October Is…

“Autism Awareness Month”: Call the Autism Society of Canada 1-866-478-8440 or see www.autismsocietycanada.ca.

“Brain Tumour Awareness Month”: The Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada’s website is www.braintumour.ca.

“Canadian Library Month”: For info, contact the Canadian Library Association at 613-232-9625 or see www.cla.ca.

“Car Safety Month”: See the Automotive Industries Association of Canada website at www.aiacanada.com.

“Celiac Awareness Month”: The Canadian Celiac Association can be found at www.celiac.ca.

“Breast Cancer Awareness Month”: For info, call the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation 1-800-387-9810 or see www.cbcf.org.

“Emotional Wellness Month”: Get more out of every day with laughter and enjoyment. Balance your activities to support your emotional state and keep your positive attitude in check. Call Angela Brown Oberer, Words of Wellness 704-843-0688, email angela@wordsofwellness.com. See www.wordsofwellness.com.

“Global Diversity Awareness Month”: Celebrating, promoting and appreciating the global diversity of our society. Call Carole Copeland Thomas 508-947-5755, email Carole@TellCarole.com.

Oct 1 “World Day of Bullying Prevention – Blue Shirt Day”: Kids and adults wear a blue shirt this day to show solidarity against bullying and cyber bullying. info@loveourchildrenusa.org or see www.stompoutbullying.org.

Oct 1 “World Habitat Day”: see www.un.org.

Oct 1 “World Vegetarian Day”: Celebration of vegetarianism’s benefits to humans, animals and our planet. Call 518-568-7970 or email navs@telenet.net.  See www.worldvegetarianday.org.

Oct 3 “Balloons Around the World”: Balloon twisting and sculpting artists donate an hour or more to a charity of their choice in their community. Call Jeff Brown 907-586-1670, email jbrown@alaska.net. See www.balloonsaroundtheworld.com.

Oct 3-10 “No Salt Week”: Give no-salt cooking and food preparation a try!  Call Make It Tasty Spice Co. 303-575-5676, email starsuccess@excite.com.

Oct 4 “Ten-Four Day”: The fourth day of the tenth month is a day of recognition for radio operators, whose code words “Ten Four” signal an affirmative reply. Involve your local Ham radio club on your show, and see how far away they can transmit. If you get the right people, they are very interesting.

Oct 4-10 “United Nations World Space Week”: To celebrate the contributions of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition.  See www.un.org.

Oct 5 “International World Teachers’ Day”: A day to honour teachers and their contributions to learning.  For info go to www.un.org.

Oct 5 “World Smile Day”: A day dedicated to good works and good cheer. Do an act of kindness and help one person smile. See www.worldsmileday.com.

Oct 5-13 “Oktoberfest” The second largest Oktoberfest in the world is held in Kitchener, Ontario. More than 700,000 people attend the 70 events over the week. Call the organizers for more info 519-570-4267, email info@oktoberfest.ca, or visit www.oktoberfest.ca.

Oct 7 “Intergeneration Day”: Connecting generations through communication, celebration and education. Annually, the first Sunday in October, starting Intergeneration Week. Call the Intergeneration Foundation 719-649-7443, see www.intergenerationday.org. .

Oct 7-13 “Mystery Series Week”: A celebration of continuing characters in mystery fiction. For info call Purple Moon Press 313-593-1033, email info@purplemoonpress.com. See www.mysteryseriesweek.com.

Oct 7-13 “Carry a Tune Week”: Celebrates favourite tunes from the past by performing them in a concert, at school, at church or at home. Call 781-344-6954, email pinetreemusic@aol.com, web: www.americanmusicpreservation.com/announcements.htm

Oct 7-13 “Work From Home Week”: A week to celebrate the trends, technology and tactics that allow millions of people to work from home as entrepreneurs and corporate teleworkers. Call Jeff Zbar 954-346-4393, email jeff@chiefhomeofficer.com. See www.chiefhomeofficer.com.

