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Memorial Day is a day to remember and honor those who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces, but today we thought we’d take the opportunity to remember those who are currently on active duty. KRON 4 Weekend Morning News anchor, Marty Gonzalez, and I report on much needed items that’ll help boost the morale of our sons and daughters serving overseas in the military.
About Blue Star Moms
Blue Star Moms is a San Francisco Bay Area service organization located in Danville. They first came together shortly after the terrorist’s attacks on 9/11. Three moms turned to each for strength and support. Between the 3 of them, they had 4 sons in the U.S. Army.
Since there were no support groups in Northern California, they reached out in their community and organized their first meeting in Nov. 2001 and 30 moms attended. Since that time, they’ve become an official chapter of the Blue Star Mothers of America, Inc., a national organization that formed during World War II.
★ The Blue Star Moms Mission ★
The main mission of Blue Star Moms is to send care packages oversees. They also support Veterans Outreach, Wounded Soldiers, and Gold Star Families.
Care Packages
From a Blue Star Mom:
“My son said that my care packages ‘saved his life’ when he was in Iraq last year, meaning that all the food I sent was so much better than the food they got in country. Most people don’t realize that when troops are not at a large base, their supply chain is nonexistent. We try to send items they cannot get otherwise.”
Items they can really use:
Donation Wish List
Donation Drop-off
Coldwell Banker at the Livery
671 San Ramon Valley Blvd.
Danville, CA 94526
Mon – Fri, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Sat – Sun, 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Other Bay Area Blue Star Mom chapters include Marin, Piedmont, and San Jose. For more information: http://BlueStarMoms.org
To find a Blue Star Mom chapter in your area go to BlueStarMothers.us
Shipping Out Soon!
The Blue Star Moms are working hard to collect and pack care packages now (Memorial Day) as they will be shipping them out in June in order to arrive by the 4th of July.
Please consider sending “a little bit of home” to our troops overseas. From the letters the Blue Star Moms receive, these care packages mean so much to them.
Doctors and researchers have recently started to look at what dentists have been examining for years — your gums. They’re finding a relationship between the health of your gums and chronic disease.
Below are the key things to know about gum disease:
Your body is made up of a rich network of blood vessels which move blood and immune cells, bacteria, and pro- and anti-inflammatory proteins through your entire body. So bacteria in your mouth can move to other organs. Continue reading “KRON 4 | The Link Between Gum Disease, Heart Attacks, and Alzheimer’s”
Did you know that drinking water increases your risk of cancer? Contaminants (from known carcinogens to plastic particles) found in public water systems could be the cause of cancer from drinking it over the course of a lifetime. Here’s what’s lurking in the water you drink…
Researchers from the Environmental Working Group (EWG), an environmental advocacy group, conducted a nationwide water contamination study and reviewed 30 million state water records. In California, they evaluated 2,737 different public water systems.
The researchers calculated cancer risk by evaluating the reported contaminant levels from 2010 to 2015. Then they analyzed the cumulative risk based on the yearly averages of all the contaminants and took into account co-occurring contaminants*.
*NOTE: Interactions between chemical contaminants can overestimate or underestimate overall risk. More research is needed to understand the science behind these interactions.
State regulators oversee the water providers which are regulated by the “Safe Drinking Water Act” and test for contaminants to ensure the water is safe to drink. EWG researchers found three key contaminants:
The smaller utility systems carried the higher risks because they don’t have the resources and economies to improve water quality. Even so, 43% of the larger utilities carried some of the higher cancer risks.
Click here to find out what contaminants are in your water district. You’ll be asked to enter your zip code.
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The East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) has historically been know as having the “best” drinking water in the San Francisco Bay Area, but the EWG researchers found two contaminants above health guidelines. According to third quarter 2018 (July to Sept), the tap water provided by EBMUD was in compliance with federal health-based drinking water standards.
The two contaminants that were detected ABOVE health guidelines were:
1. Chromium-6 (Hexavalent) — A carcinogen in drinking water due to industrial pollution or natural occurrences in mineral deposits and groundwater. Harm to the liver and reproductive system. Detected above the health guideline from 2013 to 2015. Continue reading “KRON 4 | Carcinogens to Plastics: There’s WHAT in My Water?!”
Studies report that chocolate is good for your health, but how so and which ones? Cacao (pronounced “kuh-KOW”), cocoa, Dutch cocoa, and chocolate… what’s the difference? Here’s how it all breaks down along with the ones to eat and ones to avoid.
Cocoa and cocoa-containing foods contain high levels of flavanols (“FLAY-va-nole”) — an antioxidant that reduces inflammation and dilates (widens) blood vessels. According to extensive research, eating chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, improves the markers of cardiovascular health. Consuming flavanols from chocolate is associated with a lower rate of:
The cocoa may improve:
