Spiced Cranberry: This is destined to become a “best selling candle!” We test marketed this candle at the Bloomsburg Fair and it was the #1 Best Selling candle of all our scents! It’s a wonderful fruity/spicy scent that fills the room!

In a summer that has been MORE than HOT. In a season where most candle makers close for the summer and candles go on sale for half price, Scent-Sations, Inc. had a RECORD month in June. June’s record was broken in July and July’s record was broken in August!…Okay, its sounding like a “broken record” but September broke all of the previous records! Let's keep breaking them!

First Ever People's Choice Award for the Green Business of the Year Recognizing businesses making a difference in their communities every day.

Washington, DC - Co-op America announces the first ever People's Choice Award for Green Business of the Year. Communities across the country benefit from businesses committed to social environmental responsibility and now this award will recognize the leaders among those businesses.

With products ranging from recycled paper and Fair Trade crafts to socially responsible investing and organic food and clothing, these businesses are taking the lead and setting social and environmental standards all businesses could and should follow.

"This award is designed to recognize the outstanding work businesses are doing around the county to help their communities thrive, respect the environment, and provide healthy products and services," said Alisa Gravitz, Co-op America Executive Director.

Over seventy green and fair trade companies that are members of Co-op America's Business Network have been nominated by conscientious consumers around the country to be the first People's Choice as an outstanding green business. Green businesses operate in ways that solve, rather than cause, both environmental and social problems. These businesses adopt principles, policies, and practices that improve the quality of life for their customers, their employees, communities, and the environment. The People's Choice Award for Green Business of the Year winner will be chosen by a popular vote of the general public. All are welcome to cast their vote for their favorite nominee at: www.coopamerica.org/peopleschoice.

Everyone placing a vote will be entered into a raffle for $500 worth of gift certificates for sweatshop-free clothing, yoga gear, Fair Trade coffee and crafts, organic bedding and bath items, and more! Voting is open September 15, 2005 until October 21, 2005, so don't miss your chance to vote for the most outstanding green business.

The award winner will be announced on November 5, 2005 at Green Festival in San Francisco. For more information on this award and other Co-op America projects please visit www.coopamerica.org or call 1-800-58GREEN.

I am a really big outdoors person. I love to cook over and open camp fire and sometime just lighting a fire and roasting marshmallows brings my family happiness. I wanted to offer something nice that would lead into conversation about the candles I sell at our next family reunion this fall. I gathered up pine cones in a small to med size and began my quest. I have tested these and they work wonderfully. Hope you love them as much as I do.

What you will need:

• 3-4 Small to Medium pine cones.
• Votives in outdoor scents like Christmas Pine, Christmas Essence or Cinnamon
• A pan to melt the votives in.
• A nylon brush or BBQ Brush
• A stove or hot plate burner
• Extra wicks from grating votives.

Directions:

1. Clean the pine cones, soak them in water and then put them in a warm oven so that they open up nicely, or just clean them up with a tooth brush if you like the all natural look. Just remember that if you soak them they need to be dry thoroughly.
2. I clip the metal off a wick piece from a votive. I then wrap it one in a half times around the top of the pine cone tightly. Make sure you have some of the wick just above the top of the tip of the pine cone.
3. I melt down one votive in my pot and when the veg mix is completely melted , I dip in the nylon brush hold the votive over the pan and drizzle the soy mixture all over the pine cone. Do this three times allowing the piece to dry between layers. I was able to do four small pine cones with one votive and extra wicks of course.
4. I have created a hand made box by measuring the height of the pine cones adding 1/4 inch and score all the way around a piece of 12x12 card stock. I use a circle cutter and cut a circle in the top (lid) and adhere a piece of clear window sheet paper which allows the pine cones to be seen. I stamp the outside of the box with pine cones and a branch for a rustic look.

These are great gifts and are a nice added feature to our sales this holiday season. Enjoy!

Stephanie Blaker
Topeka, KS

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Great Holiday Bella Bun Craft Item

Oh how I love those Bella Buns! Last X-mas I gave them as hostess gifts. I went to Wal-Mart and bought red glass salad plates, artificial berry garland, clear cellophane wrap with embossed poinsettias and red and green ribbon. I put 3 buns on a plate, trimmed it with garland, wrapped it like a tootsie roll and tied the ends with the ribbon. Funny thing, one of the hostesses actually thought I was giving her real buns!

