Help your local school

Here are a few things you can do to help the school earn extra money for teachers to use in their classrooms. The days of bake sales have changed.

• Collect Education Box Tops from various products. The school gets a percentage when they return the box tops. Take the box tops to the school.
• Collect Campbell food labels, again the school gets a percentage. Take the labels to the school.
• Hy Vee receipts, the schools get a percentage of the total price of the ticket. Take the receipts to the school.
• The biggest bang for your buck!! Lawrence Give Back cards can be purchased at a variety of stores around Lawrence. You just ask for the card, and decide what charity or school you would like the percentage of the sales to go to. These cards can be used in numerous places. You can find more information and check the balance on your card at the Lawrence Give Back website.

Check with your local school to see if they participate in any of these programs. Woodlawn and Sunset Hill do. Numbers 1,2 and 3 you do need to take these items to the school, but not the Lawrence Give Back cards.

Help your local food pantry

Just Food, a project of ECKAN, coordinates keeping food in the local food pantries. They have a refrigerated facility now at 1200 E. 11th, and they are open for donations 8-5, Monday through Friday.

Donations of money are even more welcome than donations of food. Every dollar you give buys 10 pounds of food to be distributed to local families. Or put another way, every dollar you give buys four meals.

You can give online at justfoodfund.org, or you can stop by the office.

Got extra produce in your garden? Take those extra melons and tomatoes over to Just Food for distribution to the community. You don't need to have bushels and bushels. Whatever you can give will be greatly appreciated.

Army of Women

Hey, want to do something good in the fight against breast cancer? The Army of Women is an organization formed by Dr. Susan Love and the Avon Foundation to help breast cancer researchers by finding research subjects. Their goal is to sign up a million women willing to be research subjects, thus vastly increasing the pool of subjects. Go to their website and sign up! It doesn't obligate you to anything, but you may find yourself eligible for one of the research studies. Really, what are you waiting for?