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Jul 05 2011
How to find a penpal.
By Kristen Chase.
When I was looking at how to address spelling, grammar, and handwriting in a practical application as part of my daughter's first grade curriculum last year, we decided that she would write weekly letters to her grandmother. They had been corresponding on a fairly regular basis, but since I was turning it into more than just a way for her to keep in touch with "MiMi," I wanted to be sure that it ended up in my lesson plan book.
And while I did end up ditching the lesson plan book, we were pretty consistent with the letter writing, so much so that I wanted to add in someone else – a penpal.
I can think of tons of reasons why penpals are such a wonderful addition to a homeschool curriculum, not just from a basic language arts and penmanship standpoint, but also from a social studies lens as well. Quite frankly, even if a penpal lives in the town over, they have so much to offer your child in terms of exposing them to differences – whether it's small things like food preferences to big things like cultural background.
However, finding a penpal can be a little challenging. Have you seen some of the penpal websites? They look like they were made in 1994. And when a "hot singles" dating ad pops up, I can't click away fast enough.
Fortunately, our Associate Editor at Cool Mom Picks happens to be a homeschool mom. In fact, I've written about Christina aka The Fairly Odd Mother here quite often as she's been a fantastic resource and support in my own homeschool journey.
And knowing that she had a daughter around my own daughter's age with similar interests, I figured it might be fun for them to become penpals.
Now I realize that you don't necessarily need your kid's penpal to be a homeschooler. Any schooler will do really, but in my experience, homeschool kids seem to have a little more time on their hands. And the parents can make it a part of their curriculum rather than an after thought.
So for the last several months, our daughters have been writing back and forth. A letter or two here, a couple of postcards there. Jillian even sent Quinlan a bouncy ball in the mail the other day.
Did you know that you could send a stamped ball in the mail? Now you do!
I consider myself quite fortunate to have such easy access to a penpal for my daughter. And we might even try to connect our sons, which might be only slightly easier than climbing Mount Everest.
But if you don't have a fellow homeschool mom in another state right at your finger tips, here are some suggestions:
1. Reach out to a friend or family member
Homeschooler or not, you could always connect your kids with your friends' kids (or relatives' kids) in another state. Not only will it be a great experience for your kids, but it might keep you and your friends and family more connected as well.
2. Reach out to your local homeschool group.
While it would be nice to have a pen pal in a faraway place, there's nothing wrong with starting close. It also helps to know the parents because you'll have an idea as to who is going to stick with it. At this young age, I've found that parental involvement and encouragement is key to keep the relationship going.
3. Reach out to a homeschool group in another state.
Whether you have friends in another state that homeschool or you've got access to a homeschool group somewhere else (perhaps pick a place that your kids are interested in studying), you could email them and see if any of their members might have kids interested in penpals. You could even do an entire group "exchange" and have your homeschool group become penpals with another group.
Once you've established a pen pal for your kids, here are a few suggestions on how to make it work:
1. Keep all the supplies readily available
I always make sure to have stamps, envelopes, cards, stationery, and school paper (the special handwriting paper that leaves space for kids to draw up top) around so the only thing my daughter has to do is write the actual letter, which I try to have her do within two or three days of receiving one from her penpal. For now, I own the responsibility of addressing and mailing them, but next year, she'll be doing that too.
2. Provide them with writing prompts
I'm always surprised at how often my daughter says "I don't know what to write" when she was just talking my ear off about everything going on in her busy life. So I simply created some writing prompts on cards that I keep with all her letter writing supplies. Simple phrases like: "What did you do last weekend?" "What was the favorite part of your day yesterday?" are helpful, particularly for the younger kids.
3. Get Creative
Even though you're probably going to use this experience to address academic skills, it's helpful to let your kids get creative about what they send. Sometimes we send formal letters, but other times, it's pictures, postcards from our trips, and yes, apparently even bouncy balls. By changing it up and letting your kids get creative, I think they'll be more intrinsically motivated to continue the writing relationship.
So whose kids have penpals? How did you find them?
Kristen Chase is a mom of 4, writer, and co-publisher of Cool Mom Picks and Cool Mom Tech, a popular shopping and trendspotting blog for moms. She's a 2nd generation homeschooler, having been taught middle and high school by her own mother back when people were still using quills and ink wells, and is now a very well-adjusted and socialized homeschool mom herself.
70 Comments and 34 Replies
A. On Tuesday, July 5 at 6:00 am
"Afterthought' is one word. Just sayin'.
Savannah @ Hammock Tracks On Tuesday, July 5 at 6:15 am
I like to use post crossing. This allows the kids to use their writing skills and learn geography. Here is a post I did about it – http://www.hammocktracks.com/2010/08/home-education-post-crossing.html
Chris Sheely On Tuesday, July 5 at 6:41 am
When my daughter was around 13, she got a penpal in England. A cousin had recently married and moved there and had a co-worker whose daughter also wanted a penpal. Paula is a couple of years older than my daughter, but the two became fast friends-long before cheap international calls and computers. They wrote often and met when the two girls were around 16 and 18. When my daughter was in college and studying in France, she went to England for a long weekend to reconnect. Today, they're both over 40 and still keep in touch-via Facebook mostly-and have enjoyed their long-distance friendship for nearly 30 years.
I would highly recommend penpals to everyone!
(I had one in high school-from France-but when my father died I found it difficult to write to her in French so I quit altogether. I always regretted that I didn't keep up that friendship.)
Barbara Rocha On Tuesday, July 5 at 6:53 am
If you want a pen pal – perhaps a few of us can connect here? I have two daughters 8 and 11 – we live in Canada. This is a great forum. Let me know.
Damaris On Tuesday, July 5 at 7:17 am
I have two daughters ages 13 and 11.. We live in Texas. Maybe we can start with emailing first. Let me know what you think?
LAURA B. On Tuesday, July 5 at 8:17 am
I have two daughters, 6 (almost 7) and 12. We would love to do this as well! What a great idea and forum. We live in Minnesota.
Chris On Tuesday, July 5 at 9:31 am
Hi Barbara! We also live in Canada – in Alberta. I have 2 daughters – 9 and 11 and they are eager for penpals. We'd love to do this!
Jennifer On Tuesday, July 5 at 10:49 am
My duaghter is 12 and we live in Michigan, she would love to have a penpal!!
Mai Jones On Tuesday, July 5 at 1:29 pm
I really like that idea. I have a daughter also who would really enjoy having a pen pal. She is 10. If you want you can email me and I can give you contact information. [email protected]
Heidi Cogdill On Tuesday, July 5 at 10:19 pm
Hi Gals!
I have a daughter who is 11 and a son who is 8. My daughter loves to write letters and has been wanting a Penpal for some time.
Heidi Cogdill On Tuesday, July 5 at 10:21 pm
Sorry…forgot to mention we live in South Carolina.
christina4k On Wednesday, July 6 at 12:26 am
Hi…this is a great idea…I have a 15 year old daughter and we live in Los Angeles, CA
christina4k On Wednesday, July 6 at 12:28 am
This is a great idea….I have a 15 year old daughter and we live in Los Angeles, CA
Rachel Denning On Wednesday, July 6 at 2:19 am
I have 5 children – 8 (girl), 7 (boy), 6 (boy), 4 (girl) and almost 1 (boy). The older ones would love to be pen pals!
We don't have a permanent address- we're driving from Alaska to Argentina right now.
But we write letters, take pictures of them and then email them.
Contact me at [email protected] – they LOVE making new friends.
Scotia On Wednesday, July 6 at 2:42 am
Hi all,
I have two girls, 8 and a half and 11 who (once I explained the concept) would love to try this as well.
I have a pen pal in Canada who I have written to for about 20 years and love it.
We are in Canberra, Australia.
While not home schoolers, I think the variety would really good.
Margie On Wednesday, July 6 at 7:42 am
I have one neice, who is 10, we live in NY. She would love a pen pal.
Kelly S On Wednesday, July 6 at 9:13 am
I had a penpal in England when I was about 11 until about 14 but lost touch when hwe father passed away…I enjoyed getting to know her so much.
We live in Texas and our oldest girl is about to turn 9 – she would LOVE a penpal! We'd love to connect with a girl that lives in a place really different from here (like Canada. :o) ) Feel free to email me – kellysowell (at) sbcglobal.net.
Ladonnia Reed On Wednesday, July 6 at 9:47 am
Hi my son is 11 also and we live in hatch nm. We can try . I'm homeschooling for the first time. But excited about it. Let me know. Have a great day, thanks Ladonnia reed
Damaris On Wednesday, July 6 at 11:47 am
If any of you ladies would like for my daughter and your daughter to have a penpal..here is my information [email protected], I have a daughter who is 13 and another who is 11, Thanks
Renee Alam On Wednesday, July 6 at 7:01 pm
Jennifer,I have a 12 year old daughter that would love to be penpals with your daughter,especially since we moved from MI two years ago and miss it a lot,so she would love to have a penpal from our old home.
Marisa On Thursday, July 7 at 2:50 pm
Hi Barbara, I also have an 8 year old daughter who would love a pen pal! We live in Alabama and are taking on homeschooling for the first time this year. Feel free to contact me at [email protected]
Marcela On Tuesday, July 5 at 6:55 am
I 've had a penpal for 19 years and it has been great:)
He is from India, I am originally from Argentina and we have never met, though I hope one day we will. When we started corresponding, we were in high school and now we are both married with children. We have grown up together, waiting for each other's letter, that would sometimes take 2 months and more to arrive.
We found each other through a Finnish organization that doesn't exist anymore. It was called International Youth Service, and I was very sad to learn it had closed its doors.
Jackie On Tuesday, July 5 at 7:02 am
I have a 10 year old daughter that I would love to have her find a penpal!!
Mai Jones On Tuesday, July 5 at 1:37 pm
If you are interested my daughter would really enjoy having a pen pal. She is also 10. We live in California. If you want to email me at my work to set up for them. [email protected]
Damaris On Tuesday, July 5 at 7:15 am
Barbara, I have two daughters ages 13 and 11, we live in Texas. Let me know if you would like for them to be penpals.
Kathy H. On Tuesday, July 5 at 7:32 am
I have a 15 year old daughter who is dying for a penpal !! Please let me know if anyone is interested. We live in New Jersey.
christina4k On Wednesday, July 6 at 3:10 pm
Hi..I have a 15 year old daughter and we are in Los Angeles, CA..she would love being a penpal with your daughter…email me at [email protected]
christina4k On Wednesday, July 6 at 3:12 pm
HI…I have a 15 year old daughter and we are in Los Angeles, CA…she would love being penpals with your daughter. Contact me at [email protected].
REXFORD On Thursday, October 6 at 5:15 pm
my name Rexford and i want to be friends with Kathy H.I live in Ghana
Christina On Tuesday, July 5 at 7:35 am
Please also try http://www.postcrossing.com, it is a website for trading postcards. You can choose any languages that you speak and be matched with people all over the world. Now that I'm thinking about this might also be good for people trying to learn a foreign language.
I know postcards are not the same as a penpal's letter but it is a start and sometimes you click with the other person and then you have a new penpal. Sometimes you just get a pretty postcard.
Some of the people on postcrossing are teachers who will ask people to be generous enough to send multiples (the site only requires one). I am always happy to support these groups, but if you do this always be sure to write a thank you email. It is disappointing as a sender to get no feedback.
Rachel Denning On Wednesday, July 6 at 2:21 am
Cool! I'll check it out.
Aileen On Tuesday, July 5 at 7:36 am
Hi, I love the idea of each generation having penpals. I have had various penpals over the years and am still in touch with one 16 years later. As part of my holidays when I was younger I took part in a Youth Exchange Trip where I visited Belgium and stayed with a family and the next year they did the same. I have been back and forth for years and am still very good friends with them all. These days our correspondence tends to be Facebook, Emails and texts rather than a handwritten letter but we sometimes still do that as it is very exciting to get a letter in the post rather than bills! I am pleased you are encouraging your family to do this and going by the comments you seem to have prompted other parents to do the same thing! Well done!! xx
Urban Wife On Tuesday, July 5 at 7:49 am
Penpals are awesome! My best friend and I began our friendship through a pen pal program with Clubhouse Kids (a part of Focus on the Family Ministries) back in the early 90s. It was great because the program paired up children that were close in age and same gender, but other than that it was just up to chance where they lived and their background, etc (i.e. I was homeschooled, she was not, she lived over 1,000 miles away…etc). A few years after we first started corresponding, their family came to visit in our area and we met in person for the first time. Over the years, we always managed to stay in touch from snail mail through the evolution of email and then through cell phones. Wow, I feel OLD all of a sudden. Anyhow, we have been best friends now for 18+ years and I'm so glad I stuck with my pen pal! I hope your daughter has a valuable experience through her pen pal.
Rachel On Wednesday, July 6 at 12:45 pm
I got my penpal from Clubhouse in the early 90s, too! We should ask what the secret is to matching pals, since here are two cases of nearly twenty years of letters & friendship.
Heidi On Tuesday, July 5 at 7:49 am
We did some postcard exchanges this year through a Yahoo group called postcardkids.
You can pick and choose from other members and exchange postcards to your heart's content. We enjoyed this as a part of our U.S. map project. I was a bit disappointed though that while my kids always wrote messages on the cards they sent out, none of the cards we received in return had any writing on them.
We've also had penpals who are friends of ours in another state, and it went well for awhile but they stopped sending letters. If anyone's looking for a penpal for a boy who will be 11 this year or a girl who will be 9, we'd love to try it again!
Lori B. On Friday, July 8 at 12:24 am
Heidi, my son will be 11 in the fall, and he's a little jealous that his younger sister has a pen pal and he doesn't. We met my daughter's pen pal at a Disney homeschool days event. They spent the morning together and became fast friends, and they have been sending letters off and on since January.
My son's handwriting is atrocious, but maybe having a pen pal will help inspire him to write neater. A mom can always hope, right? My daughter just turned 8. She loves getting letters, so maybe we can hook our daughters up too, if your daughter doesn't mind writing to a younger girl. My email is lori dot buck at comcast dot net if you are interested.
lina On Wednesday, July 13 at 11:37 pm
Hi Lori my daughter is 8 and she would like a pen pal. I was wondering if your daughter would be interested in being my daughter's pen pal. We are in New Jersey and we also homeschool our girls. My oldest girl is 11 and my youngest 8.
Sarah Phillips On Tuesday, July 5 at 8:05 am
My daughters ages 10 and 12 made friends with a girl their age while we were camping this summer. They have already started sending and recieving letters and post cards in the mail and are so excited !
Brook V On Tuesday, July 5 at 8:09 am
My daughter is now pen pals (sporadically) with the daughter of my best friend in grade school. Our grandmothers and mothers were friends when they were young and now we can continue the tradition through letters.
Brook V On Tuesday, July 5 at 8:13 am
The worlds greatest leaders and thinkers were letter writers. There is just something about putting a pen to paper and writing linearly that organizes thinking.
LAURA B. On Tuesday, July 5 at 8:16 am
I have two daughters, 6 (almost 7) and 12. We would love to do this as well! What a great idea and forum.
LAURA B. On Tuesday, July 5 at 8:17 am
We live in Minnesota, forgot to mention that.
My Kids Mom On Tuesday, July 5 at 8:30 am
I thought my 7 yo son would love a penpal and gave him the adrs of a friend's son out of state. (They'd met once) My son was so excited and wrote immediately, then checked the miailbox an hour later and twice a day for the next three weeks.
I had not asked her opinion, or her son's, and her son isn't interested and she doesn't want to push him. That leaves my son upset and not interested in trying again. Lesson learned. Learn from me!
jeannie On Tuesday, July 5 at 8:31 am
I have identical twin girls who are going into the 1st grade. They are very much into reading and writing right now and would love penpals. We are in MA. Any twins around the same age out there?
Fairly Odd Mother On Tuesday, July 5 at 8:42 am
Thanks Kristen!
I think the simple pleasure of getting mail is sometimes forgotten by adults who get 1000 pieces of junk mail a week. For my kids, getting something addressed just to them is a red-letter day. Jillian LOVES hearing from Quinlan.
And, yes, I'd love our boys to someday do the same, though I know that those letters will be about 20 times more hilariously bizarre and probably impossible to read, if my son's handwriting right now is any indication.
Another idea for people to consider: Cousins. My 10 1/2 year old writes to her same-aged step cousin and it's such a nice way for the girls to keep in touch. I also have her write emails in between the handwritten notes since I'm hoping it'll help with her keyboarding.
Jill On Tuesday, July 5 at 8:45 am
If you want to learn about people all over the world I recommend postcrossing.com. Basically you send a post card to someone (they provide address) around the world and then you get post cards from different people all over the world. Great way to learn geography too.
Julie Porter On Tuesday, July 5 at 9:06 am
Or… Sponsor a child in another country. You will (a) be doing something to make the world a better place for someone in need; (2) have a penpal who will definitely write, and to whom letters mean SO much; (3) have an authentic reason to learn about another country. Many of the sponsorship organizations allow you to search by age or even birthdate of the child, so you could match your kids up with birthday buddies, name buddies, whatever. The Compassion International, or World Vision. Children Incorporated even offers U.S. sponsorships!–which is a chance to learn about another state as well as about the fact of poverty within our country.
Kate On Wednesday, July 6 at 11:48 am
Thank you for this, Julie! My 10 year old daughter is saving her money to go to Africa one day; she would loooove to have a pen pal from there and I've been wondering how to go about facilitating this. Duh! Sponsoring a child is just all-around brilliant!
Angie On Tuesday, July 5 at 9:25 am
When I was in grade school we were set up with penpals from foreign countries….I'm not sure what organization it was through…..but I ended up writing to two girls, one in Brazil and one in Germany, who also ended up being penpals with each other. I'm 27 now, and we are all Facebook friends! I loved having penpals and it's so much fun to still keep in touch with them now.
MelissaW On Tuesday, July 5 at 9:44 am
awesome ideas and I so miss the days of letter writing.
Wanda On Tuesday, July 5 at 9:55 am
Several years ago, my brother in law was living and working in China. He was there for several three month stays. This was before skype so email was the way to go. My daughters would tell him about their day, family news, and ask questions of his stay. They learned about another culture and so did he! Often he would have to ask his fellow employees for answers to the questions. They worked it out so that someone would email him each day. We also found a free online chess game that they were able to play with him.
busy lady On Tuesday, July 5 at 10:10 am
For the last 11 years I have participated with the MN Farm Bureau Ag Penpal Program. Classrooms or families can sign up and they are paired with a farm family. My role is to provide them the opportunity to see what life on a farm is like, decisions we have to make, how to financially plan for things, etc. I have been a penpal to kids in K and my last class I had were 6th graders so we really had some good discussions on things. While life on the farm can get busy, I tried to write once a week if I could. Some of those letters were short, but has a picture or two in there to show them what I was using while I was busy farming.
If you are a farm family, make connections to adopt a class from a local school district. If you aren't, make contact with a farm family, or ask the local Extension service if they could recommend someone that you could contact. If you are in a more rural area, I am sure there are farm organizations you can make contact with as well.
Debi On Tuesday, July 5 at 10:37 am
I had a penpal when i was a young tween. Loved getting the letters from a faraway place. As we got older the letters were fewer and farther in between. We stopped writing some time after high school. But it was great to connect with someone, If you have daughters this is a great teaching tool and fun activity. My boys would rather chase a frog and get peed on. SMH
Juliette On Tuesday, July 5 at 10:38 am
Another idea for a pen pal is to sponsor a child through an organization such a Compassion International and your children can write to them. We are working on getting that set up for ourselves and I really want my children to interact if possible with them. I suppose there is always the possibility the children won't respond to our letters though….
Allison Bell On Tuesday, July 5 at 10:52 am
I am not a home school mom but I have to comment on this! I think this is such a great idea! My daughter is 18 (almost 19) and she met her two best friends when she entered a new school in the 5th grade (age about 11). Over the next four years one of the friends moved away, moved back, and then moved again. Our family moved away as well at the same time as this friend moved the second time. During all of this, these three girls communicated by writing letters to each other with an occasional phone call thrown in. Now all three girls are headed off to college in three different states and still actually write letters and send card to each other. In today's world of cell phones, texting, and email, the skills of writing an actual letter are being lost. While they do text and facebook more than actually write they still love getting mail out of the mailbox! Last week, my daughter was cleaning out her closet and came across a shoebox full of letters and postcards from these two friends that she had saved over the years. She had so much fun reading them and sifting through the memories that they sparked.
I need to say that all three of the families involved are close and as their mothers, we all agreed to nurture and encourage the letter writing -which meant nagging a little occasionally and making sure the address and postage was correct some of the time. I've written a novel here-I apologize- but I just wanted you all to know what a wonderful experience having a pen pal can be. By the way, I've got a pen pal that I've had for 22 years-we've never met- but I consider her one of my greatest friends!
Mimi - SleeplessInKL On Tuesday, July 5 at 11:01 am
Aah..this post reminded me of the penpals that I had as a child thru IYS. How sad they've shut down already!
jlhe1975 On Tuesday, July 5 at 11:27 am
ePals is a great way to get penpals from all over the world. You sign up for an account and what kind of a pen pal you want and other teachers/parents connect with you…
jeannine: waddlee-ah-chaa On Tuesday, July 5 at 11:54 am
Along the same lines of giving my children authentic reasons for writing and developing their language arts skills, I have them write thank you notes. My son celebrates his birthday at the beginning of June, he just turned eight. He uses the summer to write personalized notes for each gift he receives.
1. He also designs his own thank you card. He does the original artwork, I scan the artwork into our computer and then print the cards for him. He's also learning how to use Microsoft Publisher himself this year.
2. We make a list of everyone who gave him a gift and the gift items. This helps him with difficult spelling and to organize his thoughts.
3. We write a basic "thank you note" outline together. He adjusts the outline as needed for each gift giver and gift.
I want my children to always be grateful for the gifts they are given. And everyone is always surprised and very pleased to receive a personal thank you card.
Sandy On Tuesday, July 5 at 5:02 pm
That's such good training for life! So many of us have either been offended by the lack of a thank you or have wondered what we did wrong when someone was offended. The training you're giving your kids extends to more than just writing — they are learning that they're not entitled to gifts and that a "thank you" is never in error.
Rachel On Tuesday, July 5 at 12:58 pm
If your children subscribe to any children's magazines, ask them if they have a penpal program. I actually met my own penpal of 19 years that way! (Writing that made me realize we've been penpals/friends for 20 years. Wow.) We both wrote into Clubhouse magazine (still around) to sign up for their penpal program and here we are today. Through some language programs at school, I tried to have penpals in different countries, but the language barrier and the length of time between letters made the relationships difficult to maintain. For that reason, I would recommend starting a little closer to home — at least in the US.
It sounds like this blog could be a great forum for penpal-seeking families to connect. However, I would encourage you homeschoolers to try and reach out to non-homeschool kids. My penpal was a homeschooler; I was not. Looking back now, we can see that we both learned a lot about the "bigger world," just based on that singular difference.
Happy writing! There is nothing quite like the joy of getting a letter in the mail; I'm delighted to hear that it is not a dying art. Keep the letters alive!
Staci On Tuesday, July 5 at 1:04 pm
My youngest daughter made friends while attending a testing session for homeschool kids. Her friend lives on the other end of the city (about 45 minutes away) but she has great fun writing to her and receiving letters. It has been a wonderful way to get her to work in writing sentences and grammar and punctuation.
And I do have a daughter (age 9) who would love to have a penpal! I think she is a bit jealous of her little sister.
Scotia On Friday, July 8 at 2:10 am
Hi Staci,
would you like to contact me for a penpal for your daughter? My daughter Erin is 8 and a half, and we live in Canberra, Australia.
Our email is [email protected]
D'Ann On Tuesday, July 5 at 3:17 pm
What a wonderful idea…
I had a penpal in Norway many years ago, and we kept in touch for many, many years…
so just mentioned the idea to my 8-year-old granddaughter, and she loves the idea, too…
Cindy L. On Tuesday, July 5 at 3:18 pm
Pen Pals are a great idea! As a long time teacher, I've used this activity often. One fun twist to a pen pal…make it a geographical treasure hunt! One year, my aunt (also a teacher) and I had our 3rd grade classes write to each other-both snail mail and email. We didn't tell the students where the other class was located. The first few letters contained clues to our general location ie. continent, climate, terrain. Then, we included physical hints (I sent them an avocado since a town nearby is the avo capital). We used maps, encyclopedias, internet, and process of elimination. There are a million possibilites- enjoy:)
Christina On Tuesday, July 5 at 3:25 pm
You should also try postcrossing.com!
W Sterling On Tuesday, July 5 at 3:39 pm
My daughter has a pen pal in a different state, organized through the American Heritage Girls PenPal program. So far it seems to go well, they write back and forth monthly.
I just noticed D'Ann's comment about having a penpal in Norway! I was born and raised there – how cool that she is still in touch!
Having a penpal, specially one from a different country, can be a great starting point of r anew hobby – stamp collecting, as well.
Elizabeth On Tuesday, July 5 at 4:02 pm
I had a pen pal from elementary school to after high school. We found each other through an American Girl forum. You sent in your information and they matched us up. I live in CA and she lived in PA and we had the exact same birthday. We both loved horses and found so much to talk about. I remember enjoying learning about her life and community. I think about her sometimes, although I haven't heard from her in about 8 years.
Julie On Tuesday, July 5 at 4:13 pm
I'm not a mom, but I have a fun pen pal story!
When my mom was in high school, the school matched up each student with an international pen pal. They were from all over the globe, and my mom's was another high school girl named Rita, from Germany. They wrote through high school, even when other students had surely long stopped writing to theirs. As even more of an anomaly, they kept in touch beyond high school, always writing at holiday times as well as other times throughout the years. When my parents got married, they went to Germany on their honeymoon, and stayed with Rita and their husband, who had just had their first child, a daughter named Sabine.
A few years later I came along, and gorwing up, one of my favorite parts of the Christmas season was when we would get a package with lots of stamps and beautiful handwriting all over it — our Christmas package from our German pen pals! As I got older, I started to write to Sabine, and one Christmas, we exchanged audio tapes. We both told about what was going on in our little lives, she played a song on the piano, and I had my class say hello and send greetings from America.
My senior year in college, Sabine had just finished university, and she and a friend took a few months to travel throughout North & South America. She came and stayed with me for a night, then went back to visit my parents, and then went on to the next leg of her trip. That summer, my best friend and I backpacked through Europe, and we stayed with Sabine and her family. It was so incredible to meet this family, stay in their beautiful home, and eat at the same restaurant where they had taken my parents 25 years earlier.
So, while I don't know how to find a pen pal these days, I would seriously encourage kids to have one! Look at what awesome experiences and life-long friendships it can lead to!
NorthernPayne On Tuesday, July 5 at 4:47 pm
My kids and I have pen pals all over the world thru Postcrossing.com. You send and receive postcards from other randomly selected registered postcrossers. It's so fun – in your profile, you can ask the people to tell you certain things, like what their favorite food is or their customs or anything else. My kids love seeing the different stamps and reading the writing (not easily, sometimes!), and I like getting something other than bills in my mailbox. I've gotten cards from school classes to teenagers to retirees in a home. And the best part? It's completely free to join. From a teaching stand point, these cards are great for learning grammer by correcting what the people write, for geography, and to just hone the kids' skills in writing a simple letter – something that's getting lost in this digital age.
Barbara P On Tuesday, July 5 at 5:36 pm
I work at the Post Office and we get all kinds of fun stuff kids (and adults) mail to each other!
Picnic invitations in a plastic bottle with sand and seashells and the address on it…
Coconuts with an address on it
Beach balls (flattened) with address on it (blow up to see message)
Baby bottles with the invitation to a Baby Shower inside…
Just remember to check for how much it costs to mail! Some are around $1 each….it makes our day when we can deliver fun stuff!
Julie On Tuesday, July 5 at 5:56 pm
A neighbor/friend from England, with a niece the same age as my daughter, asked if my daughter would be interested in a pen pal. My daughter said yes. The first letter came from England and after a couple of interesting paragraphs about life in the UK, concluded with "Hopefully your Pen Pal, Alice". How could she resist that? The girls are now college age and continue to write (real letters with an occasional email too, though the email and Facebook are recent developments) and exchange birthday gifts. It's been a bright spot in my daughter's childhood.
stephanie On Tuesday, July 5 at 6:26 pm
we are a brand-spankin' new homeschoolin' family from philadelphia, pennsylvania.
we have a soon-to-be five year old daughter, and we would be thrilled to have a pen pal – i am still in touch with mine ( the former yugoslavia ) from 1983 – i found him through a service recommended by either dear abby or ann landers …
Becky P. On Tuesday, July 5 at 7:48 pm
I am so in favor of children having pen pals. I have been writing to a pen pal since 1952 (6th grade) when my teacher used it as a letter writing exercise. We have grown up, had families and shared culture for all these years. Even today I get so excited to receive a letter from her and had always planned to visit her country until health problems prevented my going there. As a farm wife and mother my travels have been very limited but through her letters I have learned so much of another part of our world. We could e-mail but both of us prefer the letter. Isn't that odd for today's society?
Amber On Tuesday, July 5 at 8:18 pm
Maybe through your local Girl Scouts you could get the address of an international troup and have your girls write the group. That would be a lot of fun.
CarolM On Tuesday, July 5 at 8:38 pm
When I was 12 I had a penpal and it was a really great learning experience. I am now in my late 40's and it is only in the last 8-10 years that we have lost touch.
I raised 3 boys so this wasn't really an option as they just weren't into that kind of thing.
Maybe even some kind of penpal chanin that all the girls can participate in together so more of them can meet each other-just sayin'.
Tessa On Tuesday, July 5 at 8:51 pm
My friend's son is into all things military. His mom found a woman at church who has a son in the military that is currently deployed and asked if he wouldn't mind being her son's pen pal. It has been fun to watch the interaction!
Stefanie Larsen On Tuesday, July 5 at 8:51 pm
I "met" my pen pal Lorna in 4th grade 30 years ago. I live in Nebraska, she in England. Our birthdays are 8 days apart. We married 14 days apart, and our first borns are 2 weeks apart in age. We wrote frequently in elementary school, a little more sporadically in high school and maybe once or twice a year after that, but yet we kept in touch. Now we communicate frequently on facebook. She is more than my pen pal, and I cherish the letters we have sent to each other throughout our lives. Just today, I found a card and pictures she sent 13 years ago when our babes were 20 months old!! I hope it works out and some of your children find lifelong friends!!
Jess On Tuesday, July 5 at 8:55 pm
I am a teacher and I am going to have 6th – 8th graders this year. If anyone wants to find penpals some of my kids would be interested. It is a boarding school so they always need things to keep them busy. Email me at jcarolinedesigns at zoho dot com if you are interested. We start school Aug. 22 but I have summer schoolers right now 1st – 8th grade that would really love to do it.
Tonya On Tuesday, July 5 at 9:13 pm
Hi Guys! I have 4 sons and 3 of them would love penpals! They are 11, 10 and 8! My 8 year old is autistic and has some handwriting issues so I would include a typed version of his letter along with the handwritten letter. He especially would love a penpal because children in our town have been very cruel about his special needs. We live in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but we are actually closer to NYC than Philadelphia. Anyone interested please contact me at [email protected]. Also, I love the idea of the military penpal!! Great post I am so excited about this!
Tonya On Tuesday, July 5 at 9:31 pm
As a quick afterthought – anyone interested in the military penpal idea. I found a lot of sites that have programs in place. Just google Military PenPals and a few different sites come up! Also, in the past I have used a site for penpals for kids http://www.friendship-by-mail.com/pen-pals-for-kids.html Right now I cannot remember the coordinators name but she has always been very responsive. Their site also includes an adult penpal section!
Rere On Tuesday, July 5 at 9:47 pm
What a great idea! When my third grade teacher took a trip to Australia, she brought letters from our class to exchange with a teacher-friend over there. My penpal and I wrote regularly for years (and our older sisters became penpals, too) before losing touch. We reconnected a couple of years ago over Facebook, and have an opportunity to meet this year! Both of us are now lawyers, it's funny to wonder whether we influenced each other
Dawn On Tuesday, July 5 at 9:51 pm
I got my first penpal about 23 years ago, and we still keep in touch. I actually have over 50 pen friends all over the world. It is a wonderful hobby. I am known at the local post office as "the woman who gets all the mail". I have many wonderful friends that I would never have met if not for letters. Everyone wants to know why we do not just email, but that could never compare to receiving a handwritten letter.
Jen Tullis On Tuesday, July 5 at 10:23 pm
My 7 year-old daughter is a pen pal with one of my best friends from college. Fiona & I both got our education degrees together but she opted to go longer to get a Master's in Library Science. She's a children's librarian and she is always interested in what OJ is reading and OJ reads a lot!. But because she knows our family; the letters consist of varying topics besides books. OJ has even been known to email her through my account asking why she hasn't written back in the amount of time OJ thinks is right. Both of them love getting the letters and it warms my heart that OJ is getting to know a woman that I love and admire.
Analisa in Goliad On Tuesday, July 5 at 10:26 pm
There is a wonderful organization called LABO that was created after WW II to bridge the gap between American Youth and the Youth of Japan. They had an exchange program that is in the Summer and is only for one month. They want families to host children between the ages of 12 and 17 and the families must have children with in 2 years of the host child. There are usually 2 adults that come with the group of kids and they stay with a family too but only for 2 weeks and then they rotate. This is a 4H group and is fantastic! The organization is nation wide and having been a state coordinator I can tell you it creates life long friends, letters, culture enrichment and the appreciation of all we have! Your children can then go the following year and stay with the family of the youngster you hosted…check into this for next year and be awed!
As a retired educator of 35 years I can not stress how important the Pen Pal exchange is for all of our children… I will gladly hand write letters to any of your children or you parents…. Analisa Kennedy P.O. Box 1096 Goliad, Texas 77963 It is almost a lost art and it is one that I love doing. I look forward to hearing from you.
Rachel Denning On Wednesday, July 6 at 2:24 am
Just wanted to mention that if anyone was interested in receiving letters from my kids as we drive from Alaska to Argentina in our truck, then you can email me at [email protected]
My children are 8 (girl), 7 (boy), 6 (boy), 4 (girl) and almost 1 (boy) and LOVE making new friends. They would love writing to your kids (probably via email) and sending pictures.
Anna On Wednesday, July 6 at 3:59 am
I'm Swedish and when I was 12, ca. 1986… I sent out letters to schools around the world, no proper adress just something like; To a girl in the fithgrade in a school in Los Angeles, CA, USA. By the end of the year I had 32 penpals all over the world, needless to say all of weekly allowance went into buying stamps and I couldn't keep them all.. But by the time I was 14 I was practically fluent in English and that would never have happend if I hadn't had penpals!
Betsy M On Saturday, July 9 at 2:24 pm
This is how I recieved my penpal when I was back in school as well. A boy in Alaska wrote a very similar letter, looking for a boy penpal. The post office handed it off to my teacher in school who handed the letter on to me. We wrote letters, sometimes twice a week for 11 years until I got married.
Andrea On Wednesday, July 6 at 8:09 am
The age gap between my oldest and youngest is 20 years. I know, takes my breath away too. The oldest got the idea that he should start a postcard penpal back and forth with his youngest brother about the time he was 4 years old when they moved out of state. The youngest would dictate to me things he wanted to tell his brother, 'sister' and their dog. Some of them were so crazy it was hilarious to write. Just like a little kid would talk to you about whatever random thought popped into his mind in that moment. I cant wait for him to read all the things he 'wrote' to them. He's getting older now and has written a few himself now too.
The postcard is nice and short for a guy who has more important things to go and do.
JENNIFER On Wednesday, July 6 at 8:23 am
we give Little Debbie granola bars and our one son LOVES hot and spicy Cheese ITs every day for his snack at school!!! Yogurt is actually preferred in our household!
Silje On Wednesday, July 6 at 8:41 am
If you want to include geography, and the important bit is writing and learning to write adresses and be accountable you should try postcrossing.com It allows you send postcards to random members around the world and for each postcard you send you will recieve one from a random member somewhere else in the world. You get to write a profile were you can say a bit about yourself + say something about interests and what kind of cards you would prefer (it is not required to follow these wishes) and you also get this information about the person you are going to send a card to!
Sara On Wednesday, July 6 at 11:22 am
We are in England and my daughter (8) desperately wants a pen pal. I have tried to find somewhere to find one but as yet have been unsucessful. Its so difficult to find anywhere and you want to be sure its just another regular family like yours.
Any ideas?
PW help!
Marisa On Thursday, July 7 at 2:47 pm
Sara, I have a daughter that is 8 as well and would love for her to have a pen pal. We live in Alabama. If you are interested please email me at [email protected].
Kelly S On Saturday, July 9 at 10:00 am
Hi Sara and Marisa! My daughter is 8 (will be 9 this fall) and we live on a small farm in Texas. She would love to have either of your daughters for a pen pal! Feel free to email me at kellysowell (at) sbcglobal.net. :o)
Cheer On Tuesday, August 9 at 12:01 am
Ya'll, I have two daughters 8 and 10. They would love to have penpals. We are in Fort Worth, Texas and will soon move to GA. Sara, we are a very normal family : ) Marisa and Kelly…Ya'll too : ) This will be our first year to homeschool. Please email for our address: [email protected]
Linsey M. On Wednesday, July 6 at 5:09 pm
I love the idea of a pen pal! I am starting to home school my son for the first time this year and I think this would be something he would enjoy.
Count us in if we can get something started! We live in central Texas, my oldest is 12 years old.
Holly in FL On Wednesday, July 6 at 5:56 pm
I found PenPals for my children from a Yahoo group for Christians / Homeschoolers. My three children each have 2 PenPals. They love getting mail and writing letters.
Renee On Wednesday, July 6 at 7:15 pm
I started having my daughters write to penpals their 2nd year of homeschooling to help with penmanship,spelling,geogrpahy,etc.My girls had so much fun getting letters in the mail.It reminded me of the excitement I had as a kid getting mail from a friend.We are now on our 2 round of homeschooling after being in public schools for six years,so we have began penpalling again and my daughters ages 12,14 & 16 are loving it.We all get excited about getting mail and the letters come from all over the world telling us about their lives in their country and what school is like..it really is educational.After seeing how many people and kids still use snail mail I decided to make an educational project for my children to learn even more about the world we live in,we started on Jan. 1st and our goal is to collect 2,011 letters by the end of the year (http://2011letters.blogspot.com) and it has been amazing!If any children and/or parents are interested in writing to us,we would love to hear from you!
We have gotten so many letters telling us about life all over the world…things you cannot learn about in a textbook.It has been a super way of teaching my children about people and the kindness of these complete total strangers just reminds me that there is plenty of good left in the world.Every letter has been simply amazing and we all enjoy learning about each country together.My daughters would love to have more penpals,so please let us know if your daughters are interested.Thanks!
Reba On Wednesday, July 6 at 8:20 pm
I began writing to a girl who was in my youth group but moved away when her family became missionaries to Mexico. She was there one year, moved to Texas for one year and then spent several years in Guatemala. Even though we were a few years apart and she had not been my closest youth group friend when she left, I was her most faithful correspondent and we became very close over the years. When I was 22 and she was 19, she became engaged to a man in Guatemala and mentioned in one of her letters how wonderful it would be if my best friend (whom she introduced me to) and I could sing at her wedding. On the sly, I began saving money. As she wrote me the details of her bridal party, I snuck off and bought a dress similar to the ones her mother was making for her sisters. In May, my best friend and I boarded a plane for Guatemala and were bridesmaids in her wedding! It was extremely memorable for all of us and a once in a lifetime experience! All predicated by a few letters to a girl I thought might be lonely on the mission field. I highly recommend pen palling! If you are a person of faith, try the kids of missionaries- they often need the support and connection of state-siders as they are far from the familiar. And your kids will learn so much from the experiences of these world travelers!
Amanda On Wednesday, July 6 at 9:29 pm
My son has a pen pal in Kenya. They're both 2 and can't write yet but I intend for them to grow up together. His penpal is a sponsor child through World Vision. Not only does Charlie have a friend to write to but he will learn about Simon's country, and how to help people. I hope someday to take him to Africa so they can meet. Child sponsorship is a great way to help a child in need and get a great pen pal. We have 6 sponsor kids including Simon and we all enjoy sending and receiving letters from them.
Laurel On Thursday, July 7 at 10:47 pm
This post was riveting. Your writing is so vivid. I'm sure your daughter will have her mother's mad writing skillz.
Amy @MomMeTime On Friday, July 8 at 12:17 am
fabulous idea! Thanks for sharing. I started homeschooling my oldest daughter (kindergarten) this year and she starts 1st grade in the fall. I've been looking for creative idea's to keep her interested and eager to participate in 'school' ~she will LOVE this idea. I think I will start off with Grandma 1st and have her work her way up to pen-pal.
Carol On Sunday, July 10 at 12:37 pm
A good place to find a penpal is to write to is your local church missions organization. Most churches have a missions organization and it is relatively easy to find the addresses of the missionary kids.
I'm middle aged now but I was a MK. I had many kids write to me through their local church missions for kids. Not many of those lasted for any length of time but I did have one girl who started writing when we were maybe 9 or 10. She still writes to me about once a year at Christmas 45 yrs later. I've never met her but maybe one day I will. I kind of like the mystery of it, if you know what I mean.
Lena On Friday, July 15 at 6:02 am
I think pen pals are a wonderful possibility for youngsters to get into contact with the "outside" world. It is a chance to get to know completely different lifestyles and cultures, and thus make friends maybe on the other side of the world. I teach English one-to-one over here in Germany, my students are kids that need extra help with the language. To motivate them I would love to find one or two American kids (age 12-16) that would like to exchange E-Mails or letters with my kids here.
At the moment I am looking for a pen pal for Laura, 16, and her sister Svenja, 12. They both want to improve their English and are very sweet, smart girls.
Is there a mom among you gals that has a child that would be interested in a pen pal?
Thanks a lot,
Please contact me [email protected].
MARIAM MAWANDA On Friday, August 26 at 4:35 am
hullo ,i have my son and i would like him to get penpal he is 15yrs