Supplies:

• 3 bella buns
• red glass salad plate
• artificial berry garland
• clear cellophane wrap with embossed poinsettias
• red and green ribbon
• glue gun

Directions:

1. Glue 3 buns on a plate
2. Trim it with garland
3. Wrap with cellophane like a tootsie roll and tie the ends with curled ribbon.

Thank you,
M Spencer Lackford

Two great testimonials from Scent-Sations distributors!

Mia Bella Candles DO put off more light than "other brands". During our 3 hurricanes last summer, I, my friends and neighbors commented on that. I think it's because 1) we have two wicks 2) the glass jar helps magnify the light more. One of my elderly neighbors said she actually read an entire book while the power was out by the light of just one of our jars!

During all the power outages, I kept a votive burning in each bathroom and two jars in the main part of the house - we got around quite nicely without having to use flashlights ~ and of coarse the scent kept our spirits up. Cool, huh?
Carolyn, FL

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Before I actually started selling these products I wanted to make sure that what I told people I could back up with my own experience. So, being a candle fan and a huge customer of “biggest” name brand paraffin gourmet candle in the world at the time and having been to more than my share of the other huge paraffin candle party plan parties I ran a few tests.

I burned one of the COTM jars against the other two huge name brand gourmet candles and did the same thing with the votives. I looked for length of burning time, how strong the scent stayed while burning, how strong it was each time I lit it up again and how clean it actually did burn.

What I DID NOT look at was the brightness of our candles. Now on to my story- I have sold quite a few things to a co-worker of my boyfriends'. One night last week we had about 60-66 mph winds. Well, she was out cleaning up her yard that night and had some candles lit to help see. She was complaining that she needed more light. Her husband told her to go get the new candles she had just brought home. She replied that she was saving those for the house-so that it would smell good. Well, she finally went in to get "Our" candles. She used votives and she said that they were way brighter than the other candles were and she was able to finish her cleaning. I just thought it was a nice story to share!

Tanya

I just wanted to let you know how things were going! I still haven't even finished my business plan. I really must tell you that I didn't have high hopes for myself because I am not really the ambitious type. I said I only wanted to make $50.00 a month. I wanted to recoup the money from the COTM.

As I told you before I am really only doing this because my son wanted to start a home business, and Scent-Sations was the cheapest way to go. Well in the few short weeks that I started this I now have to rethink my entire business plan. I took my candles to work, and in less than two hours I had sold over $250 in candles, and I have two potential fundraisers. I already have two people interested in joining COTM.

I am shocked! All this and I really, really didn't make any effort at all. The candles truly sold themselves. People at work were rushing in my office to smell the candles, and buy the ones that they wanted before someone else got their flavor. I kept telling them I'll order more, I'll order more. Even the guys were buying candles. I must tell you, we are military police, and it was amusing to see grown men wearing weapons arguing over who was going to get the JUICY WATERMELON candle. I kept saying guys I see you in a whole new light right now.

So now, I have to go back to the drawing board, and rethink my business plan. I have to take things a whole lot more seriously, and I now believe that I will make money off of this venture.

Thank you once again.
Edith Moore

Hello Scent-Sations Family!
I wanted to pass this on to each of you. This is something I wrote one night recently for my team. It was going to be your "typical" newsletter, but it seemed to be more than typical when I was done.

As some of you know, I love to read Brian Tracy and receive his Quotes of the Day, articles, etc. in my mailbox each day. This particular quote from Thomas Edison really struck me. I wanted to take time to write about it in hopes to inspire my growing team, myself, and now, you! It is my intention that it gives you a desire to dig down deep and see what you can do!
I hope you enjoy it!

Here's a great quote I'd like to start off with. Take just a few moments to think about this one and be inspired!

"If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves." – Thomas Edison, Inventor

Have you ever really thought of that? What ARE you capable of? Is it learning to play an instrument? Climbing Pike's Peak? Completing a triathlon?

What else are you capable of?

Fixing a car? Finishing your degree? Learning to swim?

From Edison's point of view, we can accomplish anything we set out to do. But what do we need to accomplish these things - to astound ourselves? Goals. Beliefs. Visions. These are three important things to have when beginning something new and challenging.

