Michael Swayze's Community Resources

Category: Uncategorized

  • From Yosemite to Acadia: Free Passes for Military Families

    Today, just one percent of Americans are fighting our wars, but we need 100% of Americans to be supporting our troops and their families – not just during Armed Forces Week, but all year long. That’s why we launched the Joining Forces Initiative last year to encourage all Americans to find ways to honor, recognize and support our veterans and military families.

    Starting on Armed Forces Day, this Saturday, May 19, we will be offering all active duty military a free annual pass that will grant access to service members and their dependents, to more than 2,000 sites across the country, including National Parks.

    The annual pass will be accepted at all public land sites that charge entrance or standard amenity fees, including those managed by the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Army Corps.

    From Yosemite to Acadia to the Grand Canyon, we are putting out a welcome mat for our military families at America’s most beautiful and storied sites.

    Service men and women from all five branches of the military – the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, including the Reserves and National Guard – are eligible just by showing a current, valid military identification card. The pass is also available for the family members of active duty military, which is critical because we know that military spouses and children make sacrifices for our country every day too.

    Earlier today, the very first of these passes were distributed in a ceremony at Colonial National Historical Park in Yorktown, Virginia to members of the military – a small down payment on the debt of gratitude our nation owes our service men and women.

    Learn more about the Annual Pass for Active Duty Military and their Dependents.

    To learn more visit http://store.usgs.gov/pass/military.html. Thank you, our Veterans.

    Source: White House Blog – http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/05/15/rolling-out-welcome-mat-our-military-families-national-parks-and-public-lands?utm_source=051612&utm_medium=topper&utm_campaign=daily and a May 16 White House email.

  • New Jersey Area Sports Teams Listed

    Most of the time on this blog you will find information on community resources, energy assistance information, etc. Given the fact that I had the day off I decided to do a long overdue addition to the New Jersey Community Resources website. It was time to lighten up and add the names of New Jersey minor league baseball teams. Granted, there are no minor league games scheduled in October but we still have the World Series to watch.

    Do you know there are six minor league teams in New Jersey? They include: the New Jersey Jackals in Montclair, Newark Bears, Somerset Patriots, Lakewood BlueClaws, Trenton Thunder, and the Camden Riversharks. You could add nearby Staten Island Yankees. Links to these team’s official websites can be found on New Jersey Community Resources’ New Jersey page.

    While listing minor league teams it made sense to list all area professional sports teams. Of course, you probably have been to their websites on your own but having them listed together made sense, at least it did to me. A direct link to these teams can be found also on the New Jersey page. The list covers all pro sports: baseball, basketball, football, soccer, and hockey. Philadelphia teams are included as some South Jersey readers are fans of teams across the river, just as New York teams are included for North Jersey fans. You may notice I’ve included two women’s professional soccer teams – Blue Sky Soccer , holding their matches in Piscataway and the Philadelphia Independence.

    Have fun watching your favorite teams.

  • Thank You Tilman Hausherr

    Most of the posts that I write are about social programs or community resources. Today I decided it was time to thank someone for a gift he gave. There is a web developer by the name of Tilman Hausherr who lives in Berlin, Germany. In 1997 he created a freeware program titled Xenu’s Link Sleuth. The program checks for broken web links. I’ve been using it for years to check all the links on my website. So the other day I thought it would be kind to write him a check or send him some cash. Guess what, he doesn’t want payment! He gave a few options instead, so I decided to write this article and thank him.

    You can go his website to download the program. It works great, btw. Or you can find it on the CNET download site. Additional information is available in a Wikipedia article.

    I don’t know how I would keep my website’s 1800 links up-to-date if it weren’t for Tilman’s free program. Thank you, Tilman.

    Pass it forward.