Marfan Syndrome Awareness Month

February is Marfan Syndrome Awareness Month. Marfan syndrom is an uncurable genetic disorder that affects connective tissues, the cellular material that provides the body's structure and support. Because connective tissues are found throughout the body, the disorder can affect many body systems.

There is no simple process for detecting this disorder. Diagnoses are made after examinations by doctors from multiple disciplines, so it is entirely possible that there are individuals living with the disorder that are unaware of having it. The syndrome may be characterized by disproportionally long limbs, a typically tall stature, dislocation of eye lenses and cardiovascular abnormalities.

The National Marfan Foundation is currently conducting their annual, month-long "Have a Heart" campaign. While the month is nearly over, there is still time to make a charitable contribution to this cause. If you wish to conduct your own fundraiser, these awareness wristbands would be a perfect promotional tool.

National Parent Leadership Month

It seems like stories of child abuse and neglect are growing exponentially nowadays. Just the other day there was a news report of a parent arrested for posting porn pictures of her underaged daughter. Then there were all those high-profile celebrity reports of Lindsay Lohan's antics and those of the Spears family. With a pregnant 16-years old daughter and an increasingly erratic older daughter, it is astonishing that Lynne Spears was ever contracted to write a book on good parenting.

Clearly, parenting is just not what it used to be. Perhaps it is a lack of discipline that is to blame or perhaps the media have simply gotten better at reporting such occurrances and nothing has changed. But, at the risk of sounding like an old codger, I must say that things didn't seem to be like this when I was younger.

Thus, I find it particularly laudable that Parents Anonymous is sponsoring the National Parent Leadership Month this Feburary. The organization seeks to raise public awareness of strategic initiatives put in place to prevent child abuse and neglect, while promoting opportunities for building and supporting strong, safe families.

All month long, local organizations will be giving awards to recognize, honor and celebrate exceptional parents who still go the extra mile for their children in leadership roles, both at home and in their communities. If you wish to show your own appreciation for that special parent figure in your life, I suggest looking at these promotional awards.

Plant The Seeds of Greatness Month

Plant the Seeds of Greatness Month happens during February. If you are unhappy with how your life is going at the moment, this month has been set aside to sit-back and reflect on what you can do to improve your situation. Think about change during this month, and give your life a close examination, and find ways that you can improve it for the better. Plant some seeds for all the areas in your life, career, and long term goals.

Perhaps there are barriers in the way of your current goals; vine your way through them this month with promotional planners. They make great gifts for your clients and employees and can inspire them to plan for their own futures.

Library Lovers Month

February is Library Lovers Month, an annual month-long celebration of libraries of all types. If you appreciate the value of a good book, take time this month to recognize the contributions of these fine institutions in our society. Visit your local libraries and let them reconnect you to the joy of reading and life long learning. Help them stay free by contributing your time, money or expertise. If you've been fortunate enough to grow up knowing the enchanting worlds of literature, why not take the opportunity to give back?

Promoting your local library can be simple. You don't have to be a public relations whiz to help. It can be as easy as writing to your county or state legislators and ask them to increase funding. For more hands-on folks, you can help ease funding problems by holding fund-raiser or start literacy programs and give out promotional bookmarks and t-shirts to raise awareness. There are many more ways you can help...join your library's Friend or Foundation group to learn how you can help preserve the magic of books for the youths of tomorrow.

Youth Leadership Month

Youth Leadership Month is an annual event dedicated to celebrating those brave young people who take on leadership roles in their everyday lives. This is also the month to encourage and empower other young people to take on these same types of positions.

Schools, education centers, and activity centers are the perfect types of organizations to get involved in this celebration. Programs that focus on youth leadership opportunities and effective leadership skill building are perfect this month. Other kinds of organizations can become in this month as well by creating leadership positions for children and teens and promoting awareness youth leadership position awareness.There are a variety of promotional products that can help you celebrate Youth Leadership Month. Promotional t-shirts or caps with your organization's imprinted logo are great ways to get the right message across. Custom Awards and Recognition promotional products are also great ways reward young people who have achieved great heights.

By investing time and energy into the youth of today, we can enrich the world of tomorrow.

Presidents' Day

Dating back to the origin of the holiday, Presidents' Day (and its spelling) has been subject to a lot of change. Presidents' Day (previosly called Washington's Birthday) was originally designed to honor the birthday of the first president of the United States George Washington, who was born February 22, 1732.

Then in 1809 along came Abraham Lincoln, another revered president and fellow February baby (born on the 12th of the month). Both Lincoln and Washington are remembered and honored as two of the most important and valuable presidents the United States has ever had.

In 1865, the year of Lincoln's assassination, the first formal observance of his birthday took place. For many years the holiday remained an honor to only Washington, but in 1968 a draft of the Uniform Holiday Bill renamed the holiday to Presidents' Day to honor both Washington and Lincoln.
To commemorate both honored presidents born in the month of February, the date February 18th (between Lincoln's 12th and Washington's 22) has been officially declared Presidents' Day.

Presidents' Day is a special holiday to honor not only our most revered presidents, but also to honor those who make our lives better everyday. Take this opportunity to give back with an award or gift that you could give to some one who has had an impact on your life.

Happy Birthday Lincoln and Washington, and have a special Presidents' Day everyone else!

National Weddings Month

February is National Weddings Month. Although not many couples get married during the month of February, many brides are frantically making their last minute preparations for their Spring and Summer fairytale ceremonies.

