Food for Families
 Please help support our 13 Food for Families project, June 8 - 15, 2009! All you have to do is go to any participating Spartan Store and donate non-perishable food items and place them in the grocery carts located at the front door. You can also drop off your donations at the WZZM 13 studios, where we will have a Spartan truck parked in our front lot, waiting for you to help fill it up!
The first year of the campaign, over 150,000 pounds of food were collected and distributed. In 2007 the goal of 200,000 pounds was reached and this year we're hoping to again collect 200,000 pounds of food. Our community has shown a strong commitment to helping each other in times of need; let's continue that spirit in 2008! Watch WZZM 13 for more details in the coming months and for a complete list of drop-off locations go to www.wzzm13.com.
Click here to learn about the 2009 Food For Families campaign!
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Toys for Tots:
WZZM 13 and the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve believe that no child should go without this holiday season. That is why we have teamed together on Toys for Tots.
The U.S. Marine Corps Reserve created Toys for Tots as a nationwide community service program in 1947. This program collects and distributes new, unwrapped toys. Today, the national program has some 300 cities participating, collecting and distributing over 10 million toys annually. Presently, Major Mark Kustra coordinates toy collection efforts, along with the Toys for Tots Community Committee. The U.S. Marine Corps Reserve is committed to ensuring that all funds collected in a specific community are used to purchase toys from local vendors and all toys that are purchased/donated are then distributed to the needy children in the local community.
To receive toys, a parent or guardian must pre-register at their nearest key food pantry beginning in October, or call First Call for Help at 616-459-2625 to find out where to register. You must show proof of income and how many children you have.
Click here to learn about the 2009 Toys for Tots campaign!
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13 Friends for Life:
One in every eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in our lifetime. Whether you survive or not depends in large part on your own watchfulness. When breast cancer is caught in the early stages, it is almost always curable. Left alone, a tiny speck of cancer will grow and eventually infect the entire body.
Friends for Life is a program designed to help you and a friend protect yourselves. Here are three simple things you can do to maintain your own breast health:
- Choose your Friend for Life. It can be your mother, daughter, sister or a friend. On the 13th of each month, call your Friend for Life and remind her to do a breast self-exam.
- Share your personal and family history with your doctor and ask how often you should have professional check ups.
- Regular mammograms are so important because 70% of women who develop breast cancer have none of the risk factors.
Caring for your health is not difficult or expensive. Self-exams take only a few minutes a month and a mammogram takes less than an hour. We urge you to watch WZZM 13 and follow our Friends for Life campaign. We hope our news stories on breast cancer will keep you informed as well as answer your questions with quarterly phone banks.
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Susan G. Komen Grand Rapids Race for the Cure:
Race for the Cure is a 5K run/walk for women, men and children. The premise is to raise money for the fight against breast cancer. WZZM 13 was a proud partner of the 2008 Race for the Cure. For more information on the 2008 race, call 616-560-CURE or visit the Race for the Cure website.
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Hero Central
 Do you need a hero? Do you want to be a hero and volunteer? Join WZZM 13's Hero Central! Find out how to get help and how to give help and make West Michigan a better place to live! Click here for more information.
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Relay for Life
Relay For Life is the American Cancer Society's signature activity. It offers everyone in a community an opportunity to participate in the fight against cancer. Teams of people camp out at a local high school, park, or fairground and take turns walking or running around a track or path. Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times during the event. Relays are an overnight event, up to 24 hours in length.
Teams of people from all walks of life have fun while raising much-needed funds to fight cancer and raise awareness of cancer prevention and treatment.
No matter who you are, there's a place for you at Relay. To participate, form a team, or dedicate a luminaria at your local American Cancer Society Relay For Life, please call 1-800-ACS-2345.
2009 Relay For Life Events:
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