By Alana Stroud

Local cowgirl Karin Johnson experienced a vision after finishing a trail ride near Tonto Hills in June of 2008. Having been on a journey of self-discovery for the past year, she had been searching high and low for a way to make a living doing what she loved. In San Diego, at an advanced training exercise with Jack Canfield, she realized that her passion was animals. It was a start, but she still had no idea how to turn this passion into a living.

Johnson’s search eventually led to her developing Cowgirl Designs, an artistic adventure in expressing her love of animals with the rest of the world. Initially, her idea was to design custom greeting cards. When a member of the Cave Creek/Carefree Chamber of Commerce suggested she broaden her artistic offerings, she readily agreed. Her now full-time specialty is personalizing photographs of people and their animals. Johnson’s creative photography focuses on the theme of the Western lifestyle, including but not limited to cowboys, cowgirls, horses, ranch work, and the Sonoran Desert. Johnson’s only goal is to be an inspiration and share her passion with everyone in the hope that they too will discover theirs and live their dreams as she is living hers.

Not wishing to keep her success all to herself, Johnson donates 10 percent of the proceeds from all Cowgirl Designs sales to Dreamchaser PMU Rescue and Rehabilitation, a horse rescue and adoption facility at Dunrovin Ranch in New River, Arizona. Dreamchaser PMU gives horses that would otherwise be doomed to certain death another chance at life by placing them in forever homes through adoption. The organization purchases the horses and provides all housing and feeding supplies. Together, Cowgirl Designs and Dreamchaser are in the saddle changing the world, one horse at a time.

For more information and ways you can help, visit dreamchaserpmu.org. For more information on Cowgirl Designs and to view artwork, visit cowgirldesigns.com.

By Patti Jares

A lot of us realize the physical and emotional benefits of yoga, but not many have tapped into its advantages in relation to children. Diane Kline is one of the few to explore the possibilities of yoga for kids, and her success has been phenomenal.

A certified yoga instructor, Kline conceived the idea the day she taught her first adult class.

“Everyone looked like they were 5 years old,” says Kline. “I realized it was a clear message to teach children.”

In May 2006, Kline took yoga into the Phoenix area elementary schools as a children’s yoga specialist. She employs a simpler form of the practice as shown on her award-winning DVD, Yogaland, The Australian Adventure. The DVD simulates an imaginary trip to Australia, and children from kindergarten through sixth grade respond to the benefits of yoga through exercise, calm, and entertainment.

In the past two years, Kline has taught over 4,000 children in 24 schools throughout the Phoenix area. In addition, she now provides workshops throughout the state of Arizona, equipping educators with “energizers and relaxers” for the classroom. Kline has received numerous awards and recognition, and is endorsed by John Gordon of the Arizona School Board Association. She is currently seeking a corporate sponsor to help provide 2,800 Yogaland DVDs to graduating teaching students throughout Arizona.

Kline has experienced dramatic results that affirm the advantages of yoga for children. “We need to get kids moving,” she says, “and this is a great way [to do it].”

For more information, call (480) 244-7676 or go to myyogaland.com.

By Lee Nelson

Chuck Theisen’s love of the outdoors, especially fishing, prompted him to go “green” when building his new Mercedes-Benz of Arrowhead dealership.

“I love the Valley. But as I’ve seen our population grow, I’ve been upset with pollution,” says Theisen, who has been a dealer in Phoenix for forty-five years.

The $13 million facility became the first luxury car dealership to earn the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. Sustainable features can be seen inside and out, including within the roof-mounted solar panels. They generate thirty-five percent of the power during off-peak hours. Any extra power can be sold back to the electric company.

Sweeping roof extensions and canopy screens shade the building from the summer sun. Many of the items used in construction came from recycled products, including steel, concrete, and asphalt.

Water conservation also gets a boost with water-saving toilets, an innovative six-gallon car wash as compared with the typical twenty gallons, and a water-recycling system to irrigate landscaping. Theisen also believes that running a good business means taking care of the employees. A state-of-the-art air system improves his employees’ quality of air, with less carbon dioxide. They also receive incentives to change their environmental impact, with a shuttle service to public transportation, close parking spots for those driving environmental-friendly cars, and showers and lockers for those biking or walking to work.

“Social responsibility has become very important in business,” Theisen says.

Visit arrowheadmb.com for more information.

Humorous new travel book offers key to tourism terminology.

By Cassaundra Brooks

Ever read something misleading in a travel book—an enticing description of a hotel, restaurant, or entertainment spot, and you arrived only to discover it is nothing like you had pictured? Retired bank marketing executive N.W. “Red” Pope and his wife Linda have fallen victim to such literary deception, and Red has compiled a list of enchanting descriptions from travel books and paired them with amusing, but true, brushes with reality.