text:
Sevierville ISO rating improves
People who own homes and businesses here may soon pay lower insurance rates. The New Jersey firm Insurance Services Office, or ISO, has upgraded the city's fire public protection classification. The firm advises insurance companies.
ISO classifies cities' fire protection on a scale of 1 to 10; the best classification is 1. Sevierville has a split classification, 3/9, which improves on the city's previous rating, 4/9.
The first number in the new classification, 3, pertains to properties that are within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant and within five road miles of one of Sevierville's two fire stations. The second number in split ratings "applies to properties within five road miles of a fire station but beyond 1,000 feet of a hydrant," according to ISO's website.
When ISO rates fire services, the company evaluates "training, the number of stations, service records on apparatus, water system, available water and number of hydrants," said Sevierville Fire Chief Matt Henderson.
"They also consider number of personnel relative to the size of the area, number of calls, building construction, building type," Henderson said. "It's a complicated formula."
Not every insurance company takes the ISO's ratings into account when premiums are calculated. Still, Henderson said, Sevierville homeowners may see their premiums reduced by 10 percent. Businesses could see rates that are 1 to 3 percent lower.
ISO last classfied Sevierville's fire service 10 years ago. Numerous improvements have been made since then, and the lower rating is the result.
"The city added the Collier Drive station since the last survey," said Henderson. "The city improved the water system and central dispatch, the communications system." Henderson also cited the Sevier County Fire Chiefs Association's new training facility.
The new classification takes effect May 1.
ISO recently upgraded Pigeon Forge's fire classification from 5 to 3. That change takes effect next month. Gatlinburg's rating is 3.
Among the 1,107 cities ISO rates, about 40 have the class 3 rating. Just five cities in Tennessee have the class 2 rating. No Tennessee cities are rated class 1.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
"When it comes to cancer, you likely face more danger going out into the sun than you do on a cellphone," says Farhad Manjoo in Slate. In fact, Manjoo says, the science shows that regular users have a lower risk than people who do not use cell phones.
The Observation Deck
A blog of opinions on local, state and national issues


