One Small Donation Provides Flowers for a Year

Christian Care, in cooperation with Colman Florists and Greenhouses, is offering a unique fundraising opportunity. For a one-time donation of only $20, you will receive a seasonal bouquet of flowers each month for a year and half the proceeds will go to Christian Care to provide shelter and services for the homeless and survivors of domestic violence in our community. This outstanding value means that you will have the opportunity to brighten up your home or office with flowers while you brighten up the lives of others?all year long. This opportunity only lasts from October 1 to November 30, so please act quickly.

Every month has its own theme. For example, February's bouquet is Love Bunch, July offers the Sizzling Summer Bouquet and November features the Harvest Bouquet. Each bouquet is sure to bring color, fragrance and beauty to even the darkest day. Becoming a part of this select group allows you access to other great values at Colman. For example, when you buy a half dozen roses, you will receive the second half dozen FREE! You can also opt to trade your monthly bouquet for $10 off a purchase of $35 or more. Do this twice and you've made your original investment back.

For more details, please contact Lindsey at (309)786-5734 or email lprobizanski@christiancareqc.org. Colman Florist and Greenhouses is located at 2754 12th Street, Rock Island, Illinois and in the East Village in Davenport, Iowa. You can also visit them on the web at colmanflorist.com. Monthly bouquets must be redeemed at the Colman location in the state in which you reside.

Christian Care's services are available in the Quad Cities to a growing number of homeless men and abused women and children 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Through their two facilities?a domestic violence shelter for abused women and children and a rescue mission for homeless men?they provide safe shelter, nutritious meals, clothing, counseling, referrals and guidance to anyone in need. They serve homeless individuals, victims of domestic violence, veterans, men and women coming out of prison, and the mentally ill. Their vision is to transform the lives of those they serve by providing their residents with an opportunity to start a new, more productive life. If you know someone in need, call the Christian Care Crisis Hotline at any hour of the day or night at (309) 788-2273.

For more information about Christian Care, please go to their web site at christiancareqc.org or to Facebook at facebook.com/christiancareqc.

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Americans are living longer these days from an average 47 years in 1900 to more than 78 years as of 2010. We are also experiencing a deluge of adults reaching retirement age now that includes 10,000 Baby Boomers turning 65 every day.

By 2030, when the last of the baby boomers have turned 65, nearly one in five Americans will be retirement age, according to the Pew Research Center's population projections. Money will be a big problem for many of them, especially if boomers develop health problems that affect their ability to live independently, says insurance expert and CEO of Life Care Funding Chris Orestis.

"Life Care Funding created a financial solution for seniors that own a life insurance policy that converts the policy into a Long-Term Care Benefit Plan; this gives the policy owner the option to use their policy while still alive to help pay for their choice of any form of senior care services," says Orestis, a former insurance industry lobbyist who recently contributed to the federal Commission on Long-Term Care's fact-finding mission.

"With 30 percent of the Medicaid population consuming 87 percent of Medicaid dollars on long-term care services, we can see that's not going to be sustainable," Orestis says. "More individuals will be forced to find their own resources to pay for those needs. That's why states such as California, Florida, New York and Texas are embracing legislation requiring seniors to be notified that they can convert their life insurance policy for 30 to 60 percent of its death benefit value. The money can be put into an irrevocable fund designated specifically for any form of care they choose."

Orestis details more ways in which seniors might handle long-term care and other budgetary issues:

• Senior discounts really add up! Here's a list of establishments to check out: www.lifecarefunding.com/blog/senior-discounts/. Restaurants, supermarkets, department stores, travel deals and other merchants give various senior discounts with minimum age requirements ranging from 55 to 62. Some of these places are worth making habits, with 15 percent off the bill at Applebee's, 30 percent off at Banana Republic and 60 percent off at Food Lion on Mondays! Don't forget your free cup of coffee at Dunkin' Donuts if you're 55 or older, and don't be shy - at many of these places you'll have to ask for the discount.

• Long-term care is a matter of survival, so use your best options. The practice of converting a life insurance policy into a Life Care Benefit has been an accepted method of payment for private duty in-home care, assisted living, skilled nursing, memory care and hospice care for years. Instead of abandoning a policy when they can no longer afford the premiums, policy owners have the option to take the present-day value of the policy while they are still alive and convert it into a Long Term Care Benefit Plan. By converting the policy, a senior will remain in private pay longer and be able to choose the form of care that they want but will be Medicaid-eligible when the benefit is spent down.

• Your "last act" may be decades away, so plan accordingly. It makes sense to finally enjoy your money after a lifetime of savings, but be smart about it. Take time to organize your paperwork and create a master file that holds things such as insurance policies, investments, property, wills and trusts, etc. so you have your financial picture in one place. Also, live smart today and hold off on that new car if you don't need a new one. If your current car is paid off and you sit tight for an additional two years, you'll save $7,200 on a new car with $300 monthly payments. Refinancing your home may also be a very good idea, since rates are still hovering around their all-time lows. Get at least three quotes, compare rates, terms and potential penalties to make sure you're getting the best deal.  Also, live healthy and buy more fruits and vegetables and less junk food to lessen the chance you'll need long-term care in the future.

