This year Richard Stewart representing The Way To Happiness Foundation presented the precept, Respect the Religious Rights of Others and other precepts from the guide to happy living. Steward has been giving The Way to Happiness Seminars for 4 years at Schools, Churches and Businesses. He has teamed up with Nancy Cartwright’s “HAPPY HOUSE” organization delivering TWTH Seminars and promoting the workshops.

The Second Annual San Diego Interfaith Alliance Public Address featured Richard Stewart and Muslim leader Darnell Karim from the Harvey Islamic Center outside Chicago.

The Alliance also hosted two related events including a Panel Discussion with different faith leaders including Pastor Walter Frank of the San Diego Family Church, Rev. Gerald Brown of the United African American Ministerial Action Council, David Meyer of the Church of Scientology and Imam A.K. Hasan of the Masjid Bilal Islamic Center. The panel presented guidelines and examples of how different faiths are working together for a better tomorrow.

Saturday Night the Alliance presented awards to regional contributors exemplifying the principal of Educating and Building Bridges. Awardees include Patty Wilkins of San Diego Youth For Human Rights, Steve and Abigail Albert of the Poway Interfaith Team, and Joseph Ziauddin President and founder of the East County Refugee Center.

The Annual Awards Banquet on Saturday night featured Rev, Scott Richardson, of St Paul’s Cathedral, Imam A. K. Hasan of Masjid Bilal Islamic Center and Dr. Ellen Beck of University of California, San Diego.

The three events were sponsored by the Masjidul Taqwa of San Diego, and co-sponsored by the Church of Scientology of San Diego, the Westminster Presbyterian Church, the Family Church of San Diego and the African American Ministerial Alliance.

Community United from San Jose CA was proud to take part in its first event as a Happy House Chapter.  It was a huge success! They were invited to attend The Community Resource Fair at History Park in San Jose. This event is sponsored by the City of San Jose and the Silicon Valley Community Foundation with corporate sponsors such as Hewlett Packard, PG&E and Kaiser Permanente.  Because of their past work with the Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force they were invited to attend this city sponsored resource fair. There were thousands of people in attendance with live music, puppet shows, resource booths and food.

The June 7, 2009 Community Resource Fair turned out to be a big day for Community United with over three hundred Way To Happiness Booklets handed out in many languages including English, Vietnamese and Spanish.

Police, Firemen and Educators attended the booth. Community United was also able to network with other community based outreach programs that were in attendance.

Well done and congratulations on such a spectacular contribution to your community.

]]> http://www.happyhouse.org/blog/2009/07/san-jose-happy-house-chapter-comes-out-big-in-first-official-event/feed/ 0 http://www.happyhouse.org/blog/2009/05/happy-house-party-better-than-ever/ http://www.happyhouse.org/blog/2009/05/happy-house-party-better-than-ever/#comments Wed, 06 May 2009 22:15:51 +0000 admin http://www.happyhouse.org/blog/?p=76 We should have known when the June-gloom-like clouds didn’t rear their ugly heads for a sixth day in a row that we were in for something special. Saturday, April 25th was the first sunny day all week, perfect poker and BBQ weather and Happy House was able to make the most of it.

Nearly 300 men, women and children came out to enjoy the weather, poker, food, live music and fun, as well as to support a great cause. The event kicked off with 118 people eagerly awaiting the “Shuffle up and deal!” call from party-host Nancy Cartwright. The action was fast and furious, with more than 100 people remaining beyond the rebuy period. But when the dust finally settled, it was a tie for first place as Doug Dohring and our very own Peter Kjenaas split top honors.

After duking it out for some time, they decided to call a truce and split top honors. Doug was a first-time attendee of the party and Peter has won or shared first place for two years running. Doug will be attending the PALS Monte Carlo poker fundraiser on October 3 for his efforts and Peter will head off to try his luck in Brad Garrett’s benefit on May 30th.
Others who made it to the final table won custom jewelry from Val Futris and Arbonne products provided by Doris Ryan or, for the risk-takers, there were NASCAR Racing packages courtesy of Speed School X at the Toyota Speedway in Irwindale.

For those not playing poker, there was wonderful food, live music, a bounce house for the kids (and kids at heart) and even bingo. With a little something for everyone, it is no surprise the party was a fantastic success. Co-Executive Director for Happy House, Carol Loweree, said of the event, “Any day you can raise over $10,000 for a great cause, and have that much fun doing so, is a good day.”

Thank you to our many volunteers who made the event possible and, of course, thank you to everyone who attended. Events are nothing without the people who attend them.

The Hollywood NOTE Foundation

The Hollywood NOTE Foundation is a nonprofit organization created to further promote and contribute to the global philanthropic endeavors of the Hollywood community. For more information about the Hollywood NOTE Foundation or about the Gala and other honorees, visit www.changetheworldawards.org

On Saint Patty’s Day, the Acorn Mortesorri School in San Dimas, CA kicked off their Good Choices Toolkit pilot.  Program Director Carol Loweree, with some assistance from Peter Kjenaas, joined school Director Carol DeVilla and other teachers and parents and delivered a demonstration to combined grades 1 – 4.

Carol addressed the thirty students and began with the first chapter and lesson plan, “Take Care of Yourself.”  Using simple demonstrations and fun interaction she took them through getting help when you are ill, keeping your body and teeth clean and getting good food and rest and why these actions are so important to happiness.

With “sneezing” germs made out of Styrofoam balls and dental floss the size of sweater yarn, Carol really got the kids laughing and noticing just how important it is to take care of yourself.

“It’s all about making good choices,” she said.  “It’s not about someone telling you what to do.  It’s about you seeing how doing these things actually makes you and others happier.”

The highlight, or lowlight, was the demonstration she did on how much sugar you get in a coke versus an apple!  It was easy to see which choice was the good one!

Nancy joined dozens of Outdoors Club members along with Happy House volunteers for a sunny day of hot dogs and chips for the families and anchovy tossing for the sea gulls.   At 2:00 PM, before turning the festivities over to Nancy, Ship Captain Bob Sullivan read from the ship’s log giving the history of the donation and renovation of the boat and then he named Nancy an honorary captain.

Following a brief welcome to all the kids enjoying the day, and a reminder to Safeguard and Protect the Environment, she shattered the specially wrapped champagne bottle on the anchor thus making the 27 foot fishing vessel an official The Way to Happiness ship.

For more information and to enjoy your day of fishing, boating and outdoor sports, go to www.twthoc.org

Sunday, March 8th 2009, 2:00 PM Sharp!

Join Nancy Cartwright and The Way to Happiness Outdoors Club for the christening of our donated and fully renovated boat!  Come see what we will be using to take groups of kids out on the water to teach them one of the precepts from The Way to Happiness booklet, “Safeguard and Improve Your Environment.” Don’t miss this!

Hotdogs, chips & drinks will be served beginning at 12:30 PM.  RSVP: 818 353 012

There will fun, games, poker and fun for all!

Contact us right away to reserve your seat!

Call 818.882.7483 or click here to go to the registration page.