What it do with Lue

Russell Hicks (center) of Ebony Suns Enterprises is named 1st-place winner in the Cricket Community Stars: Salute to Solopreneurs contest. Hicks is joined by Cricket store staff and supporter Jon McKay during a Small Business Saturday celebration.

Russell Hicks of Ebony Suns Enterprises Named Grand Prize Winner of the Cricket Community Stars: Salute to Solopreneurs Contest

Receives more than $5,000 in cash and mobility prizes,

incl. a Samsung Galaxy S 5

ATLANTA, GA–Cricket Wireless announces Russell Hicks, founder of Ebony Suns Enterprises in Philadelphia as the grand prize winner of its Cricket Community Stars: Salute to Solopreneurs contest. Launched in October of 2014, the contest recognizes solo entrepreneurs who make it a priority to provide positive contributions to the community.

“We are pleased to recognize Russell Hicks as the first Cricket Community Star and congratulate the other finalists who are committed to building both their brand and community,” says Jermaine Spight, Senior Public Relations Manager, Cricket Wireless. “Cricket Wireless is a community brand that supports organizations making a difference in the neighborhoods where our customers live, work and play.”

Through Ebony Suns Enterprises, Hicks provides sustainable business consulting to individuals and organizations, and actively contributes to the community by mentoring urban youth and creating social entrepreneurship programs.  He currently works with more than 75 young entrepreneurs through various green industry sectors including eco-tourism, sustainable real estate, organic apparel design and merchandising. As grand prize winner, Hicks will receive $5,000, and one year of complimentary service on Cricket’s reliable, nationwide 4G LTE network.

Finalists Zondra Hughes, founder of Six Brown Chicks, and Michael Ferrera, founder of Michael Ferrera Custom Clothing were awarded 2^nd– and 3^rd-place prize packages and will respectively receive $2,500 and six months of complimentary service, and $1,000 and three months of complimentary service from Cricket.

Additionally, Hicks, Hughes and Ferrera will each receive a Samsung Galaxy S^® 5 courtesy of Samsung Telecommunications America. The Samsung Galaxy S 5 delivers simplified control and experiences on a brilliant 5.1-inch display, a 16 megapixel rear- facing camera, lightning fast data connections, and health and wellness monitoring to help solopreneurs stay connected to their world, community, friends and family at home or on the go.

“Samsung is proud to join Cricket Wireless in recognizing true community stars,” says Steven Schultz, National Sales Manager, Samsung Telecommunications America. “We hope that the Samsung Galaxy S 5 devices help these entrepreneurs stay connected in business and with their communities.”

The Cricket Community Stars: Salute to Solopreneurs contest was open to residents of Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. All entries were reviewed and evaluated by Cricket before being narrowed down to three finalists who recorded video entries which were uploaded to the Cricket YouTube channel for further social media engagement. Finally, a panel of judges reviewed the finalists’ entries and chose Cricket’s 1^st-, 2^nd– and 3^rd-place winners.

About Cricket Wireless

Cricket is bringing consumers more value with a simple, friendly, and reliable nationwide wireless experience with no annual contract.  The power of Cricket is our fast, reliable, nationwide 4G LTE network; easy and affordable unlimited plans with taxes and fees included; annual loyalty rewards; and a great selection of phones customers love. Cricket, Something to Smile About.  Cricket is a subsidiary of AT&T Inc.

Samsung and Galaxy S are all trademarks of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

The 14th Annual Christmas Outreach was held on Friday, December 19 at a Servant Heart Outreach in San Bernardino  where 3,800 children received toys with special help and donations from 29 Palms Marine Corps Toys for Tots, Nestle, Stater Bros., Elegant Shoe Collections, San Bernardino County School District, and the Pacific High School Cheerleaders.

There were also Christmas characters that included Santa Clause, the Red Queen of Wonderland, the Mad Hatter, and the White Queen of Wonderland.

Bringing Holiday Cheer to Others Giving Overseas. Loma Linda University Health employee Karen Westphal holds a package that she and her husband filled with Christmas goodies for their adopted missionary family.

LOMA LINDA, CA- This year, the second annual Adopt-a-Missionary Christmas project is connecting 15 missionary families with various groups and individuals in the Loma Linda community.  Christmas cheer is being spread throughout the world in the form of large flat-rate postal boxes.