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text:
The Top 100 People: Masters of their own universe
ALMOS T EVERyONE AT SOME TIME OR ANO THER HAS
glanced at, or at least heard of, the mammoth two-volume
Who's Who in America, and no doubt wondered what comprises the criteria for inclusion in that 6,000-page vehicle.
While Accounting Today's Top 100 Most Influential
People feature is roughly 40 years younger and not nearly
as ponderous as Who's Who, similar questions surrounding the barriers to inclusion have probably entered your
thoughts a time or two.
And probably far more often after publication.
However, the parameters of influence in the account-ing profession have changed since the infancy of the MostInfluential almost 20 years ago. New practice segments,positions, technologies, work paradigms and demograph-ics have evolved to the point where a person who mighthave been considered a shoo-in for a slot in this centuryelite circa 1998-2001 may not have necessarily warranted asecond look when compiling the current edition.
— The Editors
With much of the accounting establishment lined up
behind adopting IFRS, it fell to the academy
to make the opposing argument, and Albrecht
was one of those who took the lead on his blog,
The Summa. It helped that he already had a
strong reputation as an innovative educator,
using social media and simulation games to
transform the way accountants learn.
Career Highlights: Associate professor, Concordia
College, 2009-2011 ... Assistant/associate professor,
Bowling Green State University, 1990-2009 ... Visiting
assistant professor, University of Chapel Hill, 1989-
1990 ... Instructor and Ph.D student, Virginia Tech,
1985-1989 ... Assistant professor, Andrews University, 1980-1985 ... Cook, George's Gourmet, late 1960s.
Other Affiliations: Blogger, The Summa ... American
Accounting Association ... North American Accounting Society ... Christian Business Faculty Association
... Creator, Real Money simulation game ... Editor,
CPANews, 1997-1998.
Education: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University, 1991, Ph.D ... University of Iowa, 1980,
MA Accounting; 1976, BA Political Science.
Personal: Born 1949, Iowa City ... Married to Brenda
Kay ... Two sons.
Blog/Twitter: http://profalbrecht.com /
As more and more CPA
firms catch on to the importance of workflow,
XCM looks to be a mainstay and Albrecht is at the helm, working hard
to show businesses of all kinds the benefits of
cloud-based workflow.Career Highlights: CEO, XCM Solutions/XpitaxLLC, 2001-present ... Founder and shareholder, KAFFinancial Group, 1991-2009 ... Partner, Kennedy &Lehan, 1983-1991 ... Partner, Ryan & Albrecht, 1981-1983 ... Staff accountant, Gerald T. Reilly CPAs, 1978-1981 ... Staff accountant, Arthur Andersen, 1976-1978.Other Affiliations: AICPA ... Massachusetts Societyof CPAs ... Trustee, Eastern Bank.Education: Bentley College, 1981, Master of Taxation... Boston College, 1976, BA Accounting.Personal: Born 1953, Boston ... Married to Mary ...Three children.Blog/ Twitter: @xcm_solutions
Ams has spent a decadeproviding information,resources and guidance tothe NSA's 30,000 membersat small and midsized firms. This year hewas critical to keeping the membership upto date on tax preparer registration — even ashe worked with the IRS to minimize the initia-tive's impact on credentialed preparers.Career Highlights: Executive vice president, Na-tional Society of Accountants, 2001-present ... Seniorvice president of financial affairs, Interstate NaturalGas Association, 1984-2001 ... Director of federal taxprograms, National Association of Realtors, 1979-1983 ... Attorney, National Office, Internal RevenueService, 1975-1979.
Other Affiliations: American Society of Association Executives ... American Bar Association ... DC
Bar Association ... Phi Beta Kappa ... Past or present
board member, Cherian Investments; NSA Scholarship Foundation; Northern Virginia Relay for Life.
Education: Georgetown University Law Center,
1975, JD ... Michigan State University, 1972, BA.
Personal: Born 1950, Imst, Austria ... Married to
Nancy ... Three children.
Twitter: @nsatax
In addition to helming the
largest regional firm in the
Pacific Northwest, Anderson also chaired the Blue Ribbon Panel that
set the terms of debate with its series of concrete recommendations for standard-setting
for private companies.
Career Highlights: Chairman and CEO, Moss Adams, 2004-present; president and chief operating
officer, 1999-2004; director of operations, 1993-1999;
director of accounting and auditing, 1984-1993; partner, 1980.
Other Affiliations: Chair, Blue Ribbon Panel on Private Entity Accounting Standards, AICPA, FAF and
NASBA ... Vice chair, Praxity Management Board and
Governing Council ... Past member, AICPA Council;
past chair, Major Firms Group ... Past trustee, Financial Accounting Foundation.
Education: Western Washington University, 1973.
Personal: Born 1951, Chehalis, Wash. ... Married to
Lori ... Two children.
C.E. AndrewsPresident,RSM McGladreyAndrews is building hisbillion-dollar firm's brand,market share and talent,even as it looks set to re-unite with audit arm McGladrey & Pullen.
Career Highlights: President, RSM Mc Gladrey, 2009-
present ... President and chief executive officer, SLM
Corp., 2008; executive vice president of accounting
and risk management, 2003 ... Head, worldwide audit and business advisory practice, Arthur Andersen,
2001-2002; partner, 1984; joined, 1974.
Other Affiliations: Advisory Board, Pamplin College
of Business, Virginia Tech ... Immediate past chair,
Junior Achievement of Washington, D.C.
Education: Virginia Tech, 1974, Bachelor's in Ac-counting.Personal: Born 1952, Covington, Va. ... Married ...Three children.
As the 2011-2012 institutechair, the founder of one ofDenver's most successfulCPA firms will have a num-ber of front-burner issues on his to-do list, in-cluding private company reporting, retentionand succession planning, and the ongoingCapitol Hill battle against tax patents.Career Highlights: Founding partner, Anton CollinsMitchell LLP, 2002-present ... Associate to partner,BDO USA, 1987-2002.
Other Affiliations: Incoming chairman, American
Institute of CPAs; board of directors ... Past chair,
Colorado Society of CPAs ... Board member, past
chair, Junior Achievement, Rocky Mountain ... Governor's Early Childhood Leadership Commission ...
Colorado Concern ... Past president, University of
Northern Colorado Alumni Association.
Education: University of Northern Colorado, 1987,
BS Accounting.
Personal: Born 1963 ... Married to Julie ... Two sons.
Twitter: @gregantoncpa
August Aquila
President and CEO,
Aquila Global
Advisors and
Chantrey Capital
Advisors Inc.
One of the profession's
busiest authors and lecturers, with two more
books in the pipeline, Aquila has forged a pro-fession-wide reputation for expertise on such
critical issues as succession planning, partner
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text:
The Alaska Faith Community Nurse Resource Center at Providence is offering Foundations of Faith Community Nursing. This course is designed to provide the basic knowledge and skills needed to initiate a faith community-nursing ministry. Participants will explore the history, philosophy, and ethical practice of faith community nursing as well as legal issues, accountability, and documentation. The role of faith community nursing will be explored through experiential hands-on learning opportunities. In addition, the course will provide tools and resources that ministries of health can use to initiate disease prevention and health promotion programs. Lastly, participants will recognize their role in facilitating prayer, worship, and functioning within a ministerial team.
What is faith community nursing? Faith community nursing is recognized as a nursing specialty by the American Nurses Association and is guided by its own Scope and Standards of Practice. The faith community nurse is an Alaskan licensed registered nurse, who has obtained advanced education in the specialty of faith community nursing.
Alaska Faith Community Nurse Resource Center at Providence
Marlise James
We make every effort to ensure the accuracy of this information. However, you should always call ahead to confirm dates, times, location, and other information.


