Facing Foreclosure?

Get HELP if you are facing foreclosure!  The City of Riverside, along with multiple local agencies like the Fair Housing Council of Riverside County, have come together to assist residents facing foreclosure.  Topics include:

• Can my home be saved from foreclosure?
• Where do I go from here?
• What programs and services may be available to help my family?
• Who do I contact?

See below for the FREE Foreclosure Prevention Town Hall Meeting Schedule:

Ward 1
Location:   University Heights Middle School Gymnasium (1155 Massachusetts Avenue)
Date:         October 1, 2008
Time:         6 – 8:30 p.m.

Ward 2
Location:   UC-Riverside Extension “Room E” (1200 University Avenue)
Date:         October 8, 2008
Time:         6 – 8:30 p.m.

Ward 3
Location:   Janet Goeske Senior Center (5257 Sierra Street)
Date:         October 6, 2008
Time:         6 – 8:30 p.m.

Ward 4
Location:   Amelia Earhart Middle School (20202 Aptos Street)
Date:         October 22, 2008
Time:         6 – 8:30 p.m

Ward 5
Location:   California Baptist University Copenbarger Room (8308 Magnolia Avenue)
Date:         October 27, 2008
Time:         6 – 8:30 p.m.

Ward 6
Location:   Collett Elementary School Multipurpose Room (10850 Collett Avenue)
Date:         November 20, 2008
Time:         6 – 8:30 p.m.

Ward 7
Location:   Norte Vista High School – Performing Arts Center (6585 Crest Avenue)
Date:         December 4, 2008
Time:         6 – 8:30 p.m.

For more information, call (951) 826-2305 or click here to look up your ward.  Don’t panic if you live in Ward 7 and can’t wait until the December 4th meeting — feel free to attend an earlier meeting in another ward!  Please don’t ‘give up the ship’ until you’ve considered all of your options!

Riverside Seniors “Go Green” for Grandchildren

The seniors at Riverside’s Mount Rubidoux Manor, 3993 10th Street, are fighting back against global warming for the generations to come.

At 11 a.m. Monday, September 29th, 200 seniors from the retirement home will plant five trees — courtesy of Riverside Public Utilities — as a “gift of green for all the grandchildren of the world.”  The trees are acacia, podocarpus, sweet bay, camphor and red bud.

Mabel Harris, a 100-year-old dedicated gardener living at the Manor, will lead the planting after the ceremony in which Mayor Ronald O. Loveridge and Councilmember Mike Gardner will speak.  The Public Utilities will provide a booth with energy-saving tips as well.

The Residents Council also has a goal of raising $250 for the Nature Conservancy, which is striving to plant a billion trees in the rain forests of Brazil within seven years.  Donations will be accepted at the event.

“The Manor’s policy of going green supports the City’s Green Action Plan”, said Wally Longshore, vice president of the Residents Council.  “We’re mobilizing against global warming and taking the lead in a crusade to accelerate local, state and national governmental and private efforts to go green,” he said.  “The theme is: Seniors giving the gift of green to their grandchildren to save them from inheriting a planet environmental horror should global warming go unchecked.”

For more information, call (951) 276-1834.

Museum Offers Glimpse of WWII Army Camp

A FREE exhibit featuring photos, artifacts and information about Riverside’s Camp Anza will be on display at the City’s Metropolitan Museum, 3580 Mission Inn Avenue, beginning Saturday September 27th and running four months until Saturday January 31, 2009. 

Today, what is known as the Arlanza District in Riverside, once served as a World War II U.S. Army staging area from 1942 to 1946.  It was here that troops spent their last 10 days on U.S. soil before boarding a transport ship for the Pacific theater, making final equipment checks and preparations for the possibility of not returning home.  To boost morale, Hollywood stars of the day, including Bob Hope and Shirley Temple, performed for the men and women headed into the conflict.  At war’s end, Camp Anza was a major welcome homepoint for nearly half a million soldiers returning from the Pacific.

The black and white photo depicts GIs boarding the train that would take them to the Los Angeles Port of Embarkation in Wilmington, California.  There they would immediately board a troop transport for the Pacific. Photo courtesy of the Herbert Family.

Frank Teurlay, author of “Riverside’s Camp Anza and Arlanza” has assembled a vast collection of information, images and artifacts, some of which can be seen in this new exhibit, “Riverside’s Camp Anza”.  The show will be on display at the Riverside Metropolitan Museum until January 31, 2009. For more information, call (951) 826-5273.

Please join author Frank Teurlay on Thursday November 6th from 6-9 p.m. for a reception, discussion and booksigning.