The Loma Linda University Health (LLUH) Global Health Institute (GHI), in collaboration with Students for International Mission Service (SIMS), organized the project for the first time in 2013. The project received so much support that they decided to continue it this year.

The missionaries include LLUH alumni, global service awardees (GSAs), deferred mission appointees (DMAs), and Adventist Health International (AHI) long-term volunteers who are working overseas at LLUH strategic interest sites as dentists, hospital administrators, nurses, public health educators, and more.

Rainey Davis, a LLUH student, class of 2016, decided to sponsor one of the missionary families with the help of her own family back home in Washington state.  After serving as a student missionary, Davis reflected on the fact that it meant a lot to her knowing that people still cared about her even though she was far away.

“I just remember it was so nice to get something that reminded me of home,” Davis said.   “Even if I couldn’t use the gifts myself, I knew that I could give them to someone else in my village, and they would appreciate it.”

Angeli Yutuc, program manager of international service at GHI, coordinated the project and mentioned that this year, even more than last, the collaboration across campus has been inspiring. In addition to individual sponsors, LLUH departments and groups of students chose to adopt many of the mission families. When the boxes were filled, these sponsors were still asking how they could continue to give more.

Jackie Aitchison, an employee in Loma Linda University Health’s Risk Management unit, sponsored four boxes with her department and said the only complaint was that the boxes were too small.

“Several of us came to work and realized we had completely filled the boxes with presents for the children before we were even done shopping for the entire families,” Aitchison remarked.  “So we are actually sending an additional box to one of our sites.”

“It’s nice to see the campus come together and support our international projects and volunteers,” Yutuc shared.  “It gives them a little glimpse of the people serving abroad that our office is connected with on a daily basis.  It certainly helps our volunteers to feel valued and remembered during the holiday season when they are not necessarily able to be with family or go home for the holidays.”

To learn more about the project for next year, please visit lluglobal.com/adopt or contact Angeli Yutuc at 909-558-4876 or ayutuc@llu.edu.

This holiday season, Landry’s, Inc. is offering a gift-giving solution wrapped with convenience and flexibility that is sure to please – the Landry’s Gift Card. Unlike traditional restaurant gift cards, the Landry’s Gift Card may be used at any Landry’s concept across the country from now through December 24, 2014, including Morton’s The Steakhouse, The Oceanaire, McCormick & Schmick’s, Vic & Anthony’s, Chart House, La Griglia, Grotto, and many more.

Customers who purchase over $50 in Landry’s Gift Cards will receive Rewards Cards to use during their next visit. Cards are redeemable through May 2015 and may be purchased at any Landry’s restaurant or online at www.landrysinc.com.

Click here  to get your card!

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

THE DEVIL IS A LIAR AND DECEIVER! “He is the greatest concealer, the mightiest pervert of truth, the ultimately misleader, the most convincing fraud, the master of disguise and the master of surprise!” He’s a malicious liar whose only purpose is to steal, kill and destroy your life. His game is Deception (Matt 7:13-15) and his trick is no treat. Scriptures and experience proves that every time the Devil promises happiness, he lies. Every time the Devil promises things will turn out well, he lies and deceives. Proving that everybody who ever depended on the Devil’s lie, the Devil’s way, the Devil pleasure, the Devil’s whim, the Devil’s plan for happiness and peace, found they had been bamboozled, hoodwink, duped, fooled and deceived… Satan the Trickster…  He will lie, cheat, connive and steal to hurt you if he can. Hear me and hear me good…. I don’t care who you are, how holy and pure you are, how long you’ve walked with God, or how old or young you are, Satan couldn’t care less about you or me, but he knows God loves us, so if he can hurt us and make sure we can’t spend eternity with God, that will hurt God. This is war! It is a battle for your soul. And for those of you have chosen to go all the way with God, with a determination to obey and pursue holiness, you can be 100% sure Satan has a hellish setup planned for you.  Watch out! “Be sober; be vigilant; because your enemy the Devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” {1 Peter 4:8}. His lies are so devious and his traps and setups so camouflaged with charm and beauty that we can only depend on the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to expose them.

