This is the time of year when just about everybody has to get a new calendar. Of course there are cats, horses and landscapes, but one of the more interesting trends (and yes, I think it is a trend) is the number of charities that feature naked people on their calendars.
Of course, I would be very interested to see if all of these efforts really raise money for charity. (Check their I-990 filings. Go to
Guidestar, which indexes the I-990 filings required of all nonprofits who take in $25K or more a year.)
This whole idea of ordinary people posing in cheesecake pictures to raise money started with the
"Calendar Girls" of England. They were raising money
for leukemia research.
But since, lots of other causes have tried to cash in. Here are some of the ones I've found (All of the links are probably safe for work. A few include some butt shots.):
- Flight attendants are out with their new calendar raising money to fight for pensions.
- In southern Saskatchewan, some folks got so sick of huge potholes that they took off their clothes, crawled in the potholes and took pictures. (Note from Al- I first said said this occured in Ottawa.)
- Men of Mortuaries -- yep -- the last guys who will let you down -- made a 2007 calendar that's now available. They help cancer patients.
- Chicago's "Ignite the Spirit" calendar takes a different approach and features working firefighters and EMTs.
- Now female firefighters are raising money for burn victims, too. These folks are from places like Greensboro, N.C.; Norfolk, Va.; and Albuquerque, N.M. Four of the 12 on the America's Female Firefighters calendar are from the Miami area.
- Cops are also baring themselves for charity.
- A couple of years ago the Seminole, Fla., Rotary club even got in on the act to raise money for a local community college.
- The Atwood Cuties, featuring women from the local senior center, raised money this year for the city anniversary of Townsend, Mass.
The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported in 2005:
In 2003, prominent men in Rappahannock County, Va., made a calendar, their poses "nude but discreet," to raise money for a high school track and football stadium, according to an article in the Fredericksburg, Va., Free Lance-Star. The School Board distanced itself from the project, threatening legal action if the calendar mentioned the board or the high school.
In a rural Wisconsin town, a bunch of librarians decided they could raise some badly needed money by baring a little skin and posing for a fundraising 2006 calendar. As their Web site,
"Desperate Librarians," says:
Originally there were 12 librarians lined up for this project -- six bailed as soon as talk of going public started. The remaining six bashfully went to their photo shoots and had an enormously good time.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said in 2005:
Twelve of them decided they would use photographs of themselves to make a simple calendar that they would print at a Walgreens.
But after the librarians took their idea to Countryside Photographers in Seymour, they realized their gift would involve considerable cost and effort. After consulting with Countryside's Steve Kemp, they decided to professionally produce a calendar, like the local volunteer fire department had, and sell it as a fundraiser.
That's when six of the 12 librarians bailed out. They weren't ready to model undraped for a calendar that would be sold around town.
No matter. The other six librarians decided they would each pose for two months.
"There's probably three photos taken of me, that I like, in my entire life, and two of them are in this calendar," said Ellen Connor, Manawa's library director.
The women appear to be naked in many of the photos, but all were at least partly clothed during the shoot, said [Ellen] Connor, 45, [the library's director,] who is featured in a blue boa in December. Placing one or more books in strategic positions helps lend to the mystery, she said.
This summer,
they presented a check from the proceeds.
The London paper reporting on the British butchers is begging for an end to the craze.
"Lethal Lapses"
I mentioned a number of
outstanding investigative efforts in a column I wrote earlier this week. Here is another worth looking at from the
Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat. "
Lethal Lapses" documented how 53 children died between 1998 and 2005 after state child-welfare workers assigned to protect them committed serious errors, made lapses in judgment and ignored their own rules.
Environmental News for '07The Society of Environmental Journalists has a tremendous primer to help journalists cover the emerging environmental issues for 2007.
Will 2007 Be the Year of Energy Conservation?
USA Today says:
Energy-efficiency programs, which first caught fire in the 1970s before fading in recent years, are making a big comeback spurred by global-warming fears and the public's aversion to more pollution-belching power plants. At least 15 states are starting or considering new or expanded rebate and tax-incentive programs. The campaigns entice consumers to buy compact fluorescent light bulbs and energy-saving dishwashers and coax businesses to replace power-guzzling freezers and lighting systems.
To prod utilities into better promoting or funding the initiatives, many states are carving out new financial inducements that turn the industry's 125-year-old business model on its head: In some cases, companies could make just as much money by selling less power.
Stateline.org points out on a "What you should know" sidebar:
The Alliance to Save Energy has launched the State Energy Efficiency Policy Index, a searchable, online database of energy conservation initiatives.
Eighteen states have set goals for utilities to produce electricity from renewable sources, such as wind, solar or hydropower, according to the
Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Those states are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Wisconsin.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends upon the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and inaccuracies found will be corrected. "Somehow, I don't think a calendar with ladies over the...
