Funding A Dream
Beachcomber donates $75,000 to amateur athletes.
While every serious athlete plays to the best of his or her ability, hardly any of them will make millions of dollars through contracts and sponsorships. In fact, many amateur athletes live below the poverty line.
With this in mind, Beachcomber Hot Tubs, Vancouver, British Columbia, recently donated $75,000 to the See You In Athens Fund, a not-for-profit organization devoted to raising money and awareness for Canada's amateur athletes, 70 percent of whom live below the poverty line.
Since 1997, the See You In Fund has raised more than $1.2 million dollars and has represented 275 athletes training for international summer and winter games.
According to Jane Roos, founder and executive director of the Fund, money donated is put directly into the hands of Canadian amateur athletes to support the training, equipment, travels, nutrition and basic living expenses necessary to prepare for the Olympics.
Keith Scott, the owner and founder of Beachcomber and an athlete who boxed in the 1960s and is involved in the lacrosse community today, wanted his company to contribute to the Fund because "the only way our athletes can compete and win at an elite level is with the support from corporations and government." Scott adds, "Now is a critical time for our athletes — their success in the future depends on companies coming forward today."
Pulliam And Claffey Families Recognized
Two Texas firms honored by family business organization.
Baylor University's Institute For Family Business gave two pool companies prestigious Texas Family Business of the Year awards in October. Pulliam Pools of Fort Worth was named Small Family Business of the Year and Claffey Pools, Southlake, received the Community Commitment Award. It was Pulliam's second award; the third-generation pool builder also won in 1997.
The six judges evaluate entries based on family involvement, community and industry involvement, and business success and succession. Business-of-the-year awards are given in each of three size categories (Pulliam won in the 50-or-fewer-employees category), and five special citations are awarded. Claffey Pools' recognition was based on "demonstrating a commitment to improving their community and to the overall well-being of their community."
What are they?
Props from an episode of the Star Trek television series? High-tech lawn tools? Antique agricultural implements? If you know (or even if you just have an amusing guess), send an e-mail to [email protected]. Indoor-Outdoor Living
Redefining where we live.
"Perhaps our love for alfresco living began in the Garden of Eden, but wherever it started, our enthusiasm continues to grow," writes Karin Strom, author of What's In Style: Outdoor Living. Starting with the well-accepted premise that backyard living is a trend with tenacity, Strom sets out to demonstrate how homeowners can bring the outdoors into interior environments and at the same time, apply the art of interior design to outdoor living.
Because so many topics are approached in so little space, the book functions best as a point of departure for homeowners or designers exploring ideas for a new or renovated space. You won't find any in-depth discussions of building methods — although there are chapters on sunrooms and conservatories, decks and patios, porches and structural elements. You'll need to look elsewhere to develop a list of landscaping plants suitable for your USDA hardiness zone. And the resources section is just a small sampling of possible suppliers and service providers.
But it's easy to imagine a pool designer sitting down with a client and this book to discuss the different styles of outdoor living spaces. And although this 130-page paperback from Creative Homeowner devotes just one page to discussion of swimming pools and spas, the sheer number of photographs illustrating design ideas for outdoor living spaces helps it earn its shelf space in a spa and pool design library.
—K.P.
What's In Style: Outdoor Living
By Karin Strom Creative Homeowner, Upper Saddle River, N.J.
ISBN 1-58011-114-9
Into The Deep
California artist explores underwater photography.
"It's always fun in photography to see something you can't really see with your eyes, like people underwater," says Anitra Menning, explaining what inspired her to create these underwater photos.
The Los Angeles-based artist says that in her first few underwater photos, there are more distortions, the background appears grayish, sometimes iridescent, and the people in the photos "look more like sea creatures."
While these photos were fascinating at first, Menning eventually wanted to try to make her subjects look better and more like they do above water. "I always want people to look good in my photographs and I was also interested in glamour," she says. "And underwater, the water really firms people up. It gives people a better body and takes a few years off the face, too."
Additionally, when taking the underwater portraits, Menning would position herself below her subjects in order to give them a strong angle to improve their appearance.
Menning says underwater photography attracted her "because there are so many more options with underwater photography vs. having people posing by standing or sitting. For one thing, a portrait is a picture of someone's physical person and in the water, they're wearing fewer clothes, which means you get to see more of the body. Also, people can be in so many different positions that you can't necessarily take above water — yet the pose is not unnatural."
For more information about Menning and her work, e-mail [email protected].