GOALS
We all have goals. We all want to be in a better position than what we are now. How do I know this? Because if you were happy with your status quo, you wouldn't have joined our company to better yourself in the way you desire. So do a little soul-searching, a little dreaming. What are your goals? Write them down. What are your dreams? Write them down too. Your goals and dreams could be the same or different, and we're all moving towards our own personal peaks.

Is your goal a monetary one? Is it a physical one? Is it to reach a certain point mentally? Think about this. Really think! Then write them down. What's most important about this is to not pre-judge your goals or rule them out. When you're writing them down, you're considering everything and nothing, NOTHING, is unattainable.

After you write them down, then you can sort them and see what your short term goals are and what your long term goals are. Ask yourself - What is a realistic time frame I can get this done/accomplished? If you're painting your living room, you could probably say - By Wednesday, I will have the living room painted. If it's to be Triple Diamond in our company, you may say - By October 1 of 2006, I will be Triple Diamond with my company.

Did you notice anything about these two goals? They were specific. Specific in what was to be accomplished and also specific in giving the date. This is very important. When you're setting goals, you can't be vague. You can't say - In 5 years, I'm going to have a bunch of money in the bank. You need to say - By October 1, 2010, I will have 1 million dollars in the bank.

So, when writing your goals, remember, nothing is unattainable and everything needs specifics.

BELIEFS
What kind of belief do you have in yourself? If your self-esteem is not so high, then your belief in yourself isn't going to be that high. And of course, that would mean that if you have high self-esteem, your belief in yourself is also going to be high. Makes sense.

How do you build your belief system in yourself? By reaching some of your smaller goals. By getting your living room painted by Wednesday. By selling a case of jar candles by next Sunday. And so on. Reach your smaller goals and you will see your belief in yourself grow. Your self-esteem will increase bit by bit and before long, you will be unstoppable. When you reach your goals, you feel good. When you feel good, you feel more confident. When you feel more confident, you set up to accomplish more challenging things - really believing you can do them. Which of course, you can! What happens when you don't believe in yourself? Your journey up the hill to reach your goal is going to feel harder and longer. Don't do that to yourself. KNOW that you can do what you set out to do. BELIEVE that you will be able to do it - and you will!

VISION
If you're new to this type of thinking, it may sound very "hokey". You could be thinking - "Envisioning myself sitting on my poolside and listening to some nice music while the kids are playing and  my butler is fixing dinner. Sure, Patti, right! I'll get right on that." But, hey, free your mind for just a second. Start dreaming about your goals for just a few minutes. Think about your "craziest" goal. Maybe it's to live in Tuscany, own your own vineyard, and being able to throw huge parties, hob-nobbing with the rich and famous, having them buy their wines directly from you. (Work with me here! <smile>)

But the more you envision this, the more it becomes real in your head. The more it becomes real in your head, the more your mind considers it to be something attainable. When it becomes attainable to your mind, then things will come up that lead you to reaching that vision. This is something I love to do. I love to envision my future. I love to "see" what my life will be like and what I'll be doing. Coming from a middle-class background, I was never taught to do this. It seems I was always taught to go to school, get a job, take a family vacation now and then, and retire. In the last year, I've changed my way of thinking. I'm not even the same person. Now I REALLY believe the vision that I have for my future - for my family's future. How can this be? Because I have my goals set and I believe I can reach them. That's all. Simple as that. A full-on belief that in 5 years, Paul and I will live in the house we have custom designed - complete with in ground pool, outdoor kitchen area, and mini-skate park for our son (hey, he's got a goal too!). I'll have the car I want and we'll be able to travel where we want when we want. We'll finally be able to give our money to the groups we want to and feel like we're making a difference.

So, take a little time each day and look at your goals. Don't just look at them, but read them...ALOUD! When your mind "hears" you, it makes it more real. Crazy sounding, I know, but just try it and see what happens.

Daily affirmations to yourself equal positive reinforcement in your mind. Speak in the present and speak positively - I am a Triple Diamond in my company. I am a "Top Gun" Speaker at our Spring convention. I am the best mother to my kids. I am....and fill in with your goals.

When you do these three things combined, you will become unstoppable at whatever you set your mind to. In the words of Edison, "You will astound yourself with what you are capable of doing." So, prepare to astound yourself! And besides that, what have you got to lose? Absolutely nothing!

