I'm a big fan of Fat Bastard wine, which I picked up a bottle of a few years back simply because of the odd name. If you enjoy their wine too be sure to pick some up during the months of September and October because the makers will be donating $0.25 from every bottle sold to breast cancer charities.

It might seem to be a bit of a contradiction to sell alcohol in support of cancer, but actually wine (in moderation) can help reduce to your risk of several types of cancer, not to mention heart disease. Just make sure you stick to one glass a night and enjoy the benefits of a good vintage.

I'm curious to know that you think though. Is it wrong to sell wine to raise money for breast cancer?

Popular celebrities like Kate Moss and Scarlett Johansson have lent their signature style to the fight against cancer by designing charms that reflect their own character, which will be sold with the profits going to a prominent UK cancer charity. The charms are appearing on a necklace that is being sold at Wallis for about $51USD each. Moss' charm is a petite swallow, while Johansson's is a vibrant yellow and orange lilly. Other contributors include designer Christian Louboutin and comedian Catherin Tate.

I think it's great to see celebrities and designers offering their time and their good taste towards a good cause. Don't you agree?

Elizabeth Ann Overturf noticed a lump in her breast when she was 23. She was told that it couldn't be anything because of her age and was sent home. Symptoms began to pop up and gradually got worse until she was very ill at 26, and it was only then that the truth behind her lump was discovered: She had breast cancer, which had now become stage 4 metastic cancer. She died at 28.

Liz's story is heartbreaking, but it has (sort of) a happy ending. Her sister, Ramon Russell, started a company that channeled Liz's passion for fashion and named it after her. Uptown Liz is an online store specializing in products from companies that give back by donating some of their proceeds to charity. You can't go wrong when you're shopping for a cause, right?

(via Back in the Skinny Jeans )

Have you ever stopped to wonder just how it is that celebrities become associated with a certain cause? I sometimes ponder whether or not it is part of their contract: "must find a cause to endorse one a certain level of fame is achieved." Not every celebrity has a cause or a charity, but it seems there are more famous people with foundations than not.

If you have a charity or a foundation that is in need of a famous name, here is the link for you. This site offers a wide range of celebrity types to levels of fame. the categories vary from reality television personalities to hometown heroes. The fees range from $5,000 to $200,000.

It could be that many famous people are just too far out of the typical fundraiser budget, but the lists make for some interesting reading. It is also good to know that so many people are interested in lending their name to a cause.

Cancer Research UK is about to increase its wealth -- once a signed honeymoon photograph of the Prince and Princess of Wales is auctioned.

The photograph reportedly came from an unnamed member of the Royal Household and had been purchased by a collector. Taken on the Royal Estate at Balmoral just days after the wedding of Charles and Diana, it's Diana's signature prominently displayed on the photograph -- it reads, Lots of Love, Diana.

The auction, organized by a businesswomen whose lost her mother-in-law to breast cancer, will take place on June 9 at a charity ball at the London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square. It is expected to sell for £3,000.

Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation is all about the fight against childhood cancer. Tasty Baking Company is joining forces with Alex's Foundation by creating a new product called Alex's Lemon Krimpets. The Krimpets can be purchased anywhere Tastykakes are sold. The baking company will donate $.50 from every box sold to the foundation.

Alex Scott was four years old when she opened up her first lemonade stand to help raise money for Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Sadly, Alex passed away in 2004 at the age of eight. But her legacy still lives on.

For more information about Alex's foundation you can go to www.alexslemonade.org. You can also visit http://www.tastykake.com to purchase some yummy Alex Lemon Krimpets and help the fight against childhood cancer.

John Ondrasik, the man and musician behind the band Five for Fighting, has released a new album and a new website that just happens to benefit the Breast Cancer 3-Day, a 3-day, 60-mile walk sponsored by Susan G. Komen For the Cure.

Think about this:

Ondrasik's new album, "Two Lights," features a song called "World" which is in heavy rotation on pop radio stations across the country. This single is the inspiration for Ondrasik's new website, What Kind of World Do You Want -- the first video community that gives back by allowing visitors a chance to make a difference.

This is how it works: reveal what kind of world you want and help raise money for charity by watching videos or creating and uploading a video of yourself, your friends, or your family. In your video, answer the question What Kind of World Do You Want? and then choose which charity you wish to help fund.

In addition to the Breast Cancer 3-Day, selected charities include the Fisher House, Save the Children, Autism Speaks, VH1 Save the Music Foundation, and NY Police and Fire Widows & Children. Video clips describing each charity, a message from Ondrasik, and a video of the song "World," are all featured on the site.