You see, in order to seize the throne of God and to attract willing followers, Satan has snidely and viciously set out to deceive us – to convince us that he has the truth and that God is a liar. But it is he, Satan, who is a liar! Scripture says he has been a liar from the beginning. His purpose is to turn the whole world against God and to rebel against all of His laws and standards.  Understand that Satan is the arch enemy of God and the church. His intent is to destroy the work of God in your life by any means possible. He wants to detour you from the presence of God and he’s willing to do any and everything to do that. He wants to get you to a point where you throw in the towel and step back from God. But I come with a word of encouragement; Stand Strong! Stand strong in the Lord and know that God will give you strength to endure in every situation. The Lord tells us that He won’t put more on us than we can bare and the enemy knows this. And because the enemy knows God’s burdens are light, the enemy will take the littlest things and place it under a microscope to make your circumstances and burdens APPEAR to be bigger that what it actually is. Remember that… And when you hear the roar of the lion, when the flood crashes in, and you’re overwhelmed, simply run to the Holy of Holies. By faith, enter into the very presence of God on His throne, because the Lamb has made a way for you, through His blood. Call on Him, and stand on the power of Christ’s blood… Jesus is our example here. He resisted the Devil with God’s Word… the TRUTH exposes Satan, putting him to shame… Hebrews says, “That all who have trusted in God’s Word “through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.” (Hebrews 11:33). I tell you we must muzzle the powers of Hell by standing on God’s Word. Fall on your face before the father. And immerse yourself in His Word. Because the devil knows this war is his last chance, he knows that he has only a short time remaining before Christ returns for his bride. And because of that, Satan’s war against the church is the most intense of all. He wants to gain back the ground he lost to Christ – so he’ll stop at nothing to destroy the faith of his bride. That means he’s going to use all of his weapons against us – all subtleties, deceits and devices. It is therefore important to know what you believe about God and what is substantiated in the Bible because we are living in a time when earth’s greatest deception is about to take place right before our eyes and so closely will the counterfeit resemble the truth that it will be impossible to distinguish between the two except by the Holy Scriptures.

You know, as I walk with Christ and continue to do His will, one thing I realize is that the enemy is persistent – persistent to stop me and anyone else who seeks to do the will of God. Please don’t be oblivious to the schemes of the devil as he comes to kill, steal, and destroy. To be wise, we must know who to listen to {God} – and who NOT to listen to {Satan}.  The purpose of this article is NOT to glorify Satan, but to show you his strategy so that you don’t become a casualty. We live in a war zone. Like it or not, we are in the middle of the age old conflict between good and evil, the kingdom of light and kingdom of darkness, God and Satan. Do not be deceived by Satan…..“Extra, Extra … Read All About It!”

Do you want to work in entertainment? Do you love and believe in the work of the indie artists out there? If so you may be a perfect fit for the LUE Productions team. They are currently hiring for the following positions: Coordinator of Special Events, Assistant Coordinator, Administrative Assistant, Street Team Coordinator, Artist Development Manager, Manager of  Sales and Merchandise, and Promotion Manager.

There will be open interviews held on Monday, December 29 from 1 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 114 S. Arrowhead in San Bernardino (92408). To lock in your interview, please send your resume over to Lue.info@yahoo.com.

Coordinator of Special Events

• Planning must be able to negotiate pricing
• Pre-selecting options to present to the client and maintaining budgets for the event.
• Must provide outstanding customer service
• Be an enthusiastic professional
• Be able to build relationships with internal and external customers.

Assistant Coordinator of Special Events

• Responsible for coordinating events, including planning menus, booking musicians, putting up decorations, ordering flowers, hiring bartenders, and ensuring the event runs smoothly.
• Works directly under Coordinator of Special Events

Administrative Assistant

• Provides office services by implementing administrative systems, procedures, and policies, and monitoring administrative projects.
• Works directly under Administrative Supervisor

Street Team Coordinator

• Ability to manage and schedule a team of volunteers
• Good organizational and time management skills
• Ability to do job duties with minimal direct supervision
• Excellent communication skills

Artist Development Manager

• Works directly with LUE Productions artists
• Provide classes for other upcoming artists to help develop, polish, and/or enhance their performance skills

Manager of Sales and Merchandise

• Oversees the day to day sales and inventory of all LUE P apparel and merchandise as well as recruitment of clients for LUE Productions referral services

Promotion Manager

• Oversees the day to day promotion on all social media sites, of all LUE Productions artists, events, and clients

On Thursday, December 12, the 100 Black Men of America approved the Charter of the 100 Black Men of the Inland Empire.

