DUSTIN'S GREENHOUSE

Dustin's GreenHouse believes every child deserves broader horizons and brighter tomorrows. From Guatemala to Africa, England to Ecuador, the organization uses travel as an educational to cultivate new ideas, dreams, and perspectives. Every year, Dustin's GreenHouse selects a group of high school students from across Guilford County to participate in an international adventure. These groups have come to be known as the GreenHouse Globetrotters.

Team members first tackle learning skills like how to scuba dive, how to speak "survival" Spanish or another language, how to apply for a passport, how to pack a suitcase, and what to expect from different cultures. Once in-country, teams start out by working side-by-side with village nationals and teaching in local schools, learning just how much opportunity exists in the United States. The second week is spent embracing every physical adventure imaginable. Returning teams have hiked volcanoes, ridden horse back through rainforests, whitewater rafted down the Nile, received massages in extravagant resorts, gone bungee jumping, and more.

Someone once said, "We learn simply by the exposure of living." By taking students who could ordinarily never afford the expense of travel into places like Nawampitti, Uganda, Dustin's GreenHouse is truly dedicated to planting seeds of hope and opportunity in the lives of young people.

MARCH OF DIMES® SIGNATURE CHEFS AUCTION

The March of Dimes is a national organization whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, and has focused recently on stemming the dramatic increase in premature births.

At this annual black tie-optional fundraising gala, local chefs provide hors d'ouevres and entrees as guests gather and bid on auction items that include special wines, vacation packages, jewelry and artwork. Marisol's Stephen Schnieder has participated as an invited guest chef since 2003, and his donated auction contributions have yielded well over $5,000 to the local March of Dimes organization.

FRIENDS FOR AN EARLIER BREAST CANCER TEST

Marisol is behind the local effort of this organization, whose mission is to "support new, innovative research to identify a biological test that would identify the presence of breast cancer far earlier than is now available."