Comcast employees and their families and friends join forces to make change happen on nation’s largest single-say corporate volunteer effort.

Baltimore— More than 1,000 volunteers including Comcast employees, their families, friends and members of the local community and non-profit groups joined together on Saturday, April 27, 2013 to make an impact in communities throughout the Greater Baltimore area as part of “Comcast Cares Day,” the company’s annual, nationwide day of service. Comcast Cares Day volunteers pitched in on a number of projects, from revitalizing local parks, recreation facilities and community centers to spending the day mentoring local youth.

In Baltimore City, approximately 350 Comcast Cares Day volunteers helped to beautify the grounds of the Towanda Recreation Center in the Park Heights neighborhood. The project, completed in partnership with the Parks & People Foundation, included planting shrubs, removing vines, maintenance of the facility’s basketball courts, painting benches, organizing the kitchen and helping to set up a library within the center.

“At Comcast, we take great pride in giving back to our local communities, and we’re honored to join together on Comcast Cares Day to make a positive and lasting impact,” said Donna Rattley Washington, regional vice president of government and community affairs for Comcast. “I’m truly inspired by the many volunteers who donate their time each year to make a difference in the lives of others.”

“Parks & People Foundation is dedicated to providing residents across the city with recreational and educational opportunities, green and vibrant parks and safe places to learn and play,” said Valerie Shane, Community Greening Program Assistant and Volunteer Coordinator for the Parks & People Foundation. “We sincerely appreciate Comcast’s support, and are honored to be part of this incredible day of service.”

As part of Comcast Cares Day, many Comcast employees throughout Maryland also participated in blood drives and created personalized ‘thank you’ cards for U.S. service men and women to be included in USO care packages at airports, in service centers and overseas.

Additional Comcast Cares Day projects in the Greater Baltimore area this year included:

—Helping “Save the Bay” at Lake Waterford Park in Pasadena in partnership with the Volunteer Center For Anne Arundel County and Anne Arundel Recreation and Parks

 —Revamping the Boys & Girls Club at Wiley H. Bates Heritage Park in partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Annapolis & Anne Arundel County

—Mentoring and bowling with young members of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Chesapeake in Baltimore County

 —Sprucing up the Cecil Sports Complex football and baseball fields in Cecil County in partnership with the North East Youth Football League

—Installing a children’s library, painting the interior and beautifying the neighborhood surrounding the Boys & Girls Club of Westminster in partnership with the Club and students from McDaniel College.

Now in its 12th year, Comcast Cares Day has become the largest single day of corporate volunteering in the country. This year, more than 70,000 volunteers participated in more than 700 projects nationwide and, for the first time, internationally with projects hosted by NBCUniversal in England, France, Germany and New Zealand. Since the inception of Comcast Cares Day in 2001, more than 500,000 volunteers have contributed more than three million hours of service.

Comcast has been committed to serving local communities since its founding 50 years ago. For more information on Comcast’s volunteer and community investment initiatives, visit www.comcast.com/community. 

Cinco de Mayo is May 5— a time to celebrate Mexican heritage and pride.

Why not join the celebration by visiting Social Security’s Spanish website, where you’ll find a number of useful services and a wealth of information in Spanish. Just visit www.segurosocial.gov

Perhaps the most impressive thing you can accomplish on our website— in Spanish— is to apply for Social Security retirement benefits! You can apply quickly and easily on your personal computer. The online application takes as little as 15 minutes. Once you complete the online application and “sign” it with the click of a mouse, your application is complete. In most cases, there are no documents to submit or additional paperwork to fill out. Online is the easiest way to apply, and you can do it in English or Spanish.

In addition to applying for Social Security retirement benefits, you also can apply for Medicare in Spanish— in as little as 10 minutes, from start to finish.

If you are not ready to apply for benefits now, there are still a number of reasons to visit the Social Security website. You can find a lot of information and a number of online services that allow you to complete your Social Security business online, in English or Spanish. One of the most popular is our Retirement Estimator, which provides an instant, personalized estimate of your future Social Security benefits. Using the actual wages posted in your Social Security record, the Estimator will give you a good picture of what benefits you may receive. It protects your personal information by providing only retirement benefit estimates— it does not show the earnings information used to calculate the benefit estimate, nor does it reveal other identifying information. You can plug in different retirement scenarios and future wage amounts to get estimates for different situations. Try it out at www.socialsecurity.gov/espanol/calculador.

If you already are entitled to Medicare and are having trouble with the cost of prescription drugs, you might qualify for Extra Help from Social Security. The Extra Help can save you as much as $4,000 each year on your prescription drug costs. You can learn all about it and apply online at www.socialsecurity.gov/prescriptionhelp/index_sp.htm.