text:
New York suburbs get entire summer's worth of rainBy FRANK ELTMAN
the associated press | August 14,2014ap photo
Vehicles attempt to maneuver down the flooded Montauk Highway in Babylon, N.Y., on Wednesday.NORTH BABYLON, N.Y. A record-setting rainstorm dumped more than a foot of water on parts of suburban New York in a matter of hours, turning highways into streams that stranded hundreds of drivers, flooded basements and caused at least one fatal crash.
Weve had another historic extreme weather event here, Steve Bellone, the Suffolk County Executive, said at a news conference Wednesday outside the North Babylon firehouse where dozens of stranded drivers were brought for shelter during the height of the storm.
The National Weather Service said a summers worth of rain fell within a few hours over 13 inches at MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma. That was more than the areas normal total for June, July and August of 11.75 inches.
More than 5 inches fell in just a one-hour period, from 5 to 6 a.m. Wednesday, said weather service meteorologist Joe Pollina. He said the previous state record for rainfall over a 24-hour period was 11.6 inches near Tannersville during Tropical Storm Irene three years ago.
Bellone said most municipal sewer systems can handle about 5 inches of rain in 24 hours. What happened today was unprecedented, he said.
One person died when an SUV was hit by a tractor-trailer carrying waste oil on the Long Island Expressway near Dix Hills during the height of the storm, according to Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke. He said it appeared the SUV was driving slowly when it was hit by the larger vehicle. The person who died was in the SUV was not immediately identified; Burke said the body was burned beyond recognition.
No charges were immediately filed, but police said the weather-related crash was still under investigation.
Volunteer firefighters in communities across Long Island used trucks and equipment ordinarily used to fight brush fires to rescue stranded drivers. The trucks stand high off the ground and can maneuver through several feet of water.
On the Southern State Parkway in North Babylon, firefighters encountered approximately 50 vehicles either stuck in the rising waters or pulled off to an elevated apron on the side of the highway.
We had occupants climbing out of windows because they couldnt open their doors, said Lt. Timothy Harrington, the first firefighter on scene. Some of the water was over the vehicles roofs. Ive never seen anything like this before.
No injuries were reported among the stranded drivers, officials said.
James Piano, of Islip Terrace, was rescued by firefighters in North Babylon after his truck was swamped with waist-high water.
That little Miata over there was floating in the middle lane, literally floating, Piano said.
By midmorning, the water subsided there and traffic began moving again along a road surface coated with a slippery-looking film of oil, dirt and grass.
Officials reported few power outages resulting from the storm.
Some south shore Long Island communities slammed by Superstorm Sandy nearly two years ago were experiencing certain flashbacks as roads were closed and some homeowners were dealing with flooded basements.
Gerard Kapetanakis said there was about four inches of rain in his basement in Lindenhurst. There was so much water there was no place for it to go, said the construction worker.
Laura Cutuli, a nurse, never made it to her job Wednesday at New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.
Her stranded car was filling with water, so she had rolled down her windows to rescue myself if I had to. Instead, firefighters aided her and other motorists.MORE IN Wire NewsRowdy Roddy Piper, the kilt-wearing trash-talker who headlined the first WrestleMania and later... Full StoryALPHARETTA, Ga. Full StoryALTURAS, Calif. Full Story
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- RICHARD'S POOR ALMANACK: On this day in 1472, Orkney, Shetland islands put up as collateral by Norway to Scotland in lieu of dowry for MARGARET OF DENMARK on her marriage with JAMES III, king of Scotland; 1962, JOHN GLENN first American to orbit Earth.
- TOMORROW'S HEADLINES TODAY: City mayoral candidates debate campaign issues; Hartford, Conn., woman still missing; Neal Goswami reports attempts to legislate suicide; local woman loses 100 pounds through TOPS program.
- RICHARD'S POOR ALMANACK: On this day in 1878, JOHN TUNSTALL murdered near Lincoln, New Mexico, by the outlaw JESSE EVANS; in 1930, ELM FARM OLLIE first cow to fly in aircraft, first to be milked airborne; 1955, nuke test WASP; '79, snow in Sahara.
- TOMORROW'S HEADLINES TODAY: Rutland Herald News Editor Alan J. Keays and staff writer Gordon Dritschilo discuss stories planned for the February 18, 2015, edition of the newspaper: Winter budgets maxed, legal marijuana, Springfield bank job, USPS slowdown
- RICHARD'S POOR ALMANACK: On this day in 1249 AD, ANDRE of LONGJUMEAU is dispatched by LOUIS IX of France to meet the KHAGAN, ruler of the Mongol Empire; in 1804, during 1st Barbary War, STEPHEN DECATUR scuttles the pirate-held USS Philadelphia in Tripoli.


