Charity Challenge Returns

Make your vote count in the 2016 CultureMap Charity Challenge

CultureMap is committed to shining a light on Dallas nonprofits and all that they do to make an impact in our community. So we have partnered with Briggs Freeman Sotheby's International Realty for the third annual CultureMap Charity Challenge, highlighting 10 deserving local organizations, one of which will be our charity partner for 2016.

You get to decide which one wins by voting in our poll from now until 11:59 pm on December 31. At stake is a CultureMap advertising package worth $10,000.

But before you cast your vote, meet the finalists, as selected by CultureMap and Briggs Freeman:

The Center for BrainHealth was created in 1999 and has flourished because of its unique commitment to its mission to understand, protect, and heal the brain. Scientific exploration at BrainHealth is leading-edge and transformative, improving lives today and changing how the public thinks and acts about the brain.

Community Partners of Dallas is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring safety and restoring dignity and hope to abused and neglected children by providing resources and support to the caseworkers of Dallas County Child Protective Services.

Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA)'s mission is to raise funds and grant those funds to organizations which fight HIV/AIDS. Highlighting the design community, DIFFA/Dallas hosts multiple events throughout the year, including Burgers & Burgundy, DIFFA/Dallas Wreath Collection, and House of DIFFA.

Habitat for Humanity's vision is a world where everyone has a decent place to live. Habitat has helped more than 5 million people through home construction, rehabilitation, and repairs and by increasing access to improved shelter through products and services.

March of Dimes' mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. March of Dimes reaches moms with information on having full-term and healthy pregnancies.

The Men of Nehemiah serves homeless and incarcerated men with addictive disorders by providing residential accommodations, substance abuse treatment, life skills and job placement training, case management, and recovery support services.

Nexus Recovery Center is at the forefront of specialized substance abuse services for females. Nexus offers programs for adult women and adolescent girls ages 13-17, including those pregnant or accompanied by children.

Operation Kindness' mission is to care for homeless cats and dogs in a no-kill environment until each is adopted into a responsible home and to advocate humane values and behavior.

The Rise School of Dallas is a nonprofit organization providing the highest quality of early childhood education services to children with Down Syndrome or other developmental disabilities and children without disabilities.

Young Texans Against Cancer (YTAC) is an independent, nonprofit organization comprising young men and women who have been affected by cancer and are seeking to become more actively involved in the cancer community.

Briggs-Freeman has commissioned profiles of each nonprofit, so you can read more about them through the duration of the Charity Challenge. You can vote once a day, every day, until 11:59 pm on December 31.

We will announce the winner on January 5. Now make your vote count.

March of Dimes

Photo courtesy of March of Dimes

March of Dimes

inspiration promoted

Avian Flu News

Wildlife authorities now find avian flu in mammals in Texas Panhandle

Photo by Katie Oxford

Raccoon in a trap.

The avian flu creeps closer and closer: According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), recent testing has detected Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in mammal species in Texas including foxes, raccoons, striped skunks, and domestic cats located in the Texas panhandle in Deaf Smith, Hansford, Lubbock, Ochiltree, Parmer and Randall Counties.

These detections were found via a collaboration between TPWD, the Department of State Health Services Zoonosis Control branch, and the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab.

They follow similar discoveries in wild birds across Texas, with recent detections in Amarillo, El Paso, Galveston, Harris, Lubbock, Potter, Travis, and Wharton counties.

HPAI has now been detected in all 50 states across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. It's a highly contagious zoonotic virus that transmits easily among wild and domestic birds. It can spread directly between animals and indirectly through environmental contamination.

For mammals, transmission occurs primarily through consumption of infected animal carcasses, although mammal-to-mammal transmission is possible.

Signs of HPAI in mammals can vary based on species but can include ataxia (incoordination, stumbling), tremors, seizures, lack of fear of people, lethargy, runny or crusty eyes and nose, coughing and sneezing, or sudden death.

TPWD recommends wildlife rehabilitators remain cautious when intaking wild animals with clinical signs consistent with HPAI to limit the potential for exposures to other animals within the facility.

They're still insisting that the risk of avian influenza from infected birds being transmitted to people remains low, but people should take basic protective measures (i.e., wearing gloves, face masks and handwashing) if they must make contact with wild animals.

animals health