Toby Keith has been touched by childhood cancer. One of his original band mates lost his daughter Allison in August of 2003 to a form of kidney cancer called Wilm's tumor.

The country singer is sponsoring the fourth annual charity golf tournament that will once again benefit the families of children fighting cancer. The event will begin with an auction and party in downtown Oklahoma City on April 27, and continue with the golf tournament the following morning.

The proceeds will benefit Ally's house, which Keith helped establish in memory of his friend's daughter. The charity helps pay for medical bills, prescriptions, housing, transportation, toys, food, clothing and other expenses for families that have children with cancer.

Some of the items to be auctioned off are:

• Trip to see Keith in concert in Las Vegas
• Memorabilia from Garth Brooks, Sammy Hagar and Bob Seger
• Sports memorabilia autographed by Tiger Woods and baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle

Toby Keith comments about Ally's House -- "This is a special charity to me. I saw firsthand how a child's cancer diagnosis can devastate a family. Please join me in supporting these kids through Ally's House."

The beloved member of our family, Spotted Calamity Jane, the oldest of our two Dalmatians had to be put down on February 17. It was the hardest decision I personally ever had to make, knowing when it was time to put her out of too much pain. The tears continue to flow and I know will for a long time. She had survived breast cancer at the age of 4 and continued to live a happy life loving her runs on the beach. 2 1/2 years ago she was diagnosed with renal failure, something that is irreversible but we continued to give her a low protein diet and top notch vet care and monitoring that included some acupuncture. It came to a point where we knew the pain was outweighing the good quality of life and the end was not far away and it was time to end the suffering. For 13 years she brought us joy and laughter and unconditional love. She was the leader and companion to our other 8 year old Dalmatian Kiva, who is deaf and followed Cally everywhere watching everything that she did. Watching the two of them running and playing on the beach in the water and sand are memories I will always carry. So we decided to have Cally cremated so we could spread her ashes out on the beach that she loved so much.

Then we were faced with another heart break. Seventeen days later we were told that her ashes had been lost and it floored us. It sent me curled up in a bed crying for a whole day. Family members and friends were outraged as our hearts once again tried to overcome the loss. We were told to get an attorney and sue for compensation. In quietness I walked through the trails in the woods near our house and thought what good could come from all of this. The vet of course refunded our money and offered to buy a memorial stone or something for us. I told him we would think about things. Then I decided that her life and the joy that she brought us should go to something positive and that I did not want to go through the stress and negativity of a law suit and staring at a meaningless stone memorial would not make it any better. That wouldn't change anything. So I suggested to the vet and the cremation services company, to donate money to my favorite charity, Indie Music For Life, that works with independent singer songwriters and comedians to raise money for cancer research and educational awareness programs on the benefits of music and laughter as therapy to cancer patients. This turned the tragedy into a positive. We have the great memories of her life with us and the knowledge that even in her death she has brought more good to the world. Cally is the beautiful dark colored Dalmatian on the left in this picture. Her spots continued to grow and grow which made her look like a black Dalmatian with white spots. We called her "our little negative" for those of you in the photography field that understand reverse imaging. She was a rare jewel and always a positive in our lives.

Findings from an international study suggest that women with a waist size of more than 34 inches are more likely to develop cancer of the womb than women who boast slimmer waistlines.

The study, funded in part by the British charity Cancer Research UK, sized up 223,000 women worldwide and determined that women with a waistline less than 31 inches have half the risk of developing womb cancer than their heavier counterparts.

There has been a significant rise in cases of womb cancer in Britain. And the link between the disease and weight gain is most prevalent among postmenopausal women who have never used hormone replacement therapy or the birth control pill.

According to the National Sizing Survey conducted in 2004, the average British woman now has a 34-inch waist. This is more than six inches bigger than the average size of a woman in the 1950s, says Dr. Lesley Walker of Cancer Research UK.

"Women are larger than they were when they existed on a wartime diet and were generally more active and this is having serious consequences," Walker says.

More than 6,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with womb cancer each year. The disease kills about 1,000 annually.

The primary recipient of the 2006 grants for Curing Kid's Cancer is the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. Curing Kid's Cancer is a charity that raises money for leading edge pediatric cancer research. The organization was inspired by nine year old Killian Owen's battle with leukemia. The $100,000 grant was given to Johns Hopkins for research into new targeted therapies for acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Curing Kid's Cancer has two national grassroots programs -- Coaches Curing Kid's Cancer and Teachers Curing Kid's Cancer.