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Eny Wulandari
Jakarta. Environmental groups Greenpeace and Sawit Watch have called on the World Bank to extend its international suspension of financing for the palm oil sector unless producers meet environmental criteria.
Jefri Saragih, head of Sawit's campaign in Indonesia, said on Sunday that the World Bank must provide palm oil makers with clear guidelines on what they must do to reduce their industry's impact on global warming.
Jefri delivered the statement in response to a World Bank meeting held in Frankfurt on Tuesday and Wednesday.
During the gathering, the World Bank's International Finance Corporation said it would promote and finance environmentally and socially sustainable palm oil.
It said it would invest in palm oil production if producers meet international certification or provide a solid schedule for achieving sustainability.
Bustar Maitar, a local campaigner for Greenpeace, also urged the World Bank to make financing dependant on palm oil producers prioritizing environmental concerns.
Fadhil Hasan, executive director of the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (Gapki), said on Sunday that his office would continue giving feedback to the World Bank until it made a decision on whether to resume funding the sector.
"We have yet to have any final response on the World Bank's strategy at the moment. The World Bank will hold another meeting in October," Fadhil said.
Fadhil said Gapki members would not pin their hopes on the World Bank, because they have been able to rely on commercial loans to fund their operations.
However, he said the international body should not make financing dependent on meeting environmental criteria, saying that the jobs created by palm oil producers should be taken into account.
Environmental groups have been making a stir with campaigns accusing palm oil firms of illegal deforestation, with Sinar Mas Group being boycotted by some of its top buyers.
On Thursday, US fast food giant Burger King said it would stop buying palm oil from the firm and its subsidiaries after Greenpeace mounted a successful campaign against Sinar Mas's land-clearing practices.
Unilever and Nestle earlier dropped the supplier over the criticism.
Since 1965, the World Bank has channeled nearly $2 billion for 45 projects in the palm oil sector in 12 nations across Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
Indonesia has been a major focus of the financing, receiving $618.8 million of the total funding. The World Bank suspended the financing in September 2009 over environmental concerns.


