Watch this story: Addicts run Commonwealth Games 5K as a release

For a few of the Coventry Commonwealth Games 5k runners their journey began long before the starting shot was fired.
   
Six months ago, Matt Satterwhite and Matthew Mitchell had never laced up their shoes to hit the pavement.
   
Mitchell says, at least not for a race.
“Unless it was blue lights behind me, no,” Mitchell said.
   
Mitchell can joke now, but that’s because he’s on the right road.
   
After years of alcohol and drug abuse Satterwhite and Mitchell turned to the Roanoke Rescue Mission for help.

“I just needed a new lease on life, so I came to the mission to receive that,” Mitchell said.
“Before this (I was) just always in trouble using drugs and alcohol the whole time,” Satterwhite said.
   
Getting clean and sober doesn’t always mean getting fit and trim.
   
It just so happened Tammy Wiley approached the Rescue Mission with the idea of getting a group together to start running and eventually enter a race.

“I think it’s a sense of accomplishment, getting out early at 6 o’clock in the morning and running and then actually being able to participate in a race and finishing and completing the 5k,” Wiley explained.
   
Wiley says volunteering to help train folks in the substance abuse program is actually a blessing to her, and her fellow runners are now family.

However, Satterwhite says running is a gift.

“Depending on drugs and alcohol for the last 20 years as a stress relief you need something and running has pretty much taken the place of it,” Satterwhite said.

Sponsors helped pay for the Rescue Mission group to run in Saturday’s race.
   
Also, running shoes and clothing was donated.

The Audubon Zoo is using the Gulf oil spill crisis as a teaching tool to help kids learn about the spill and its relationship to animals by using a hands-on approach that allows children to clean “oiled” animals.

 At Audubon Zoo’s Discovery Walk, children are learning about the crisis through an oiled animal exhibit that gives them the chance to act like volunteers in a rehabilitation center.

 ”I’m cleaning turtles … because they have oil on them,” young Anna Hutchinson said.

 Kids participating in the exhibit will gown up, glove up and pick a plastic oiled turtle to clean. It’s actually covered in a vegetable oil cocoa mix.

 ”Sea turtles are actually what Audubon Nature Institute is involved in, so we bought some plastic turtles and played with the kids and this is what came out of it,” said Audubon Zoo Education Director Brenda Walkenhorst.

 Walkenhorst said the idea was sparked by zoo campers, who asked so many questions about how the spill affects animals. She wanted to provide answers in an understandable way.

 ”The oil spill is a huge natural disaster and people should be more concerned about marine wildlife and how endangered they are,” said student Miriam Donavan.

 Children also get to see a simulated cleanup effort, using Q-tips as absorbent boom and dishwashing liquid as dispersants.

 ”Everything makes it worser because of the chemicals,” Aiden Couvillion said. he Audubon Zoo is using the Gulf oil spill crisis as a teaching tool to help kids learn about the spill and its relationship to animals by using a hands-on approach that allows children to clean “oiled” animals.

At Audubon Zoo’s Discovery Walk, children are learning about the crisis through an oiled animal exhibit that gives them the chance to act like volunteers in a rehabilitation center.

“I’m cleaning turtles … because they have oil on them,” young Anna Hutchinson said.

Kids participating in the exhibit will gown up, glove up and pick a plastic oiled turtle to clean. It’s actually covered in a vegetable oil cocoa mix.

“Sea turtles are actually what Audubon Nature Institute is involved in, so we bought some plastic turtles and played with the kids and this is what came out of it,” said Audubon Zoo Education Director Brenda Walkenhorst.

Walkenhorst said the idea was sparked by zoo campers, who asked so many questions about how the spill affects animals. She wanted to provide answers in an understandable way.

“The oil spill is a huge natural disaster and people should be more concerned about marine wildlife and how endangered they are,” said student Miriam Donavan.

Children also get to see a simulated cleanup effort, using Q-tips as absorbent boom and dishwashing liquid as dispersants.

“Everything makes it worser because of the chemicals,” Aiden Couvillion said.

SOURCE: Kids Clean ‘Oiled’ Animals At Audubon Zoo

A dog freaks out over a soldier’s return from Iraq in this touching video. The dog freaks out when the soldier (their father) returns from war after an extended leave in Iraq.  Although I don’t know the full story behind the soldier’s return, the dog’s reaction to his return is really adorable!

A month ago, Panera Bread Co. opened its first non-profit, pay-what-you-can-afford eatery, called the Saint Louis Bread Company Cares Café, in Clayton, MO. And the restaurant chain’s chairman is so happy with the results, the company plans to launch two more in the coming months.

“I guess I would say it’s performing better than we even might have hoped in our cynical moments, and it’s living up to our best sense of humanity,” Panera chairman Ron Shaich said of the experiment.

The restaurant’s cashiers tell customers the suggested price of their orders and then the customers decide how much to pay. According to Shaich, between 60-70% pay the menu price. Around 15% dig into their pockets to pay a little more, while the other 15% or so pay less or even walk out paying nothing.