So, with that, I'll just encourage you to take some time out of your day and write some of your goals down, believe you can reach them, and envision what the end result will be. Life is an awesome gift and much too short to waste on negativity and "I can'ts". Yes, you CAN - now get out there and do it! Make it a scent-sational week!

Patti Price

It’s easy to have a Scent-Sations business. It’s easy to tell people that we are in business. But, it’s not until we make a commitment that our business starts acting like a business.

When doing this business part-time, it is easy to get overwhelmed with our full-time jobs, families and friends, and forget the reason we started this business. We started doing this business so we wouldn’t have to be overwhelmed anymore. But somewhere between the kids’ soccer practice and bedtime we realize another day has gone by and we forget to talk to anyone about our Scent-Sations business.

In order to succeed in ANY business, we must make a commitment. Small commitments might include handing out 10 business cards a day, approaching one group a week for a fundraiser, or hosting at least one party a month.

The most important commitment we must make though is to realize that businesses take time to build, and we must give our business time to grow. If we are consistent in our efforts, over time, it is guaranteed to grow! One bad show or one family member telling us our business won’t work can’t deter us if we are committed.

Whether it takes putting it in writing to yourself, setting up a marketing plan than goes at least a year out or even having your license plate personalized to something that will make you stay committed, you must commit. Remember your WHY for starting this business, and recommit yourself today!

Becky Ward

When five-year-old Cassie walked in to meet her new teacher, she carried a gift (a candle, of course!) and said, "My name is Cassie, it's nice to meet you. My mommy sells candles and she makes a lot of money. When I grow up I want to sell candles, too."

The teacher said, "Great, I love candles!" and Cassie then got brochures from her mother's purse and started passing them out to everyone, each time repeating the same little introduction.

About 45 minutes later, her mother had $346 for parents' orders, some candle drawing sign-ups, a possible COTM sign-up, and a meeting with the PTO. All from a 5 year old wanting to be like her mommy!

I signed up in late June and on July 1, I went to have lunch with a friend at her office. She is an admin assistant for an office of pilots and airplane mechanics who fly corporate jets for our company.

She told me to bring a brochure and a sample candle and said she would buy one from me. I showed them candles from my best seller sample pack. After only a few minutes, I was surrounded by pilots and a mechanic (all male). They were sniffing the sample pack and writing down their favorite fragrances.

Within one hour, I had sold 8 jars and 4 dozen votives. And one guy has been a repeat customer already. Needless to say, this was exciting and gave me confidence. Not every day or week is that lucrative, but I am enjoying this business and love the product. I just got a big kick out of a bunch of men going crazy about candles, and even arguing about what smelled the best! It was a good sale for my first week!

Angela Parker

My husband and I were introduced to Scent-Sations and Mia Bella’s candles about 2 months ago through my sister. We talked about joining for about a month, but were unsure because we both work and do not have much free time. Plus, I am very shy around people I do not know.

After we ordered a few candles and listened to a few calls we signed up. In the back of my mind I was still not sure about everything, but my husband was. He is very creative and instantly started thinking of ideas for craft fairs and basket ideas.

I ordered the COTM (sweet orange and chili pepper) and had it sent to my husband’s work. When it arrived he opened it and everyone at his worked LOVED it. At that point we knew this was going to be something BIG! When my husband got home we burned two sweet orange and chili pepper votives. We wanted to see for ourselves how long it would burn because, in the past, we never would buy votives because they would not burn very long and they did not smell that much. The sweet orange and chili pepper votives burned for 12 hours with no black soot and a scent that lasted days after the candle had been blown out. We were sold! This was the best candle that either one of us had ever seen.

About a week after we signed up I tried to think of ways to talk to people where I wouldn’t be so shy. I made up about 5 sample packages that I was going to mail to some interested people. I did not get them mailed right away; it wasn’t until about 5 days later that I finally got them mailed. By that time the whole package smelled INCREDIBLE!

I got off work early and thought I would get those mailed. I took a few sweet orange and chili pepper samples with me. I went to a local Fed Ex store, and when I got to the counter the lady behind it says, “If you don’t mind me asking, what are you mailing that smells so wonderful?” In my mind I am thinking, “Oh my gosh, what do I say?” But, when I opened my mouth, I was able to tell her about the candles and other products and my shyness went away.