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The most hyped IT development since the Internet, the cloud represents a major change in the business model for IT delivery. Benefits promise to be quite significant: for cloud customers, cost savings, and greater agility through on-demand capacity; for cloud providers, recurring revenues, global markets and attractive profits—if they can differentiate their services and innovate to keep ahead. Many organizations have already moved mundane activities and low-risk data to the cloud. Theoretically, of course, any process that runs elsewhere can run in the cloud. Businesses and governments are certainly attracted to the idea that they could achieve even greater savings were they to use the cloud for storage and processing of their more sensitive data. After all, sensitive business processes are likely to be the most expensive from an operational perspective and so this is where they have the most to gain. The big question, though, is how secure is the cloud and when is it safe to move more sensitive operations there?
Faced with privacy mandates and escalating compliance obligations, organizations are responsible for security whether or not they outsource to the cloud. Sharing services from a public cloud provider with other cloud tenants means losing some control, which brings added risk. Uncertainty about exactly what the risk is and how to mitigate it prevents many organizations from taking full advantage of the cloud today. cloud consumers want assurance that their information and key business processes will be safe. Cloud providers must be able to mitigate risk and reassure customers that their information is safe and secure. For cloud providers, the key to winning trust is to enable their customers to satisfy the same security audits, demonstrate regulatory compliance, and fulfill the same security SLAs they do today with their own IT infrastructure.
Products and services from Thales e-Security can simplify the move from on-premise to cloud deployments by helping businesses, government organizations, and cloud providers make effective use of cryptographic protection. While the cloud is a relatively new concept, strong cryptography and key management are not; these are well-defined security technologies and processes that have been deployed successfully for years as ways to protect data in the event of loss or theft. Given the higher level of risk involved in multi-tenant environments, these technologies can deliver correspondingly higher levels of assurance that enable customers to migrate sensitive and high-value data to cloud deployments with confidence. Hardware data protection products from Thales bring the control and proof needed to demonstrate compliance with privacy regulations and essential standards of due care to the cloud environment just as they have for decades in the global payments network and countless other security applications. These products focus on simplifying complex key management tasks wherever possible to deliver industry-leading scalability. We provide a comprehensive portfolio that enables critical data assets to be protected throughout their life cycle—at rest, in motion, and in use. Working with Thales, cloud service providers and their customers can take advantage of a comprehensive range of encryption, digital signing, and authentication capabilities as they prepare for the next phase of cloud expansion.


