community news briefs:

Santa Monica Woman Awarded $10,000 Grant From SELF MagazineSELF Magazine will be holding their Women Doing Good Awards Ceremony, honoring remarkable women who strive to improve their communities, the environment, and the world around them. A local Santa Monica woman, Lindsay Guetschow, is one of the three winners out of 1,000 contestants. Lindsay has dedicated the past four years to educating the public about global warming. Burt’s Bees applauds Lindsay for showing great leadership in her professional work at stopglobalwarming.org while helping to bring Cool Globes’ art exhibit to California. Cool Globes is a public art project with a purpose that originated in Chicago during the summer of 2007. The exhibit consists of 50 huge 5-foot globes designed by world renowned as well as local artists to demonstrate simple solutions to inspire individuals and organizations to take action against global warming* * * *Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Monica President & CEO Set To RetireAllan Young, the current President and CEO, of the Boys & Girls Cub, who has been working with the organization for the past 46 years and was a Club member during his youth, will be retiring in February 2010.During his tenure with the Boys & Girls Clubs, Allan has positively impacted the lives of over 150,000 local youth, overseen the building of 16 new Clubs, trained 14 current executive directors, and formed an alliance among 28 independent Club organizations with an outgrowth of new fundraising programs being replicated by Clubs nationwide. Upon retirement, he will maintain an active involvement with the Boys & Girls Club Movement because of his passion for the important work it makes in children’s lives. * * * *Local High School Kids Participate in Weight Loss Program 65 at-risk high school kids in Santa Monica, CA signed up for a free six-week program to lose weight, improve self-esteem, and in some cases, get their deadly diabetes cases under control. TV personality (Extreme Makeovers) and bestselling fitness author, Michael Thurmond launched his self-funded LEAD [Leadership in Exercise And Diets in Schools] program with school principal Janie Gates and Oscar De La Torre, director of Pico Youth and Family Center, who grew up in the community, and is responsible for introducing Michael to Principal Gates. Their credo is: “Change your body, change your life.”When introducing the program to students at an assembly, Michael explained how he was a heavyset-nerdy kid who grew up in East LA and was told he’d never amount to anything. Michael asked the students to give him and his trainers a chance, with the support of their families and teachers; he’s also opened up the program to include the student’s parents and teachers. In June, there will be a graduation ceremony for the kids who have participated in the fitness program. Certificates of achievement will be handed out and the kids’ final weight loss and measurements will be revealed.