Dish-Houston

OH DISHIES! How this pleases the DISH heart! Starting today, August 1stm Houston-based Sun & Ski Sports will mark the sale of its 50,000^th pair of TOMS shoes!  And as you can imagine, there is a HUGE celebration that goes along with it! It's a two-week Back To School Shoe Drive to benefit children at Star of Hope topped off by an August 13th TOMS Shoes Custom Paint Event.  Shoe painting commissions will support promising young artists. As you know, TOMS One for One Movement  matches each shoe purchases with a new pair of shoes for children in developing countries. This has been the basis of what TOM'S is all about.

The CEO of Sun & Ski Sports explains how this particular event is Double Good!!

“This milestone sale directly correlates to 50,000 pairs of TOMS shoes given to children globally through Sun & Ski since the company began carrying the TOMS brand two years ago,” said Barry Goldware, CEO of Sun & Ski Sports, TOMS #1 seller in Texas. 

“During the shoe drive, every customer who brings in a pair of gently worn shoes will receive a Sun & Ski Sports certificate for $5 off a new pair of TOMS shoes.  Shoes will be donated to needy children both locally and globally through the efforts of Sun & Ski and TOMS -- it’s one for one X (times) two, when donors buy a new pair of TOMS as well,” he explained. 

There is always a fun way to bring the community together on top of giving back on August 13th, if you want to decorate your TOM'S for $10 per pair, an artist will paint a custom design on your shoes for you!  The artists, who will receive 100 percent of their painting fees, can paint commissions on the shoe canvas and the paints are water resistant. You will have ONE of a kind TOM'S!

Additionally the collection boxes for gently, pre-owned (or new if you can) shoes appropriate for children to wear to school will be at all five Houston-area Sun & Ski Sports stores: 6100 Westheimer, Memorial City Mall, Katy Mills Mall, 5503 FM 1960 West and 1355 Bay Area Boulevard.

TOMS was founded in 2006 when American traveler Blake Mycoskie befriended children in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS, which stands for Tomorrows. Mycoskie returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by TOMS customers.  Today the company has donated more than one million shoes to barefoot children to help prevent soil-transmitted diseases and the long-term physical and cognitive harm they cause; prevent feet from getting cuts and sores that are dangerous if they become infected; and allow children to attend school because shoes are a required part of their uniform. If they don't go to school, they don't receive an education and don't have the opportunity to realize their potential.

Sun & Ski Sports has a longstanding relationship with Star of Hope, having collected more than over 10 tons of clothing in 20+ years to provide warmth to Houston’s homeless, according to Marilyn Fountain, Star of Hope Community Relations.  Through Emergency Shelters and Transitional Living Centers, Star of Hope touches the lives of more than 7,000 different homeless people each year, including more than 1,600 children.  Star of Hope ministers to approximately 1,000 men, women and children every day with food, clothing, shelter, Christian care and structured recovery programs. Sun & Ski Sports outfits enthusiasts who ski, run, hike and bike around the world.  The store’s e-commerce and store addresses are available at  www.sunandski.com.  

As you have to know by now, unless you live under a rock with no communication abilities with the outside world....last year Willie Nelson was charged with marijuana possession when the cops found weed on his tour bus at a border checkpoint.

Last month, he struck a deal with prosecutors in which he agreed to plead no contest in exchange for reducing the charge. At the time, he was ordered to pay a $500 fine, told he was told he wouldn't go to jail provided if behaved himself for a month. If he did this, the judge would dismiss the case entirely!

All seemed fair enough to the outside world but not to West Texas judge Becky Dean-Walker! She has rejected the plea bargain.

Here's what she had to say about it:

"It's not right simply because he doesn't do that for anybody else."

Dean-Walker really seems to have it out for Willie, because she wants him charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana, which could result in up to a year in jail.

NOTE: Sounds like someone just wants her name in the papers... So here you go...SHAME ON YOU JUDGE BECKY DEAN-WALKER!! There! Happy now?

Gracious...

Hey DISHIES!

If you aren't running in the Houston Dynamo run this weekend...you can help volunteer to make it a huge success! Here is the info!

7/15/2011-Friday

3.     Delivery Volunteers

a.      Time: 7:00 am- 9:00 am

b.      Place: Houston Dynamo Offices- George R Brown Convention Center- 2^nd floor to Luke’s Locker 1953 West Gray Houston, TX 77019

c.      Number of Volunteers: 4-6 Depending on their car size (prefer big trucks or SUVs)

d.      Duties: Load up boxes of registration packets in cars at George R. Brown, drop off at Luke’s Locker Room, set up pick up area including tents and tables

4.     Volunteers to Work Packet Pickup Area

a.      Time: 10:00 am- 1:00 pm, 1:00 pm- 4:00pm, 4:00 pm- 7:00 pm

b.      Place: Luke’s Locker 1953 West Gray Houston, TX 77019 and Houston Dynamo Offices-George R Brown Convention Center-2^nd Floor

c.      Number of Volunteers needed: 5 per group

d.      Duties: Check people in and give them their registration packets, last group must break down tables and tents, load tents tables and remaining boxes and drop off at George R Brown Convention Center

7/16/11-Saturday

5.     Setup Crew

a.      Time: 5:00 am- 6:00 am

b.      900 Smith St. Houston, TX 77002

c.      Number of volunteers needed: 45

d.      Duties: Set up pre-registered and non-registered areas (3 tables 3 tents per area), hang banners, and alphabet signs, set up tents and tables at the three water station sites, and help vendors/ corporate teams set up at their designated area

6.      Volunteer Check-in

a.      Set up Dynamo Charities tent

                                                      i.       We will set up

                                                    ii.       Volunteer Houston and we will work the tent

7.     Volunteers on Streets

a.      Time: 4:30 am- 6:00 am

b.      Place: 900 Smith St. Houston, TX 77002

c.      Number of Volunteers needed: 4 (2 on Walker and 2 on McKinney)

d.      Duties: Check vendors and Companies off list, and give them their parking permit and map of the site

8.      Water Stations

a.      Time: 7:30 am - 9:15 am

b.      Place: 900 Smith St. Houston, TX 77002

c.      Numbers of Volunteers needed: 24- 8 per water station

d.      Duties: 4 people will fill cups with water and the other 4 people will pass out the water, break down tents, tables and clean up area

9.      Kids Fun Run Medal Givers

a.      Time: 8:30 am -9:15 am

b.      Number of Volunteers Needed: 8

c.      Duties: Stand at finish line and give each kid that finishes the race a medal

10.  Clean-up/Breakdown Crew

a.      Time: 10:30 am- 12:30 pm

b.      Place: 900 Smith St. Houston, TX 77002 and University of Houston’s Robertson Stadium.

c.      Number of Volunteers Needed: 45 (some need to have SUV’s or trucks)

d.      Duties: Break down registration tents, take down signs and banners, load up tents, and boxes, go to the 3 water stations and load up equipment into cars, t take boxes to George R. Brown and Stadium, and tents, tables and water containers to University of Houston’s Robertson Stadium.

If you're interested in helping please contact 

Corbett Parker

713-667-5555

corbett.parker@gmail.com

How does Texas not have a law making paid maternity leave mandatory? Thankfully there are some enlightened companies that offer six week paid time off but smaller and cheaper companies force women to save as much money as they can during pregnancy to use for that time. They also have to save vacation and sick leave just so they can spend time with their new child up on arrival.

More over, most companies don't allow the same time off for adoptive parents as they do biological, unpaid or not. Some companies actually won't hold the jobs of the adoptive parents if they take time off when the baby comes home.

What times are we living in? Are companies that cheap? Are they that unfamily friendly? Especially in a business that is so female dominate like apartment leasing. This whole story came about talking to the people in a leasing office of one of The Finger Companies in Houston. There are two pregnant ladies in this office and as little as they make they are still forced to save as much as they can, not to spend on the baby, it's health, preparing for it or it's education but just to pay their bills so they can take time with the baby when it's born!

Maternity leave, now often called parental or family leave, is the time a mother (or father) takes off from work for the birth or adoption of a child. Actual paid "maternity leave" — while the norm in every other developed country — is unusual in the United States, although some enlightened companies do offer new parents paid time off, up to six weeks in some cases.

In this case they'll have to use a combination of short-term disability (STD), sick leave, vacation, personal days, and unpaid family leave during their time away from work.

The picture did improve in 1993 with the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which entitles most workers to up to 12 weeks of job-protected medical leave for birth or adoption. However, the FMLA doesn't cover those who work for smaller companies and guarantees only unpaid leaves.
 

What happens if the mother or baby gets sick or or needs to go to the doctor for it's check ups? There is no room for that in the first year of these babies lives because these women were forced to use all of their vacation and sick time for maternity leave. Heaven forbid there is an emergency in these families lives because they used their savings to stay at home with the new child.

For a list of who to contact to lodge your complaint CLICK HERE