DKNY Jeans and Youth Anti-Drug Campaign partner for celebrity calendar

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Teenage girls across the country will find out what their favorite male celebrities choose over drugs when the 2003 DKNY Jeans/What's Your Anti-Drug? celebrity calendar debuts in the December/January issue of CosmoGIRL! Magazine. The calendar was produced by DKNY Jeans in partnership with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy's National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. Designed by Donna Karan's creative team and photographed by famed photographer Herb Ritts, the 28-page, 14-month calendar includes a different celebrity for each month, along with his "Anti-Drug." The 14 celebrities featured in the calendar include Enrique Iglesias, Paul Walker, Jay Hernandez, Matt Davis, Alex Band, Sean Maguire, Brendan Fehr, Jonathan Jackson, Ethan Browne, Rick Yune, Quddus, Billy Kay, Jared Padalecki, and Wentworth Miller. The Director of National Drug Control Policy, John P. Walters, said, "Our partnership with DKNY Jeans is a great example of how the public and private sectors can work together to find innovative ways to reach young people and empower them to reject illicit drugs. Herb Ritts and DKNY have lent their time and creative talent to help prevent youth drug use, and we encourage others to follow their lead." "What's Your Anti-Drug?" is a national movement that encourages kids to embrace their passion - to find the thing that inspires, excites and energizes them, and which they choose to do instead of drugs. Singing, friends and sports are all Anti-Drugs - there are millions of possibilities and no wrong answers. Hundreds of thousands of kids across the country have shared their Anti-Drugs with the Media Campaign, as have celebrities ranging from Christina Aguilera to Olympic Gold Medalist Apolo Ohno. "We need to keep our kids safe and drug free," said Donna Karan, Chief Designer of Donna Karan International. "I can't think of a better way to do that than to show them how great drug free entertainment can be. These kids are our future, and this is an opportunity to really make a difference in their lives." During the second week of November, 750,000 CosmoGIRL! subscribers will receive the calendar in the mail, with hundreds of thousands more being available on newsstands in New York, California and Florida. The calendar will also be available as a free download on Freevibe.com, the Media Campaign's pop culture Web site for teens and tweens. Throughout 2003 Freevibe.com and Cosmogirl.com will feature highlights from the calendar, as well as other special features. Elements on the sites will include behind the scenes interviews, video clips and downloadable screensavers. The DKNY Jeans partnership is part of a broader effort launched by the Media Campaign to enlist corporate America in youth drug prevention. Businesses are encouraged to provide in-kind donations of goods and communications services and financial contributions to underwrite advertising, programs and materials. Through collaborations with businesses, the Media Campaign is reaching more youth and parents with Anti-Drug messages and information in more places, more often, and more persuasively. Donna Karan International is one of the world's leading fashion design houses. The Company designs, markets and distributes "designer" and "bridge" collections of women's and men's apparel and sportswear, accessories and shoes under the Donna Karan New York and DKNY brand names, respectively. The DKNY Jeans and DKNY Jeans Juniors divisions are licensed categories for Donna Karan International that fall under the DKNY family of products. In 1998, with the bipartisan support of Congress and the President, ONDCP created the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, an effort designed to educate and empower youth to reject illicit drugs. Counting on an unprecedented blend of public and private partnerships, non-profit community service organizations, volunteerism, and youth-to-youth communications, the Campaign is designed to reach Americans of diverse backgrounds with Anti-Drug information and resources. For more information and to download photographs, please visit www.mediacampaign.org/newsroom/index.html
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Community Hero: Noelle Howland

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff

Noelle Howland is committed to keeping alive the late Pittsfield ACO Eleanor Sonsini's mission of helping animals ... albeit farther north in North Adams.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — No Paws Left Behind Executive Director Noelle Howland has been selected as the November Community Hero of the Month. 
 
The Community Hero of the Month series honors individuals and organizations that have made a significant impact in their community. The series sponsor, Haddad Auto, has extended this initiative for one more month.
 
Howland breathed new life into the mission of the former Eleanor Sonsini Animal Shelter, which closed in August 2023. 
 
The shelter in Pittsfield operated under the mission established by Eleanor Sonsini, a local animal rights activist and longtime animal control officer in Pittsfield, to be a no-kill shelter committed to finding surrendered and abandoned pets new forever homes. 
 
Howland's love for animals, dedication to their well-being, and expertise in animal behavior and training and shelter management brought this mission to new heights at No Paws Left Behind, a new shelter for dogs located at 69 Hodges Cross Road. 
 
"I want people to understand that I know it's hard to surrender. So, my biggest thing is [making sure] people know that, of course, we're not judging you. We're here to help you," Howland said. 
 
When Sonsini announced its closing, Howland, who was the shelter's manager, worked to save it, launching fundraising initiatives. However, the previous board decided to close the shelter down and agreed to let Howland open her own shelter using their mission. 
 
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