Pittsburgh Cares - A Volunteer Opportunity

Pittsburgh Cares inspires volunteerism by organizing flexible and rewarding service projects that impact critical needs in Greater Pittsburgh.

How it Got Started
In August 1992, six Pittsburgh friends joined together to found Pittsburgh Cares. They wanted to offer local volunteer opportunities, especially for those who found it difficult to volunteer often or on a regular schedule. Pittsburgh Cares was one of the first affiliates in what is now Hands on Network (formerly CityCares), with affiliates across the USA and overseas. Using the flexible, episodic volunteering model, Pittsburgh Cares began offering its volunteers a monthly calendar of community service opportunities to choose from.

What It's Doing Now
Since then, Pittsburgh Cares has grown tremendously and now has a base of 3,000 volunteers in Pittsburgh, a downtown office with a professional staff, a board of directors, and an advisory board. They have formal relationships with some 100 service agencies for whom their volunteers provide thousands of hours of work each year to help them deliver their services. Pittsburgh Cares is a 501.c.3 tax-exempt organization, and relies on corporate, foundation, and individual contributions for its operating expenses. Over the years Pittsburgh Cares has contributed hundreds of thousands of hours of volunteer support to non-profit organizations in Greater Pittsburgh.

Opportunities for You
Pittsburgh Cares has two special events each year that help support our expenses. Their annual Shining Lights is a downtown party (on Pittsburgh's Light-Up Night!) where they recognize their top volunteers and supporters and eat, drink, and dance the night away. Their city-wide day of service, Hands on Pittsburgh, takes place every May and brings together hundreds of volunteers for a morning of simultaneous service projects all over the city that raises about a third of their annual operating budget. The City of Pittsburgh recognizes this as "Pittsburgh Cares Day" each year.

How You Can Help
Clicking here will take you to the Pittsburgh Cares Support Page. Take a look and see if you'd like to support their efforts. If you're interested in volunteering, click here to go to the Volunteer Training page.

The 30-Minute Rule

Are you busy sitting all day?

Some days there's no way around it. Stuff you need to do -- drive, work, plan a get-together, deal with e-mail, pay bills, create a successful SAE World Congress -- is stuff you do sitting down. But yet another study has shown that getting as little as 30 minutes of activity a day is all it takes to reduce mortality risk by 14 percent. So sweep the patio, have a pillow fight with the kids, walk while you talk on the phone. It all adds up.

You don't have to train for a triathlon to reduce your risk of life-shortening diseases. You just need to increase your daily moving time -- that is, activities that get your heart going -- to at least 30 minutes. Know what else can help you live longer? You guessed it: eating more fruits and veggies. Just one extra serving each day -- an apple or pear or a cup of leafy greens -- cuts your risk of dying from anything by 20 percent. Huge benefits for modest efforts.

Cancer Fighting Halloween Tips

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month; get into the spirit by putting your jack-o'-lantern innards to good health use.

Pumpkin -- a crop that typically peaks this month -- is rich in beta carotene, and studies show that a diet high in beta carotene may help reduce the risk of cancers, including breast cancer. Add cancer-fighting flair to your weekend pancake recipe by adding 1/2 cup of pumpkin and 3/4 of a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. Of course, no single food item fully guards against breast cancer, so don't skip your mammogram. Early detection dramitically increases your odds of successfully fighting this potentially devastating disease.

Carrots, kale, cantaloupe, apricots, and papaya also are smart beta carotene choices. It's not clear whether beta carotene alone is responsible for the reduced cancer risk observed as a result of eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables. Rather, researchers suspect that beta carotene and other nutrients in whole fruits and vegetables work synergistically to produce an anticarcinogenic effect. To get a sampling of all the good-for-you nutrients and phytochemicals that fresh produce has to offer, aim for four servings of fruit and five servings of vegetables each day.