In one example, the Popes found a charming line drawing of a small hotel on a side street in Bergen, Norway. The hotel was described as a “cozy and quaint family-run inn, centrally located, and exuding local flavor. Rooms tastefully furnished.” After disembarking the ship in a slight drizzle and lugging their bags some four blocks, they finally arrived at the old, narrow, three-story building. Their first impression was positive—all the trappings were there.

The shock came when the Popes opened the door to their room. “If ‘cozy’ meant small, and ‘cramped and quaint’ meant poorly furnished, this place was spot-on,” Pope says.

In over twenty-plus years of traveling thirty-five countries, the Popes had several such experiences. While 99 percent of the places lived up to or exceeded the reviews, the rest fell entirely too short. The Popes also noticed a pattern in travel language. Terms like “quaint,” “Old World charm,” and “picturesque” show up frequently. Linda suggested a book project, and Red began composing tongue-in-cheek asides and matching them to descriptions found in travel literature.

His efforts resulted in a 120-page book, TravelSpeak, which lists 141 travel writers’ clever descriptions paired with Pope’s actual experience of each. From a Provence farmhouse debacle, to the Oslo hotel room over an all-night disco, to the cruise line cabin under the steel deck, the book is a readable, humorous travel cautionary based on experience. And for what you can trust, the book also includes a listing of forty outstanding accommodations in twelve different European countries.

Visit travelspeakbook.com for more information.

By Jo Anne Grammond

When they take the field, the Joy Christian School football team knows the odds are against them. They are young, with not a senior among them, and their experience playing football is limited. But in every game, the boys play their hearts out.

“That’s what Joy is all about,” says Michelle Reddy, director of development for the school. “Family, teamwork, and heart, that’s what matters.”

These are the values taught at Joy, where the football team is well into its inaugural season. The year-old private Christian high school is located on the Community Church of Joy campus in Glendale, with only thirty-four students. It won’t have its first senior class until 2008.

Reddy says the football team is symbolic of what’s been happening at Joy Christian School during the past year, where the fundamentals of teamwork, love, forgiveness, and faith have been tested. Last fall, just weeks before the students were to celebrate the grand opening of their new gymnasium, a fire broke out and destroyed a sizable portion of the building.

“We worked for three years to raise the money to build the gym, so it was devastating,” Reddy says. “The best you can do is forgive and move on.”

And move on they have. A temporary wall was constructed, and in August, the students resumed activities in the gymnasium. In November, the school will officially break ground on a major expansion to the existing gymnasium, to include replacing the temporary wall and adding six classrooms, locker rooms, and a weight room.

“After the fire, the school and community came together, and we raised the money to move ahead with the bigger, better facility ahead of schedule,” Reddy says.

Joy Christian School began as a preschool twenty years ago and gradually extended to full elementary and middle school, with the high school being added last year. It recently earned the highest possible initial accreditation through the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI), and is the fourth-largest Lutheran school in the country. But though the school is a faith-based school, it doesn’t simply serve members of the Lutheran church, says Reddy. Many students enroll for the smaller private setting, which means more personal attention.

“We have students from nearly every religious sect,” she says. “Seventy percent of the school’s students do not attend Community Church of Joy. We don’t enroll students based on their faith.”

The school’s educational offerings are founded on Core Knowledge curriculum, and each year the students’ standardized test scores (including AIMS) well exceed state averages. Technology is readily available, and with the recent addition of eighty new computers, every classroom has a minimum of two computers. Middle school students have their own mobile laptop lab. And, unlike most public schools, students begin taking foreign language classes in kindergarten.

All of this has set the precedent for the high school, which executive director Nate Kretzmann says is en route to becoming “more consistent with other schools.” Even with its small enrollment, the school has full membership confirmation from the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) to the 1A West Conference, and offers students a variety of athletic programs including cross-country, football, boys’ and girls’ basketball and track, and girls’ volleyball. Cheerleading, speech and debate, and student government are also available.

Joy Christian School continues to grow—largely by word of mouth—and administrators expect the high school portion to nearly triple its enrollment by 2009. As the school develops, more activities will be added, including baseball, softball, golf, tennis, soccer, swimming, and wrestling. Maybe one day, it will even have its own football stadium!

By Cassaundra Brooks
Photography provided by ABC Sanctuary

When a student brought a sickly stray dog to her South Phoenix classroom twenty-eight years ago, teacher Dee Kotinas made a class project out of nursing the animal to health. One more student-stray combination later, Kotinas organized the Animals Benefit Club (ABC).