Speed Dating for Single Professionals – Sept. 25th

You’ve probably heard of speed dating. It has so permeated the Western Culture that even those who aren’t looking for love know what it is.  It’s a no-pressure way to meet lots of potential dates.  With six-minute “pre-dates” you personally meet up to twelve single professionals and see if your chemistry is right. If it is, you privately check YES on your scorecard saying you want to get to know the person better. There’s no uncomfortable rejection (giving or receiving) with this new way to speed date. Find out more about speed dating parties at Cupid.com/PreDating.

When: Thursday, September 25th at 7:00 p.m.
Who: Singles…. ages 25-35
Where: Jazz N Java
497 E. Alessandro Blvd
Riverside, CA 92508

Register at www.Cupid.com/PreDating for this party or others in Riverside County, and to inquire about other age groups as well.  Online registration is required, and parties fill up quickly! Whether you register a month in advance or the day before, you’ll pay the same price. 

Good luck in your search for love!

Deaf Awareness Week — Sept. 21-27

The City of Riverside is participating in several events for its annual Deaf Awareness Week, from September 21-27.

“The Model Deaf Community Committee is a one-of-a-kind advocacy group dedicated to promoting access and inclusion,” commented Mayor Ron Loveridge. “The Annual Deaf Awareness Week is a great opportunity for an exchange between the hearing and deaf while enjoying a picnic, open house or one of the many free activities throughout Riverside.”

The Deaf Awareness Week schedule includes the following:

• Sept. 21:  The deaf community picnic at Fairmount Park, 2601 Fairmount Park, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Sept. 22:  Monday Night Football at the Mission Tobacco Lounge, 3630 University Avenue, co-hosted by Center on Deafness Inland Empire, from 5 p.m. to closing.
• Sept. 23:  Emergency preparedness at California School for the Deaf Riverside (CSDR) Social Hall, 3044 Horace Street, from 7 to 9 p.m.
• Sept. 24:  CSDR open house at 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.; an open house about city services at Riverside City Hall, 3900 Main Street, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.; and a Model Deaf Community ceremony at City Hall’s Grier Pavilion from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
• Sept. 25:  American sign language storytelling at Arlington Library, 9556 Magnolia Avenue, from 3 to 5 p.m.; the Deaf Bilingual Coalition meets at CSDR Social Hall, 6:30 p.m.; and a Wi-Fi network wireless access class at the same location at 8 p.m.
• Sept. 26:  Entertainment and awards recognition at the Riverside Plaza, 3545 Central Ave., with the Wild Zappers, a male deaf dance troupe, starting at 6 p.m.
• Sept. 27:  Emergency preparedness at CSDR Social Hall from 9 to 11 a.m. and a softball game against the Riverside Police Department at the Orange Terrace Park, 20010 Orange Terrace Parkway, from 7 to 9 p.m.

Help For Lost Items

With all the new small items we carry in our lives, it’s easy to misplace them. This can cause panic if it’s your cell phone or Ipod. A new FREE lost and found recovery service is available through SendMeHome.com. Users are able to register personal valuables which are each given a unique ID code. The user then writes this code on the item, prints a free label, or orders a professional label. Should the item ever become lost, the SendMeHome.com website allows the owner to communicate anonymously with anyone who might find it in order to arrange its return. 

Here are just a few ideas of items to tag:

• Cell Phones
• Ipods
• Bike helmets
• Laptops
• Pets
• USB flash drives
• Baseball gloves
• Sunglasses
• Golf clubs
• Textbooks
• Car keys
• Hubcaps
• etc.

This service aims to rally the good nature and honesty of strangers by making it easier and safer than ever for them to return lost items. So take a moment and visit SendMeHome.com and tag all of your items.

Free Internet Marketing Class

The City of Riverside Public Library sponsors a free class in Internet Marketing from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m., Wednesday September 17th, at the Main Library’s second floor auditorium, at 3851 Mission Inn Avenue.

The class will cover using the internet as an effective marketing tool; understanding how to design a web site to reach customers; and how to use the internet for communicating with customers.

All attendees will receive a free business plan compact disk with business plan templates and Excel spread sheets.

For more information, call Jeff Lambert at 951-826-5212.

September 20-21 ArtSplash Chalk Art Festival

This two-day classic in Carlsbad, California is an arts adventure for people of all ages, featuring an array of art-making, art-viewing, and art-buying opportunities, along with music, entertainment and food! You’ll witness amazing chalk art, sand sculptures, a musical robotic giraffe, face painting, jugglers, a ferris wheel, balloon man, and other engaging street entertainers at the 6th annual ArtSplash.  In keeping with ArtSplash’s community focus, admission, parking, music and entertainment are FREE!

When:  Saturday (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) and Sunday (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.), September 20-21, 2008

Where: Armada Drive in Carlsbad, overlooking the blue Pacific between the Grand Pacific Palisades Resort and the Gemological Institute of America. Click here for driving directions from the Inland Empire.