About Chris Orestis

Chris Orestis, nationally known senior health-care advocate and expert is CEO of Life Care Funding, which created the model for converting life insurance policies into protected Long-Term Care Benefit funds. His company has been providing care benefits to policy holders since 2007. A former life insurance industry lobbyist with a background in long-term care issues, he created the model to provide an option for middle-class people who are not wealthy enough to pay for long-term care, and not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid.

WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Grassley said today that spring internships for college-age Iowans are available, and applications are due Nov. 15.

Internships are available in Grassley's Washington, D.C., office as well as his offices in Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, Sioux City and Waterloo.  The spring session will run from Jan. 13 to May 23.

Interns will be placed in one of three departments:  administrative, legislative or communications.  An internship allows for a wide range of learning experience and exposure for students on Capitol Hill.  A firsthand account of a Grassley internship can be read here.

Grassley said he encourages young Iowans who are interested in learning more about the government to apply.  "Interning in a congressional office is a good way for college students and new graduates to learn more about the legislative branch of the federal government while gaining valuable experience.  Internships in my offices are available to students in all areas of study," he said.

Application forms are available on Grassley's website and in Grassley's offices in Iowa.  Due to security-related delays in postal mail delivery to U.S. Senate office buildings, internship applications should be emailed to intern_applications@grassley.senate.gov or faxed to 202-224-5136.  For additional information, email intern_applications@grassley.senate.gov or call 202-224-3744.

One of the poorest, most troubled countries in the world, Pakistan, has also produced some of our bravest, most inspiring young leaders, says Zulfiqar Rashid, (www.zulfiqarrashid.com), a Pakistan native and U.S. artist and businessman.

"Malala Yousafzai is only the most recent example," says Rashid, referring to the 16-year-old advocate for girls' education who was shot by the Taliban a year ago.

Rashid, who frequently travels to Pakistan and around the world, says he continues to see appalling treatment of children in his journeys. His new book focuses on a particularly cruel practice in Indo Asian countries. In "The Rat-boys of Karalabad," he writes about young beggars whose heads and limbs are tightly bound when they're very young to stunt their growth. The practice makes the disfigured children more effective beggars at religious shrines, helping enrich those who control the shrines.

"The 'rat-boys' are, sadly, very real. In my book, the person who stands up to this evil is a boy who would ultimately have benefited from it," Rashid says. "While he is fictional, he symbolizes the many young people in the world whose passion for doing good holds an extraordinary power that often goes unrecognized."

Today's story is Malala, but Rashid says the tale of another young Pakistani children's rights advocate illustrates just how far-reaching children's influence can be.

• At 10 years old, Iqbal Masih crusaded against bonded servitude. When he was 4 years old, Iqbal's impoverished Pakistani family sold him into bonded servitude for a $12 loan. For six years, he sat chained to a loom weaving carpets for 14 hours a day six days a week. He and the other children were forbidden from talking and were beaten if they were slow, fell asleep, or made a mistake. They were fed little so that their fingers would stay small enough to work the tiny knots in the carpets.

Iqbal escaped the factory in 1992 with help from the Bonded Labor Liberation Front of Pakistan, and began speaking out on behalf of child laborers and their right to an education. His revelations about the carpet industry gained worldwide attention, and he's credited with freeing 3,000 children from factories.

• 7th-graders build a school for Iqbal. In December 1994, Iqbal visited Broad Meadows Middle School in Quincy, Mass., at the invitation of teacher Ron Adams, who wanted to give his seventh-graders a deeper understanding of international economics and human rights. Iqbal, the same age as the American students, was half their size - his growth stunted by malnutrition and confinement - but tremendously courageous. He knew his actions were angering the carpet barons, who might retaliate.

Four months after that visit, Iqbal was shot and killed while riding his bicycle in his village.
The outraged Beacons Meadows students insisted on doing something to remember Iqbal and decided to raise $5,000 to build a school in his village. "I thought, 'Impossible!' but the kids never doubted they could do it," Adams said recently.

They faxed and emailed (with a borrowed computer from Amnesty International) requests to schools around the country seeking $12 donations for A School for Iqbal. By 1997, when they stopped fundraising, they'd raised $147,000, which built and helped fund the school for three years. Today Chanaan No. 3 is a self-sufficient campus for working children.

• Operation: Day's Work - kids helping kids around the world. A School for Iqbal grew into a student-led charitable organization that has spread to six other nations. Co-founded in the United States by eight schools with the help of the U.S. Agency for International Development, ODW turns 15 years old this year.

Each year ODW students research charitable groups and projects benefiting kids in developing countries. They invite their favorites to apply for grant money, then debate the merits of the applicants and projects. Finally, they vote to decide their beneficiary for the year. Then students raise money to fund their grant. Last year, they paid tuition, room and board for 38 rescued child laborers through the Kenyan Schoolhouse Project.

Joining Operation: Days Work is free and open to schools with students in fifth- through 12th grades. Visit www.odwusa.org for information.

About Zulfiqar Rashid

Zulfiqar Rashid was born in Pakistan and lives in southern California. As a regular contributor to various newspapers, he has written extensively about his travels to Pakistan, and major figures in the Pakistani artistic and cultural scene.  Rashid is also an accomplished artist and calligrapher, whose art has been featured in the San Diego Union Tribune.  His works have been exhibited at galleries in San Diego, Del Mar, and La Jolla, as well as the San Diego Art Institute and the San Diego Port Authority's "I Madonnari" festival.