Horse Rescue & Rehabilitation Facility, E.P.O.N.A., Receives Life Changing Renovations

The volunteers of E.P.O.N.A., a local 501 (c)(3) organization dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of abused and neglected horses, knew something big was happening that day. Informed weeks early of a big announcement, at least 30 volunteers came to the barn on the morning of October 13th, despite it being unseasonably cold and rainy. What they got that day they never could have imagined.

As the volunteers stood huddled under umbrellas and rain coats in front of the barn, the sound of sirens, cheering and clapping coming up the road became deafening. Suddenly, a fleet of Home Depot trucks and flat beds came down E.P.O.N.A.'s driveway, led by police escort, filled with wheelbarrows, sand, tools of all kinds and approximately 90 volunteers from Home Depot, Celtic Design Build, LLC, Davis Landscaping Construction and Scott Stone Construction. Project Pawsitive, a new reality-based television show geared at providing eco-friendly renovations to deserving animal rescues in need, had chosen E.P.O.N.A. to be the worthy first beneficiary of their efforts.

E.P.O.N.A. was chosen to receive $30,000 worth of renovations to repair their leaking roof and aging paddocks, to level out the stall floors, to expand the grain room, and to run power and water down to all paddocks to prevent the water troughs from freezing over in the cold New England winter months.

While the generous donations made by Project Pawsitive and The Home Depot Foundation will go along way in helping E.P.O.N.A. to achieve their goals of rescue and rehabilitation for abused and neglected horses, it is the continuous support of the community that will help E.P.O.N.A. further their goal in the years to come. Click here to find a wish list of the most needed items by the barn. To find out how to volunteer at E.P.O.N.A., please visit our online volunteer page for more information.

Click here to watch the trailer for Project Pawsitive and E.P.O.NA.

Click here to find out more information on E.P.O.N.A., or how to make a donation.

For hi-res images of E.P.O.N.A., visit E.P.O.N.A. on Flikr.

To find out more about the renovations that are taking place at E.P.O.N.A., please click here to read the press release.

Giving the Love of the Outdoors Back to our Soldiers

Next time you put your orange on or don your camo to take your gun for a walk, think about our men and women who won't be able to go hunting this fall because they are either serving our country over in Iraq or Afghanistan, or because they have suffered from stress or an injury in a prior tour of duty. Don't you feel lucky now? Maybe a little guilty??

It's payback time! Whether you are like us, working in the shooting sports industry, or just an average outdoor loving Joe or Jane, you can give our soldiers the fresh air, mountain views, fish-on experience of a life-time by donating or sponsoring a soldier at www.freedomhunters.org. Freedom Hunters is a non-profit outdoor adventure program under American Military Family dedicated to taking active duty, wounded, Gold Star and families of the deployed on hunting and fishing trips to relax and recoup. Through the generous contributions of conservation groups, outfitters, corporations and land owners, Freedom Hunters honors individuals from all branches of the military with experiences of a life-time.

If you want to help you can donate product or cash, sponsor an event, help cover expenses for a specific adventure, honor a selected service member, or get your company to become a sponsor!

So the next time you see a soldier in the airport or the grocery store or anywhere, stop and say thank you and click here for give back!

Laura Burgess Marketing Reveals How to Harness Social Media's Power to Revolutionize Your Business

The dawn of a new era has begun. Traditional media methods - magazine articles, press releases, trade shows, etc. - are no longer the only meaningful tools in a marketer's tool box. Social Media platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn, to name a few, are on the rise and becoming powerful tools to help drive customer loyalty, improve feedback and innovations, cement brand image and propel companies expertise in their field.

So what is Social Media? The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) defines it as a way to "speak to a new way of understanding how individual users are interacting with branded content via online publishers, social networks, blogs, and applications."1In essence, social media is the new medium to cut out the middle man and interact directly with your target market. The IAB breaks social media down into three categories:

• Social Media Sites (Twitter, Facebook, etc)
• Blogs
• Widgets & Social Media Applications

Want to know more about Social Media? Click here to read the full white paper