Mission:  To raise funds in support of arts and music programs for North San Diego County schools.

Chalk art represents a beautiful paradox. It is both ephemeral and enduring. Drawn upon the street, it vanishes with the first rainfall. Yet this transitory art form dates back to the 16th century when itinerant street painters in Italy rendered images of the Madonna and so came to be known as Madonnari. As the craft evolved, these free-spirited artists traveled from festival to festival, using colored chalk to create images on sidewalks and public squares, living on donations and commissions. ArtSplash is proud to continue and celebrate this colorful tradition of visual street poetry. For more information, please visit www.CarlsbadArtSplash.org.

For more things to do while you are visiting, contact the Carlsbad Convention and Visitors Bureau at 1-800-227-5722.

Eastbound 91 Freeway will be Closed Tonight

Caltrans is urging motorists to avoid the 91 Freeway in Corona tonight, Saturday, September 13th, because of construction work that will close the eastbound lanes of the highway at Green River Road between 11 p.m. and 9 a.m.

“There will be a high volume of construction trucks and other equipment going in there at night to work on the bridge,” said Shelli Lombardo, a Caltrans spokeswoman for Riverside County.  Motorists are advised to avoid the area.  Otherwise, they will be rerouted and are likely to experience delays of more than two hours, she said.

Lombardo suggested using the 10 and 60 freeways as alternatives.  Those traveling from Orange County are advised to take the 57 Freeway north to the 60 or 10, then take the 15 Freeway south to connect to the 91 eastbound.

Only Corona residents will be allowed through the area, to get to their homes at Green River Road, she said.  For additional information and future freeway closures, please visit www.caltrans8.info.

Please drive defensively and courteously!

5 Tips for Healthy Lunches Kids Will Love

Get off to a healthy start this school year by packing nutritious lunches that your kids will actually want to eat. Think you’re too busy? Relax. All it takes is a little planning and creativity. A healthy lunch gives kids the energy they need to finish the school day and be ready to tackle homework and after-school activities. Read on for tips on filling your child’s lunchbox with healthy, tasty meals that even the most finicky kid won’t be able to resist.

1.  Small changes add up. If cafeteria food, prepackaged lunchables, and snack cakes are on the lunch menu of choice in your family, take heart. It is possible to steer your kids toward healthier choices, one baby-step at a time. By making small, gradual changes you can give your kids a big boost of nutrients. Aim for less fat, sugar, and calories and focus on increasing fiber, protein, and calcium. The next time you fill their lunchboxes, try these simple substitutions:

			Instead of:				Substitute with:
			White bread				Whole wheat bread
			Processed lunch meat				Leftover grilled or roasted chicken or other lean meats
			Potato chips or fried snacks				Popcorn or whole-grain crackers
			Prepackaged cakes or cookies				Homemade cookies or muffins
			Fruit-flavored drinks or soda				Milk, water, or 100% fruit juice

 

2.  Get the kids involved. Kids who have a say in the foods they eat are more likely to finish their meals and make healthier choices. And getting ‘em hooked on a nutritious diet at an early age will build lifelong healthy eating habits. Encourage your kids to help with shopping, menu planning, and preparing their lunches. Ask them what they like, and if it’s not healthy, brainstorm with them for healthy alternatives to their favorites – suggest leftover soup or chili in a thermos. 

3.  Variety is the spice of life. If sack lunches have gotten mundane (peanut butter and jelly again?), try thinking outside the [lunch]box. Offer kids a BLT or tuna salad, or fill a whole-grain bagel, pita, or tortilla with their favorite sandwich fillings. Kids love to crunch. Instead of potato chips, try celery sticks filled with peanut butter or cream cheese and bite-size chunks of raw veggies like carrots and cucumber with low-fat dip. Make a kid-friendly homemade granola out of dried fruits, nuts, and any favored non-sugary cereal. 

4.  Mini is huge. Kids love any kind of food in small sizes and portions because it’s fun to eat and can be consumed quickly. Experiment with mini bagels filled with cheese, lean meats, or their favorite veggies and spreads. Popular mini foods include cubed cheese with whole-grain crackers, and mini muffins. Toss seedless grapes, strawberries, and cubed melon for a mini fruit bowl. Cut whole sandwiches in quarters or jazz them up by using cookie cutters to turn bread and cheese slices into their favorite shapes and characters.

5.  Handle with care. Pack school lunches in insulated lunch bags, which are sturdier than paper bags, and are better at maintaining temperature control. Be sure to include a freezer pack to keep perishable foods like meat and dairy from spoiling. Some lunch bags even come with separate compartments designed to keep cold foods cold and hot foods hot. Use a thermos for hot foods like leftover spaghetti, soups, or even stir-fry.

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