Kotinas put the profits of her book, All About Love, toward caring for her growing number of animals. In 1991, the retired teacher purchased a one-acre former junkyard and transformed it into the ABC Sanctuary, which now encompasses two acres and houses up to 100 dogs and cats at a time. She hopes to extend the sanctuary to include a small rescue area for farm animals.

Since its founding in 1979, ABC has rescued over 16,700 dogs and cats, including 4,678 special-needs cases. The meticulous screening process places the animals in good, caring forever homes after being spayed or neutered in accordance with animal shelter laws that Kotinas created and helped to pass.

“The abused, neglected, stray, and unwanted animals at the sanctuary are guaranteed loving care and the space necessary for self-expression until they are adopted,” says Kotinas. Available space—not age or condition—decides whether an animal is accepted at the no-kill sanctuary. And the space is used freely by the canine and feline critters—an enclosed outdoor play area for cats, and fourteen separate yards with shade trees and grass for dogs. Care, from bathing to feeding to playing, takes place daily.

The sanctuary’s Animal Emergency Services program incorporates the generosity of various emergency clinics in rescuing suffering strays that are hit by cars or are ill. ABC also comprises Arizona’s only authorized branch of Delta Pet Partner Animals Assisted Therapy teams, which pair up disabled pets with various medical and care facilities. Its Continuing Care Program provides care for animals who have lost their owners, and its Paws for Reading program helps children learn to read. A few of the trained pooches even turn the pages! It also provides volunteer training and community service programs.

You can help the stray and pet overpopulation problems by keeping your pets safe and neutered, and by remembering ABC Sanctuary when you encounter a dog or cat who needs a home. As Kotinas says, “Each is a unique individual who should never be thought of as disposable.”

Animals Benefit Club is located at 3111 St. John Road, Phoenix. To make a donation, and for information about hours, volunteering, and adoption fees, call (602) 971-0839 or visit animalsbenefitclub.com.

By Cassaundra Brooks

Decades ago, writing was a privileged activity of the elite and the educated upper classes. Today, people of all ages, levels of education, and walks of life publish their work. In an effort to both celebrate and encourage the present state of writing, John Riddle of Delaware dreamed up I Love to Write Day (ILTWD), which occurs annually every November 15. The concept of ILTWD is quite simple: everyone is encouraged to write—or finish writing—something. A novel, a short story, a poem, an essay, a letter. Fiction or non-fiction. Anything.

“You don’t have to set a goal of writing a novel,” Riddle says. “Just write something that is short, and meaningful to you.” Whether or not you consider yourself a writer, writing can be a fun and challenging activity.

The simplicity of and the inspirational quality to this national celebration have helped the news spread quickly. Since its creation in 2002, I Love to Write Day has grown to the point of directly affecting over 20,000 schools, which hold celebratory writing activities every November 15. Numerous bookstores, libraries, churches, community centers, and even malls recognize I Love to Write Day, and nine state governors have officially made November 15 ILTWD in their states.

Perhaps I Love to Write Day will launch the career of the next John Grisham or Stephen King, as Riddle sometimes allows himself to dream. Or perhaps you will discover that you enjoy writing just as much as you did before—which may be not much at all. But even so, you may learn a respect and appreciation for those who dedicate significant time to the craft. And you may just learn something about yourself, too.

For more information on how to participate in I Love To Write Day, visit ilovetowriteday.org.

By Cassaundra Brooks
Photos courtesy of me4kidz

“Two feet, four feet…they all need fixin’.” That’s one motto of the family-run Phoenix-based me4kidz (Medical Emergencies for Kids) organization. Inspired by their sons Cody and Luke and driven by faith and compassion for others, Richelle and Pete Nassos launched the medibag4kidz in May 2006. This bright-red medical-emergency kit, shaped like a doctor’s medical bag, is designed especially for children and features 117 items, including ointments, gauze, eyewash, sting pads, colored crayon bandages—right down to the smiley-faced stickers. The medibag4kidz provides a colorful and simple way for children at home to help mend their boo-boos and get back to playtime.

Recently, the Nassoses introduced two new products: the medibag4petz and the medibuddy. According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, more U.S. households have pets than children, and for many people, pets are the children! Packed with fifty pet-aid products to patch up your pooch or tend to tabby, the bright-yellow kit is a handy helpmate to keep around the house. The medibuddy is simply a travel-sized version of the original medibag4kidz—small enough for the stroller or the glove box, but big enough to carry forty first-aid items to all your errands, outings, and adventures!