You can help alleviate away some of the headaches caused by the rigorous planning by ensuring your recipients will walk away with promotional gifts that will be memorable, unique, and sentimental. Fill up their goodie bags with products that can show the love they you share with that special someone. There's a great variety of heart shaped ideas for you to choose, to make sure that the special day remains apart of their guests' lives forever.

Seal the deal with your client by ensuring their magical day will be stress-free and exhilarating. You could take away their worries and fears with these fun, eye-pleasing, and relieving bridal stress balls.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is an excellent time to hand-out promotional products to your clients and employees to show how much you thoroughly love working with them! Celebrated worldwide on February 14th, the origins of Valentine's Day are traced back to the Catholic feast day in honor of St. Valentine. In recent times however, Valentine's Day is the designated day during which people express their love and care for one another by exchanging cards, flowers, chocolates, candy conversation hearts, and more.

Whether you're interested in utilizing Valentine's Day themed items for your clients, employees, as party favors, school celebrations, or company events, There are a large selection of items to choose from. A great idea is to hand out customizeable heart-shaped items to show those close to you that you are thinking about them. You could also reveal a little bit of your sweet side by sending your clients personalized chocolates and candies!

With the right promos, you can make this Valentine's Day one your clients and employees are bound to remember.

Time Management Month

February is Time Management Month. We frequently find ourselves pulled in different directions by our jobs, families, and friends, all while trying to pencil in a little downtime for ourselves. Many people succumb to the hustle and bustle of their busy schedules, but this is the month to change all that.

Get into the habit of prioritizing your tasks for the week. Rank them in order of importance and urgency. Try looking at your tasks, chores, and obligations individually, instead of as one big mess. This helps you focus on getting things accomplished and prevents you from stressing out. If you plan wisely, you'll soon see how easy it is to get your life under control.

This month, help keep your employees and clients on time for their appointments with promotional leather planners, since they make great corporate gifts. A great way to encourage and reward your employees for being on time to work is by giving them promotional clocks and watches. Make sure you do your part this month to help get your clients and employees' schedules under control.

American Heart Month

February is American Heart Month, so it's important that we all do our part to help spread knowledge about this important cause.

Heart disease is a very serious illness. According to the American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease is our nation's number one cause of death. Because of this alarming statistic, Congress required the president back in 1963 to proclaim February "American Heart Month."

This month, the American Heart Association teams up with thousands of volunteers nationwide to inform the public about this deadly disease. Their goal is to increase knowledge of the illness and raise funds for further research and education.With care and early detection, heart attacks are almost entirely preventable. Thankfully, there's a huge selection of heart-shaped products to help you spread the word! Supply your customers with customized key chains and list helpful websites they can visit to learn about the early warning signs of heart disease. Promotional heart-shaped stress balls make perfect giveaways at awareness events. Personalized desk calendars will always remind those you care most about to schedule time to exercise and of annual doctor's appointments. With some effort, you can drastiscally affect someone's health and life this month.

National Patient Recognition Week

National Patient Recognition Week was founded by John O'Malley in 1995. The week promotes observance of health care patients. It's rather unique since most health care awareness dates focus on health care personnel or specific health issues. This week revolves around patient satisfaction; upon observing patient satisfaction, health care providers can use the time to consider ways in which they can enhance it. Personnel in the healthcare industry commit to patients care everyday, but with the arrival of the first week in February, they can make sure to go the extra mile and let patients know how important their well-being is.

Hospitals and other health care facilities can take advantage of numerous promotional opportunities to really demonstrate their level of commitment to patient care with promotional first aid kits. Promotional massagers are a unique and thoughtful gift that offers a great way to connect to patients while taking their personal satisfaction into mind. In order to better align your patients with your healthcare goals, offer them promotional band aid stress balls to demonstrate your commitment to their needs.

With the right tactics, you can offer your patients the appreciation they deserve!

Black History Month

Black History Month is a time set aside every year to honor and commemorate outstanding members of the African American population throughout history. Established in 1976, Black History Month is celebrated annually in the United States and Canada in the month of February, while in the UK it is held in the month of October.

The month long celebration was an expansion of Negro History Week, established in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, director of what was then known as the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Woodson selected the week in February to honor the birthdays of both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. To better honor many outstanding members of the African American population, the week was extended to a month and celebrated nationally. Some of these honored members include W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King Jr., Edward Brooke, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Sojourer Truth, and many others.

Black History Month urges the public to address persistent socio-economic issues and the harms of unresolved racial prejudice and discriminaiton. All of the people being recognized throughout the month of February spent their lives working to achieve equality and prosperity for all men and women.

Today men and women of all races fight for the same cause. Be sure to show your appreciation and recognize their efforts with promotional awards and recognition products that can be custom imprinted for a personal touch.

The goal for many people who celebrate Black History Month is to integrate the recognition of Black History with American History. To help promote the movement toward full integration be sure to distribute and mark off your calendars to help remind but also to reinforce Black History Month within a greater historical context!

Women's Heart Health Week

Heart disease is known to be the number one killer of women in America. In recognition of this occurrence, the first week of February has been designated as Women's Heart Health Week. The goal of this week is to raise awareness and focus on the prevention, education, and early intervention of the disease.

There are many ways to help by getting involved. To show your concern for health issues in your local community, you could sponser one of the many seminars that will be taking place throughout the month. A great way to raise awareness is by giving out awareness bracelets and promotional stress balls. Stress balls are a great promotion since stress is considered to be a cause of heart disease, you can even make them heart shaped!

So go out this week and do what you can to help save a heart!