On the right side of the website, under the Frequently Asked Questions, you’ll find a red envelope. Select it to receive email updates on the latest Social Security news and information. You can get your updates in English at www.socialsecurity.gov or in Spanish at www.segurosocial.gov .

Whether you prefer to do business online in Spanish or English, our website is the place for you. Visit www.segurosocial.gov or www.socialsecurity.gov during Cinco de Mayo, or anytime.

Annapolis, MD – How do you combine a love of fashion and an entrepreneurial spirit into a venture that will make money in a less-than-stable economy? You create a pop-up shop.

“HERE. a pop-up shop” is the first of its kind retail outlet in the Annapolis area.

A pop-up shop is a temporary boutique that is open for a limited time in a vacant commercial storefront.

Co-owners Amy Fresty and Ellen Lunay, both local residents with a flair for fashion, were looking for a way to combine a background in fashion merchandising and a love of fashion & photography to bring something unique to the Annapolis area. “This is an amazing opportunity to bring fresh, fun and unique merchandise to the area without a full commitment to a retail store or lease,” said Lunay.

“Pop-up boutiques have been trending in other cities for quite some time,” said Fresty. “We knew this would be just the right timing for fashion-forward shoppers in this area.”  With a successful first pop-up behind them, they proved themselves to be right.

Pop-up shops trending in New York, Los Angeles, Austin, and Washington, D.C., are getting a lot of attention from fashionistas coast to coast.

HERE. a pop-up shop will open its doors for the second time on May 3rd at 40 Randall Street in Downtown Annapolis. Staying open through May 12th, this pop-up boutique’s theme, which changes each time, will be “Let the Sun Shine In” and will feature apparel, jewelry, accessories, gifts and home goods.

HERE. always highlights local designers as much as possible. 

Fresty and Lunay are negotiating lease space for the next two boutiques (July & October) and also plan to pop-up in December, making it 5 total pop-ups in 2013. Approximately every eight weeks, HERE. will "pop up" at a new retail location for a limited time. The women say the temporary nature is designed to generate excitement with a “seasonal and/or inspired theme, creating an appealing and unique shopping experience.”

About Amy Fresty

Amy Fresty was born and raised in Wisconsin and graduated from Marquette University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications. She has always had a love for fashion. When she moved to Baltimore in 1996, she pursued photography at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Now, she and her husband of eight years live in Arnold, MD, with their son Jack and twins, Max and Lola.

About Ellen Lunay

Ellen Lunay graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Science degree in Fashion Merchandising and worked in the industry both in New York and Los Angeles. In 2005, Ellen and her husband moved back east where they live in Arnold, MD, with their girls Lucy and Izzy. 

Torrance, California— Toyota Green Initiative (TGI), an environmental stewardship platform designed to empower the African American community to adopt a sustainable lifestyle, is pleased to announce that student Corban Bell of Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana is the grand prize winner of TGI's third annual Green Campus Contest. With nearly 1,300 votes on http://www.ToyotaGreen.com, Bell's plan and establishment of a permanent, campus-wide recycling program at his school earned him a 2012 Toyota Prius and $5,000 toward the purchase of trees for his Grambling State University campus. He also receives membership to the TGI Coalition, a collective of environmental experts and celebrities who speak on sustainability within the African American community and relevant ways to go green.

First prize winner and runner-up Domenio Smith of Howard University in Washington, D.C., will also receive $2,500 toward the purchase of trees for his school. The trees for both Howard University and Grambling State University will be planted during the fall 2013 TGI Mobile Tour.

"We received so many phenomenal Green Campus Contest submissions from students concerned about the environment," said Jim Colon, vice president of product communications for Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. and TGI Coalition member. "In the end, Corban Bell's plan to establish a recycling program and lead additional initiatives, such as hosting a sustainability awareness week and expanding Grambling's compost program impressed the TGI program as well as voters."

"I'm so excited to be selected as this year's Green Campus Contest winner," said Bell. "TGI is a great environmental resource for the African American community, and I'm honored to represent the program in my efforts to improve the green culture at Grambling."

The TGI Green Campus Contest is an environmental competition where students at select Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) can submit plans on conserving resources within their campus and/or community. After an initial selection round, each of the 10 semifinalists is provided with a $500 budget to help implement his or her respective campus program. The results of their efforts are reviewed by the TGI Coalition and the two finalists' essays are posted on ToyotaGreen.com where visitors can vote for their favorites.

To learn more about the Toyota Green Initiative and the Green Campus Contest, visit http://www.ToyotaGreen.com.