simple is that, right?

All you need to do is go to Henkel Helps to enter your school for a chance to win!

Time is counting down for Henkel Helps Get Kids Fit 2011, so hurry to the website to enter your child’s school.

Philadelphia Cream Cheese that is!

It’s time for women to show off their cooking chops on Season Two of Real Women of Philadelphia, a cooking contest to find 4 HOT original recipes featuring Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Philadelphia Cooking Crème. It already sounds so yummy!

Beginning April 4th and running for 8-weeks, contestants will be given a theme (appetizers, side dish, entrée, or dessert), create their awesome dish, and then upload their recipe videos to the Real Women of Philadelphia website.

Once the competition closes, 16 finalists will be chosen to fly to Savannah, Georgia to join Paula Deen (YAY!) and Kraft for a competition cook-off where the 4 Grand Prize Winners will be selected.

Here is what the 4 winners will receive (from the RWOP website):

• Contribute to a Cookbook
• Star in their very own Cooking Videos
• Make Publicity Appearances
• A chance to become a Guest Contributor to national food magazines
• And become $25,000 richer!

So what are you waiting for? Move quickly to Real Women of Philadelphia, register, and get your creative cooking juices flowing!

Have fun!