“It is an honor to be awarded our charter by the National Organization,” said Chapter President Damon Alexander. “Our members stand ready to provide and promote mentoring, economic development, health, and education throughout the Inland Empire.”

The mission of the 100 Black Men of the Inland Empire, is to improve the quality of life within our communities and enhance educational and economic opportunities for African Americans.  The 100 Black Men of the Inland Empire is committed to intellectual development of youth and the economic empowerment of the African American community based on the following precepts: respect for family, spirituality, justice and integrity.

To learn more about the 100 Black Men contact the Inland Empire Chapter at 100bmie@gmail.com.

Cheryl Brown

SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Cheryl R. Brown (D-San Bernardino) was unanimously selected as the 2015 Legislator of the Year by the Alzheimer’s Association for authoring AB 1744, The California Family Caregiver Act of 2014. The Alzheimer’s Association will present Assemblymember Brown her award on Wednesday, April 29^th, 2015 on their annual legislative advocacy day in Sacramento.

“I am honored to be named the Alzheimer’s Association Legislator of the Year for 2015,” Assemblymember Brown said. “As the Chair of the Aging and Long-Term Care Committee, I look forward to working with the Alzheimer’s Association to ensure that as California’s population ages, the state provides the necessary resources for research while providing the best possible care for seniors living with Alzheimer’s.”

The Alzheimer’s Association is the world’s leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer’s care, support and research. To learn about how you can help in the fight against Alzheimer’s visit www.alz.org.

RIVERSIDE, CA- The Riverside Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. will hold their first annual “Shop with a KAPPA” event. At the event, designated disadvantaged youth in the community are given $100 and taken Christmas shopping at their local Wal-Mart store.

The launch event and Christmas Celebration is scheduled from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, December 21, at the Wal-Mart Super Center, located at 2663 Canyon Springs Parkway in Riverside (92507).

“Last year as a committee we were able to raise $3,700 for the youth in Las Vegas,” said Rod O’Neal, founder of the “Shop with a Kappa” program, a Guide Right outreach of the Kappa’s Las Vegas Alumni Chapter. “It was such a success that we decided to conduct the event(s) this year with our Riverside Alumni Chapter affiliate,” O’Neal said.

The “Shop with a Kappa” program can be found at www.shopwithakappa.com  and serves as a great tool to reach directly into communities identified by the individual Chapters and touch those in need. Under the Guide Right program, Kappas throughout the Western Province (Anchorage, Seattle, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Riverside) will hold their “Shop with A KAPPA” events throughout the month of December with the youth from the communities in which they serve. It is anticipated that $10,000 in donations will be raised to sponsor 100 children throughout cities in the fraternity’s Western Province.

SAN BERNARDINO, CA – A veteran police officer recognized for creating a safe environment for students to learn, grow, and succeed has been sworn in as the new chief of the San Bernardino City Unified School District Police Department. Superintendent Dr. Dale Marsden officially swore in Joseph Paulino on Tuesday, December 9 during an afternoon ceremony attended by law enforcement leaders from across Southern California. Paulino, who first joined the District as a patrolman in 1997 and worked his way up through the ranks, has held the interim chief position since July 2010.

Paulino’s strong ties in the San Bernardino community, his problem-solving skills, and his passion for making a positive difference in the lives of students made him an ideal candidate, Marsden said.

“Chief Paulino has a strong vision for making hope happen for our students and our community,” Marsden said. “With Chief Paulino in this key leadership position, our District, our schools, and our students will be safer.”

As police chief, Paulino oversees a department of 26 sworn police officers, 55 campus security officers, and more than 10 support staff. The department is responsible for ensuring the safety of the District’s 53,000 students, as well as protecting District property.

Among Paulino’s focus will be expanding opportunities for students to have positive interactions with police officers through efforts like the Junior Police Explorers Program, currently in place at King Middle School and Rodriguez PREP Academy.

“Young people are the future of this community,” Paulino said. “It is our duty to ensure that they stay on the right course to a successful and productive future.”

Under Paulino’s leadership, the District formed a Safe Schools Task Force in 2012 to improve school safety. He is a 2007 graduate of the prestigious FBI National Academy, an elite, four-month training program for the nation’s top law enforcement leaders. While at the FBI Academy, Paulino had an opportunity to study the complex issue of school violence.