Oct 8 “Thanksgiving Day”: Observed  in Canada on the second Monday in October each year.

Oct 9 “United Nations: World Post Day”: An annual special observance of Postal Administrations of the Universal Postal Union (UPU). For info, call 212-963-4475, email inquiries@un.org. See www.un.org.

Oct 10 “National Bring Your Teddy Bear To Work Day”: A celebration of the help, stress relief and joy that teddy bears bring into the lives of people of all ages and stages. Call Susan Schwartz 650-345-4944 or e-mail suwho@astound.net.

Oct 12 “International Moment of Frustration Scream Day”: To share any or all of our frustrations, all citizens of the world will go outdoors at twelve hundred hours Greenwich time and scream for 30 seconds.  We will all feel better or Earth will go off its orbit.  Call 717-279-0184, email info@wellcat.com, or see www.wellcat.com.

Oct 13 “Universal Music Day:” This day advocates, celebrates and encourages profound gratitude for music, musicians and music teachers. Call Susan Patricia Golden, Family Music Network 727-804-4908, email info@UniversalMusicDay.org. See www.UniversalMusicDay.org.

Oct 14 “Be Bald and Be Free Day”: For those who are bald and who either do wear or do not wear a wig or toupe, this is the day to go “shiny” and be proud.  Call 717-279-0184 or see www.wellcat.com.

Oct 14-20 “Getting the World to Beat a Path to Your Door Week”: To focus attention on improving public relationships in order to create success for companies, products and individuals. Call Barbara Gaughen 805-968-8567, email bgaughenmu@aol.com, web: www.robertmuller.org.

Oct 15 “Grouch Day”: All grouches deserve a day to be recognized. Created for and inspired by Alan Miller, a retired teacher.

Oct 16 “World Food Day”: To increase awareness, understanding and informed action on hunger. For info call 202-653-2404 or see www.fao.org/getinvolved/worldfoodday/en.

Oct 16 “Dictionary Day”: The birthday of Noah Webster, American teacher and lexicographer, is occasion to encourage every person to acquire at least one dictionary – and to use it regularly.

Oct 16 “National Boss Day”: For all employees to honour their bosses.

Oct 17 “Mulligan Day”: A day for giving yourself another chance or a do-over.

Oct 18 “Persons Day”: To commemorate the anniversary of the 1929 ruling that declared women to be persons in Canada.

Oct 20 “Sweetest Day”: Around 1922 a candy company employee named Herbert Birch Kingston decided that it would be a wonderful thing to distribute candy to the sick, shut-ins, and orphans of Cleveland. Thus Sweetest Day was born. Do something nice for someone today that will make them say, “Oh, that’s so sweet!”

Oct 21-27 “National Chemistry Week”: To celebrate the contributions of chemistry to modern life and to help the public understand that chemistry affects every part of our lives. Call the American Chemical Society 1-800-227-5558, ext 6097, email ncw@acs.org. see www.chemistry.org/ncw.

Oct 22 “International Stuttering Awareness Day”: For info call National Stuttering Assn. 1-800-992-9392. see www.westutter.org.

Oct 25-31 “International Magic Week”: A week to celebrate the world of magic and the magicians who create it. Call Sir Nemo Turner 514-849-0888, email magician@total.net.

Oct 27 “Make A Difference Day”: A national day of community service. For information call 800-416-3824 or visit www.makeadifferenceday.com.

Oct 28 “Mother-in-law Day”: Traditionally the 4th Sunday in October is the occasion to honour mothers-in-law for their contribution to the success of families and for their good humour in enduring bad jokes.

Oct 30 “Devil’s Night”: A night of mischief and harmless pranks on the evening before Halloween carried out mainly by children.

Oct 31 “Halloween”: A druid autumn festival dating from the 6th century, has long been associated with thoughts of the dead, spirits, witches, ghosts and devils.

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