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Sonny Melendrez
Sonny Melendrez is a broadcaster, motivational speaker , and author, based in San Antonio. His positive multimedia site, SonnyRadio.com serves to leave thousands of daily visitors 'feeling better about being alive.'
Daily Archive for May 6th, 2010
A Thought For Your Day® :: Life Is Risky Business
Whether in love or business, many believe this to be a fact of life: "To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing." Much can happen when […] [Read More]


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The Quintessence of Calculation was written by Bahā' al-Dīn Al-'Amilī (1547-1621), a leading Persian intellectual of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The book is a ten-chapter compendium of arithmetic and algebraic operations. Information on astronomical calculations is also included.
Figure 1. The first page of the text contains much marginalia indicating it was heavily studied.
Figure 2. Al-'Amilī used charts and diagrams to illustrate some of his instruction.
Figure 3. A page upon which a reader carried out two addition computations.
Figure 4. The Explanation of the Abridgment on Calculus was written by the Persian scholar Ramadān ibn Abī Hurayrah Al-Jazarī (fl. 1665-1681). It is a commentary on a work of Al-'Amilī. The page shown above provides an example of the content and format of this book.
Quintessence of Calculation, World Digital Library: http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4262/
Explanation of the Abridgment on Calculus, World Digital Library: http://www.wdl.org/en/item/4281/
The images above were obtained through the courtesy of the World Digital Library (WDL) and the assistance of the digital imaging staff at the United States Library of Congress. All items can be viewed in full at the WDL website.


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It was an excellent show, and you can tune in to hear it by following any of the links below, or subscribing to our feed right over on iTunes itself (that guarantees you get the new shows every single Monday). We'll be back next week as always, so be sure to tune back in then.
Oh, and while we have you, keep an eye out soon for more information about what we're doing at BlizzCon. We've already scheduled our meetup on Thursday night around 8pm, but we haven't announced a location yet, so look for that soon. And if you aren't going to be in Anaheim, worry not -- we'll be streaming a special episode live from the meetup (with video, if everything works out as planned), so you'll be able to join us virtually. Will be really fun, so stay tuned.
Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.
Listen here on the page:


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State Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster praised Jefferson Elementary School for being among 180 schools in the state that received the New Wisconsin Promise School of Recognition honors for the current school year during a special ceremony at the State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin on October 13.
Burmaster welcomed Bill Klein (principal), Ann Rodewald (reading specialist), Jean Johnson
(library-media educational assistant), Edie Krizenesky (school secretary) to the ceremony.
Jefferson School was honored with the New Wisconsin Promise School of Recognition Award for working with their local communities to raise achievement scores for all of their students.
The students will receive academic T-shirts to celebrate their success.
"Being named a New Wisconsin Promise School of Recognition celebrates the efforts schools make to create a learning climate that supports every student," Burmaster stated. "It is the work of parents, teachers, administrators, and other staff members at Jefferson that contribute to student success and helps us fulfill our New Wisconsin Promise to provide a quality education for every child and to close the achievement gap between economically disadvantaged students and their peers."
Faith Olmedo, former Jefferson PTO president said, "Jefferson School is the heart and soul of the community. We are fortunate to have such a dedicated staff to be working with our students."
October 30, 2008


text: The Giants exercised their 2014 options on GM Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy, tweets John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. Bochy joined the Giants initially in October of '06, while Sabean became assumed his role in '96 and is the game's longest-tenured GM. With the pair having won two World Series in a three-year span, it was an easy call to keep them in place for 2014.


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Turfstone's unique design allows rainwater to be gradually filtered back into soil naturally, resulting in the control and stabilization of soil erosion. Its eco-friendly design allows greenery to grow right through it, creating a highly unique hardscape design that works in harmony with nature.
Copyright 2013 Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved.


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Please feel free to browse throught this site while it is being built - or you can visit our vintage but still very functional web site at www.heartrhythmcenter.com
This practice is Florida's largest center for the catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation. While this site is being built, if you need further infomation on the ablation of atrial fibrillation please visit
Our new office address is
180 JFK Drive, Suite 311
Atlantis, FL 33462.
Thank you for visiting the web site of Florida Electrophysiology Associates. We are Florida's largest physician practice of cardiac electrophysiologists. We are also the oldest group of dedicated heart rhythm specialists in this state, having been in practice for over 17 years. Every physician in this practice is board certified in both cardiology and clinical cardiac electrophysiology. Our mission is to provide compasionate, ethical and quality care to patients with cardiac arrhythmias. Did you know that cardiac arrhythmias continue to be the leading cause of death in the developed world? Currently more people die annually in the United States from cardiac arrhythmias than from all cancers combined. Unlike other forms of heart disease, which tends to effect people as they get older, cardiac arrhythmias occur frequently in people of all ages including children. When I was born in New York in 1961, there was little that could be done to treat patients with heart rhythm disorders. Over the past 50 years, science and technology has revolutionized what can be done for a patient with a heart rhythm disorder. Today essentially all disorders of the heart's rhythm are ammenable to treatment - and many heart rhythm disorders can be permanently cured. The physicians in this practice have over 60 years of combined experience performing surgery for heart rhythm disorders. The philosophy of our group is to treat patients the way we ourselves would want to be treated. We hope you enjoy this web site and have a good experience with our practice!
The physicians in this practice do not practice general cardiology. We are a group of physicians who only treat heart rhythm disorders and as such we must partner with our colleagues who are general cardiologists for much of the evaluation and testing of our patients. If you like in Palm Beach County, we ask that you please also have a general cardiologist who treats you in this area. If you do not, please let us know that when you contact us as we may also wish to arrange for you to see a cardiologist in the area as part of your intial evaluation and treatment. If you are traveling to see us from outside of Palm Beach County and already have a cardiologist, then please bring copies of all records of your previous cardiovascular testing to us for your initial consultation. If you are traveling to see us from outside of the area and do not have a cardiologist, then as part of the initial evaluation we may refer you to see a local cardiologist for some additional testing as part of your initial evaluation.
To see all Florida physicians in-patient Medicare ablation volumes for last year click HERE.
To see all Florida physicians out-patient Medicare ablation volumes for last year click HERE.
Please Note: Medpar data is public data on Medicare procedures performed. Medicare volume is approximately 40% of total volume for most physicians in Florida so to get total volume multiply the numbers you see by approx 2.5.