The restaurant, which features the same menu as Panera but is technically run by a non-profit organization called Panera Cares, took in $100,000 in revenue its first month. Panera supports the non-profit but is not on the hook financially if the pay-what-you-want restaurants fail.

Shaich didn’t say where the non-profit’s new locations would be. But a rep for Panera said they are looking for areas that will continue to attract an upscale diner, but is accessible to lower-income communities.

Read More: Panera Planning To Add More Pay-What-You-Want Restaurants

Extreme couponing is becoming a way of life for many in the Lowcountry. Using coupons can save you thousands of dollars a year in groceries if you know how to use them correctly.

WCBD-TV News 2 Problem Solver Larry Collins takes a look that the Coupon Craze and how you can get the stores to pay you money to take their groceries. It’s a story you have to see to believe.

Watch this story: Coupon Craze: How to get the stores to pay you to take their groceries

Is this to celebrate tax day or preparation of Earth Week? I can’t decide, but either way it’s pretty great!

On April 15th, head to your local Starbucks with a reusable coffee mug and they’ll fill it with free, brewed coffee! I’m guessing this truly does mean drip coffee. 

Go HERE for more information.

SOURCE: The Coupon Project

 Sunday mornings mean many people are off to church.

If you’ve lived in one place for a long time and you go to church, chances are you go to the same one regularly, but Sunday folks from one small North Carolina town tried something a little different.

At Trinity United Methodist Church, the word “structure” best describes a typical worship service.

People recite creeds and portions from the Bible collectively, and sing old hymns, but on this Sunday the church’s Pastor is no where to be found and the congregation is excited about it.

“Myself and my family, we’re just really thrilled with this,“ said one church member.

“We’re just, well we’re just excited,“ said an elder.

They call it a ‘Pastor Swap’.

Trinity’s Pastor Harold Salmon is less than a mile down the road preaching at Mill Branch Baptist Church, a predominately African American church.

“We come together, not to change each other’s style of worship, but to actually celebrate each other’s style of worship,“ said Trinity United Methodist Reverend Harold Salmon.

And Mill Branches’ Pastor and choir are at Caucasian dominant Trinity.

“Most people know that 11 o’clock Sunday morning is the most segregated time in America,” said Mill Branch Reverend J. Gentile Everett. “We work together. We socialize together. We even spend our money at the same places, but when it came to worship for most people, they would all go in their separate ways.“

And that’s what the two groups do.

Reverend Everett and his choir shake things up at Trinity, while Reverend Salmon gets a good response from the people at Mill Branch.

“Excitement, knowing that the same God that we worship is being worshipped everywhere,“ said Mill Branch member, Cynthia Dudley.

“I think we should do it more often,“ one Trinity member said.

“How can we really love God and separate ourselves from one another because of skin tone?,” said Everett. “We’re just trying to tear that down and say to the community, ‘We love God and we love all of his creation’.“

The churches’ members believe a little change on a Sunday morning will help do just that.

“Black, white, Indians, Mexicans – all of us are God’s children,“ said Mill Branch member Vera Ford.

A small town in North Carolina with hopes of creating unity through their faiths.

It’s the second year the churches have done the pastor swap.

Reverend Salmon is leaving Trinity United Methodist later this year, but says he hopes the church’s next pastor makes the event a tradition.

SOURCE: African American and Caucasian churches swap pastors

Watch this story: Grilled Cheese Restaurant Opens In Catonsville

The grilled cheese sandwich is one of America’s favorite sandwiches, and a local company is hoping to capitalize on its popularity.

April has been named National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month.

In Catonsville, four local men who love the sandwich decided to open a restaurant devoted to it.

 Grilled Cheese & Company just opened this week at its location at 500 Edmondson Avenue.

 The founders of the restaurant said their decision to open the shop was inspired by their childhood memories of grilled cheese.

 The business offers all sorts of takes on the traditional sandwich, along with soups and salads to pair it with.

 To find out more about the shop or to see the menu: Grilled Cheese & Co.

 The grilled cheese sandwich first started appearing in the U.S. in the 1920s, and last year, 2.2 billion grilled cheese sandwiches were made and eaten in homes throughout America, according to statistics.

It was the catch of a lifetime…and that ‘good catch’ by a San Diego man may have saved the life of a 4-year-old boy.

21-year-old Antonio Jones was at the Mission Viejo Mall Friday with his girlfriend.

The couple craved a burger from Islands Restaurant.

Jones was standing outside the restaurant on the ground floor when he noticed little Jimmy Lavin get tangled in an upstairs escalator.

The escalator hand-rail pulled Lavin upstairs to the second floor.

In an instant, the sobbing boy was carried upward as he dangled off the staircase.

Jones was a few steps away when Lavin hit the top wall was knocked off the escalator rail.

The boy plummeted 30 feet head-first toward the concrete walkway.

Jones reacted… jumping forward and catching the child with one hand on each leg.

It was a near perfect catch… Lavin’s head just barely touched the ground.

The child was taken to a nearby hospital where he was treated for a minor bump on the noggin and released.

Jones is being credited for saving the boy’s life.
SOURCE: San Diego Man Saves Boy From 30-foot Fall