The programs fund the development of cutting edge therapies which will revolutionize childhood cancer treatment by replacing traditional chemotherapy.

Curing Kid's Cancer aims to raise both awareness and money to find cures for all types of childhood cancers. Their objective is to turn this killer disease into a curable one in our lifetime.

How many of us value the worth of a penny?

Twenty years ago, Peter and Bette Pickstock, from a village in Sturdivant near Cheltenham, England, thought pennies might one day add up to make a difference and thus began the collection of pennies.

Two decades later, and 32 million pennies total (nearly $700,000 dollars), the couple recently donated the money to the Cobalt Appeal Fund in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, a cancer care center.

The Queen of England was impressed, as Peter and Bette Pickstock were invited to Buckingham Palace to meet Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Although the couple could not have known this twenty years ago when they decided to do something good for others in the simple act of collecting pennies, two years ago Mrs. Pickstock was diagnosed with breast cancer and learned firsthand how much a cancer care center can help cancer patients. They said they plan to continue collecting pennies.

Not too many days left until Christmas, but for those of us who still have some shopping left to do, Shopexa is an opportunity to benefit charity while we finish finding perfect presents for family and friends.

It won't cost you anything extra to shop and buy this way, and Shopexa will donate 50 percent of its profits from the purchases you make to the charity of you choice. Some of the charities included will benefit cancer, end hunger, save the environment, children, women and the homeless.

Shopexa was launched on December 15th, with Jay Siva as the founder. According the background information provided on the Shopexa website, Siva is a self-published author and webmaster who seeks to create and develop new innovative projects that will fill real needs. Shopexa is affiliated through Amazon, and Amazon handles all transactions and purchases.

You can make Shopexa your home page, choose your charities and invite friends to join you. From what I can tell, Shopexa will be a year-round service. As for Christmas shopping, unless you are one of those extremely efficient shoppers who completed their holiday shopping weeks ago, this is a chance to make a difference in the life of someone we may never meet, while spending money we would be spending anyway. It is the essence of the Christmas spirit.

Thanks Mike Marshall for this tip!

And too, our very own Allie Beatty has created an advertising portal for the largest shopping sites to benefit research in finding a cure for cancer, diabetes, lung and heart diseases. Shop4Cures earns advertising commissions when visitors click through and shop her affiliates, and her profits are donated to cure research. By offering coupons, free shipping, and other incentives she hopes to encourage people to use Shop4Cures for their online shopping.

Looking for a cartoonishly risqué way to keep track of the days in 2007? Fifteen webcomic artists have created the Tastefully Done: 2007 Nude Webcomic Calendar featuring nude versions of webcomic characters, with all proceeds going to cancer research.

The calendar showcases the work of Ivan Pope, Ali Graham, Gordon McAlpin, Charles Woolbright, Chris Jones, Bryan Chojnowski, Pontus Madsen & Christian Fundin, Chris Simmons, Philip Spence, Rich Dachtera, Robert Koch, Ramón Pérez, Rob Coughler, Ryan Estrada, and of course, webcomic characters appearing in various scenarios of nudity.

From geriatric strip poker to nude bus rides, the artists realize that the calendar might not be for everyone, but it was only a matter of time before webcomic cartoon characters joined the ranks of the nude in benefiting cancer research. It's not naked librarians, hunky firefighters, naked rugby players, naked day traders, nude village women (who started the nude calendar for cancer charity phenomenon) or topless models (who decided in being different they would remain fully-clothed), but it is a one-of-a-kind calendar in the webcomic category.

You can take a peek and purchase the Tastefully Done: 2007 Nude Webcomic Calendar through Lulu's here.

Bounty -- the Quilted Quicker Picker-Upper -- is celebrating its 40th birthday and in celebration of this milestone is giving $500,000 to charity.

Bounty's promotion of this charity give-away takes the form of Cards That Count, inspired by three charitable organizations -- the American Cancer Society, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc. -- and created with Chandra Wilson of Grey's Anatomy who says she strives to teach her three children about the importance of giving back.

Wilson's children -- and all of us -- can give back by helping Bounty decide how to distribute their $500,000 birthday gift. Just send one of the Cards That Count, and Bounty will allocate donations based on the percentage of e-cards sent in support of each charity. Choose from birthday cards, all-occasion cards, or create your own specialized card -- and cast your vote for the charity of your choice by sending a card that really does count.