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In 2002 approximately 350 blueprints and drawings were donated to the Architecture Branch Library. These materials include buildings in Norman, as well as buildings by such architects as Frank Lloyd Wright and Bruce Goff. Please call the library at (405)325-5521 to arrange access to the blueprints.
The University of Oklahoma Libraries | 401 West Brooks Street, Norman, OK 73019 | (405)325-4142


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We sell two grades of fresh Tuber melanosporum truffles, adapting European Union standards as formulated by the Sainte Alvère (France) truffle market. However, our Category 1s have a minimum weight twice that of their European cousins. All truffles are carefully cleaned by the wet-brushing technique and are free of any visible soil particles, and are "table ready" for use. After cleaning we "rest" all our truffles in individual containers overnight in the refridgerator to see what kind of aroma and pungency they show. Every truffle is different in its aroma spectrum. If you prefer, for example, a fruity, floral truffle for your entrée rather than a more earthy truffle, we will do our best to match our truffles to your needs.
These are truffles greater than or equal to 0.8 oz. and are well-formed, that is, not too "knobby." They may have slight surface defects such as caused by roots growing in proximity, or by our truffle hound getting a little over-enthusiastic and scratching the surface in his/her eagerness to unearth the truffle.
Price: $50 / oz (calc'd to nearest 0.1 oz). We weigh to the nearest tenth of an ounce. We sell whole truffles, and will do our best to get to your requested weight. But it may be slightly over or under what the exact weight is you requested. SHOP
These are smaller or more knobby truffles. They have a little more surface rind relative to the aromatic interior. But aside from that they are equivalent in every respect in their organoleptic (I love that word) qualities to the Category 1s.
Price $40 / oz (calculated to the nearest 0.1 oz). SHOP


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edit your stored address and account settings, and see your loyalty points. If you're not
already a member, follow our easy sign up process now to take advantage of our extra benefits.
Titleist Vokey Chrome SM4 Wedge
With the help of some of the best players in the world, Bob Vokey has been able to create a wedge that will appeal to all golfers looking for maximum performance. The precision technology used in the Vokey SM4 will enhance your short game and improve your scores.
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(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)
Best all round wedge!
By WesG
from Grimsby
Best Uses
Comments about Titleist Vokey Chrome SM4 Wedge:
Played a few rounds with these wedges now and I can really feel the titleist quality. The wedges offer great feel and feedback after a shot and are perfectly weighted. I now have the confidence to go straight at the pin from within wedge range as the spin these wedges get on the ball is enough to stop the ball almost instantly. They have improved my game around the greens and hitting full shots, for me making them the best all round wedges. The only reason I haven't given 5 stars is because they are the most expensive wedges on the market. But I'd recommend you spend the extra money and get the best!
Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
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(3 of 3 customers found this review helpful)
This club is fantastic
By Scotty 11
from Hampshire
Brought this to add more versatility in the bag, I went 60 with 7 bounce. So much spin and can open it up easy too. Would recommend this club
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Who Says Vinyl Siding Can't Be Green?
It has long been a challenge in the building community to identify a cladding product that can be recycled. You can't recycle brick or wood that has been painted. Aluminum siding can be recycled, but there is not much demand for aluminum siding these days. Vinyl siding is the only cladding product that can be recycled multiple times into new vinyl siding.
As consumers, not only do we need to understand what can be recycled but we need to know where the product is in its life cycle, because many products can't continue to be recycled into equal quality products. For example, we all recycle plastic bottles but plastic bottles rarely get recycled into plastic bottles, they are typically downcycled into a lower quality product that will eventually be disposed of in a landfill.
In response to market demand for a sustainable vinyl siding product we created a "closed loop" (cradle to cradle) program that enables our CedarBoards™ Insulated siding product to be manufactured with 60 percent recycled content that includes post-consumer vinyl siding (tearoffs and construction scrap).
Using our distributors around the country, we developed a partnership with recyclers who leave bins at our partner distributors. Contractors can bring old vinyl siding and scraps to the distributors. This eliminates the tipping fees that the contractor would pay at the landfill. The scraps and old vinyl are recycled to our specifications and we buy it back from the recyclers. It's a win-win-win-win situation. The contractor can promote that he is recycling materials and he saves on fees. The distributor can sell the fact that he is "green" and has established this program for contractors which gains visibility with potential customers. The recycler has a committed, paying customer for the recycled product, and we are able to bring to market a sustainable vinyl siding product. This is one way we can control the waste stream.
A plastic product is the best course for our sustainable future because it enables us to have that constant closed loop process. Since we have already put all the resources into the product the following manufacturing process has minimal environmental impact. By recycling and re-manufacturing, we are not further depleting natural resources, but are reducing energy consumption and our carbon footprint.
We will be providing life-cycle information on the CedarBoards products later in the year that will illustrate the life-cycle benefits based on science for these products.
Sustainability is not only about the product's environmental performance, it also includes resource management. Manufacturers need to be developing products that the masses can afford that are environmentally sustainable.
Drew Brandt, LEED AP, CGP is Director of Marketing – New Product Development for CertainTeed Vinyl Siding
[…] a previous blog, Who Says Vinyl Siding Can't Be Green, I started to discuss the move to manufacturing vinyl siding products with recycled content making […]
[…] Tells the True Green Vinyl Siding Story Posted June 24, 2011 By dbrandt In a previous blog, Who Says Vinyl Siding Can't Be Green, I started to discuss the move to manufacturing vinyl siding products with recycled content making […]
Developing a Life Cycle Analysis does not affect product cost. Creating a LCA is a one time investment but the benefits will keep coming such as 1. transparency to our customers on our environmental performance, 2. creation of a base line for us to measure ourselves for improvement, and 3. dispelling the myth in the market that vinyl is bad for the environment.
We actually just completed our fiber cement LCA for our WeatherBoards product line. This will add to the transparency for our entire siding product line. This allows us to provide "Environmental Freedom of Choice". What is Environmental Freedom of Choice? As the largest producer of siding it provides our customers transparency in all our siding product lines. This gives the customer the ability to make their decision based on their needs and know that they are making an environmentally conscience decision regardless of the product they picked. CertainTeed Siding Products group is not just a manufacturer of vinyl siding it is a manufacturer of a complete line of siding, trim, house wrap, decking, railing, and fence products.
Our environmental performance and transparency is important to CertainTeed.
Drew Brandt
Thanks for sharing the information. This is really a nice blog and providing good information.
Thanks for your support. CertainTeed decided to develop this program for one purpose, to create a recycle program for vinyl. We want to be the leader. CertainTeed is investing in our future.
If you would like to participate in our program please feel free to contact me. Once again thanks for your comments.
"A plastic product is the best course for our sustainable future because it enables us to have that constant closed loop process. Since we have already put all the resources into the product the following manufacturing process has minimal environmental impact. By recycling and re-manufacturing, we are not further depleting natural resources, but are reducing energy consumption and our carbon footprint."
Wow! That's a good initiative. Thinking green can really help us in the long run. It will let us conserve the valuable natural resources we have and it's effect is great for future generations. However, I just want to ask, is the entire process cost-effective or does it result to some additional expenses in the manufacturing process or maybe materials procurement?


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It has been consistently ranked in the top ten hospitals in the nation by US News and World Report.
The physicians treating patients at the hospital include the 750 full-time clinical faculty of Washington University School of Medicine who treat adults. In addition, over 200 community physicians, who are part-time faculty members of the medical school, admit patients to the hospital.
The medical staff is augmented by a house staff of more than 850 Residents and Fellows (physicians in post-graduate specialist training) and interns. The physician practice is supported by an exceptional cadre of professional nurses, technicians, and administrative and support personnel.
Barnes-Jewish Hospital is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Click here to go to the Barnes-Jewish Hospital web site.
The Emergency Department at Barnes-Jewish Hospital is a Level I Trauma Service, seeing 80,000 patients annually. Barnes-Jewish Hospital is a principal sponsor of the Area Rescue Consortium of Hospitals (ARCH), the fifth busiest aeromedical service in the nation.
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Create a Website for Fun, Profit and Business
No programming required. Discover easy-to-use design tools that can build your personal or business website in 60 minutes. Generate traffic immediately using pay-per-click ads on Google, MSN, Yahoo!, and Facebook. This course will cover how to get ranked by the three major search engines (SEO), and the tips and traps of website design. Also learn how to create money generating Affiliate website; plus how to easily import and sell products direct from 1,500 manufacturers in China. This class is will be taught by multi-award winning instructor and published author from Seattle, Kevin Boyd.
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