Bent on quality, me4kidz kits come in organized, durable cases filled with only kid-friendly, hypoallergenic materials. All three kits are doctor or veterinarian recommended, with the original medibag4kidz having garnered seven awards in just one year. In an effort to support jobs in the United States, the products are exclusively U.S. manufactured and are assembled by disabled persons at the Gompers Center in Phoenix. A portion of the proceeds goes toward educational fund-raisers and various children’s organizations.

Already appearing in nine countries and nearly 1,500 stores, the me4kidz products continue to grow in popularity, inspiring kids and parents alike to take a fun and easy approach to addressing the everyday medical maladies of the family. Even more importantly, the success of these kits allows the Nassos family of five (we mustn’t forget Coda, the miniature schnauzer) to give back to those less fortunate than themselves.

For ordering, pricing, or other information, visit me4kidz.com or call (480) 444-2332.

By Cassaundra Brooks

When the oncologist who diagnosed Laura Fial with breast cancer instructed her to go home and come back with a positive attitude, Fial came back singing—literally. The professional jazz singer determined that not only was she going to survive breast cancer, but she was also going to inspire others to do the same.

The founding of the choral ensemble Soul Survivors, an ensemble of breast-cancer fighters and survivors, was a joint effort between Fial and her late friend Marilyn Nierenberg-Shaoul. True to the title of its first CD, the group’s music is “soothing the soul and healing the spirit” of many cancer patients.

Fial, a two-time survivor who had a single mastectomy, is one of at least twelve active members of Soul Survivors, but says that many others lend their time and talents to the group. Songwriter Scott Parsons was the first such donor, and he has not stopped. News personalities Mike Chamberlain and Chris Coraggio also have contributed, and Channel 12 consumer reporter Dave Cherry will appear on the next album.

Soul Survivors, however, is just one part of a larger cause—the Sing 4 Life Breast Cancer Foundation of Arizona, a nonprofit organization Fial cofounded in October of 2000. Volunteer Dr. Steven Chen heads the department that awards two annual scholarships in the memory of cofounder Nierenberg-Shaoul to cancer patients studying therapy.

Becoming part of the organization is simple—you can buy a sponsorship on the CD jacket for $50 to memorialize a loved one who is fighting, surviving, or has been lost to any form of cancer. Joining Soul Survivors is even simpler.

“If you’re a breast-cancer patient or survivor, you’ve made it into the group,” Fial says. “No need to audition.” And with upcoming nuptials, a thriving singing career, and a daughter in college, Laura Fial is just one of many inspirational stories, and one of fifty in the upcoming national publication The Healing Project: Voices of Breast Cancer .

To book Soul Survivors or get information on their fifth-anniversary CD coming out in October, call (602) 434-6567. For information on the Sing 4 Life Breast Cancer Foundation of Arizona, visit sing4lifebreastcancer.org.

By Cassaundra Brooks
Photo courtesy of The Pedalman

Golf carts have taken on an entirely new role in Anthem. With a child a year away from driving age and a concern for the number of alcohol-related car accidents, Kevin Mathieu and his wife decided to make a way for people to enjoy the local bars without wrecking their cars—or themselves. If hitting the bar scene is on your evening agenda, instead of putting your foot to the pedal, call The Pedalman of Anthem. Seven days a week, beginning at 7:30 p.m., free pickups and drop-offs are available to and from any local Anthem bar, courtesy of North Valley Magazine and a host of Anthem businesses. The current list of sponsors who make such a valuable service possible include:

Ace Hardware
At Anthem Window Cleaning and Sunscreens
Air Options Respiratory Care
Anthem Roadside Towing
Americana Mortgage Company
ALTS, etc.
Asiana Kitchen: Japanese & Chinese Cuisine
Auto Zone
Baskin Robbins
Barks-N-Bubbles Mobile Dog Grooming
Bugsy Pest Control
Covenant Painting, Inc.
Curves of Anthem
Creative Landscape and Design
Creative Castle Preschool and Kindergarten
Copperstate Carpet & Tile Cleaning
Dazzle Dentist
Dollar Store
Electrical Handyman Clint Hoag
Hometown Threads
Learning Express
Lee Myles Transmissions
Life Maid Easy
Maricopa Spas and BBQ
Mobile Detail Service
North Valley Magazine
PostNet
Rick Hall’s Ultimate Imports
Realty Executive Gina Delgado
Street of New York Pizza and Subs
Soon’s Tae Kwon Do
Sylvan Learning Center
Taco Del Mar
Qwest Communications

Six electric golf carts sit ready and waiting, so let the Pedalman provide your transportation—and allow these businesses to provide you with everything else.

To schedule a free pickup and drop-off, call The Pedalman at (602) 403-3997 or (623) 551-9588.