She was very interested. When I left I remembered that I had a sample in my car so I got it and went back in and gave it to her, along with some more product information. Come to find out, she used to sell candles in the Fed Ex store until the new owner wanted to sell a more natural product like scented rocks. She said she would be talking with me again.

At this point I was so excited and ready to take on the world! The candles really speak for themselves. When you have a candle with you, there is not too much talking to be done. Scent-Sations is one of the most exciting companies out there. The products literally sell themselves. After two weeks we have several people wanting to order and sign up!

Bobbi Mathis

Spirit Bag Fundraising is CATCHING on!

Editors note: We featured the original “Spirit Bag Fundraising Team in the August newsletter. The idea has taken root and is starting to expand across the country.

I want to start by saying I just love helping people, and so the reasoning behind our efforts is to help the local charities find the money they need to exist. I want to also give credit where credit is due in that I make mention that this idea is not new it originally came from Leavenworth, KS. Deb Monahan's group inspired our local Topeka, KS group to really get on board and help locally. We live in a capital city and find that many of our local charities are needing help to make ends meet.

With that said we used Leavenworth's idea to use the Spirit bags to get our product out there as well as make this a huge opportunity to make consumers aware of our products and who Scent-Sation's Inc. is. Well with this said it has been a fun ride since August 6th when we started this idea and began formulating ideas for what we here in Topeka would like to group to accomplish. The Topeka Capital Journal here in Topeka, KS will be running a with the picture of our Spirit of Topeka logo and the products we will be selling the bags. Now it gets better.....

Today I found out that a live press release at one of my businesses will be the location they would like to use to interview us about the story. I phoned the business that will be carrying the bags in the stores and she is so excited to get this opportunity. She is considering being a local distributor and I think this may put her right in the palm of my hands to sign up.

Now this is happening all so fast and well I am thinking WOW this is so much bigger that we thought, we figured that the local paper would run a feature story, but we are getting live TV and Newspaper. Well to really get your juices running you must hear the latest breaking news. I spoke to a gentleman at a local event about helping us a while back kick off this release of the Spirit Bags by giving him a few candles for his local DJ's to burn and talk about on the air, in return we would put him in rotation to be a charity to raise money for their local Miracle field that they are trying to raise money for.

He went to his boss about some PSA's to educate the public about clean burning candles and the benefits they have to offer. Now today I found out that they are on board, donating PSA's and in the Spring when we feature their fundraiser for the Miracle field they will spend over 15,000.00 in ads for The Spirit Bags. WOW!

Here is a list of businesses we have on board to help us sell, also we have a spirit line set up for Q&A's, to solicit businesses and recruits to come on board, and for charities to call and register with us.

• Nib's Coffee House
• The Pad Restaurant
• Diamonds by Design
• Diamond Jewelry outlet
• Maximums gyms at both locations
• Grecians hair and spa
• Mandeno's family restaurant
• The Basket Case gift store and more
• Fifth Street Cellar Bestro
• Asay's Sportsman Store
• Body Paradise
• Viking Pawn
• Credit Union's United (Local rubber worker's union)

Now what to do with this information? We have 15 scents that the consumer's can choose from and we will always promote the newest scent.

Stephanie Blaker

My girlfriend Chris, who has been a faithful customer since I started in June 2005 (and who is one of my biggest cheerleaders!) is in school studying to become a Medical Assistant. Her school does fundraisers a few times a year --- the monies raised are used for field trips and the like.

Chris' class had the opportunity to choose what type of fundraiser they and the rest of the Medical Students would do.......of course since she just purchased a candle from me and had one of my brochures with her, she presented this to her class. They were sold ---- Chris came back and got some candles from me as additional samples to pass around for the other classes to check out ----- so began my adventure in my first fundraiser!

The classes (five in all -- average of 15 students per class) were given a scent list and order sheets and a two week period to sell and collect money. Chris' class opted to use all of our scents rather than pick a few ---- Pumpkin Spice was the #1 smell ordered!

The paperwork and check was supposed to be dropped to me this past Monday (Sept. 26th), but several students were still selling and asked for an extension. Paperwork and funds were delivered to me on the 28th ----- and their fundraiser was a success!

Between the five classes, there were 218 candles sold. At the same time this fundraiser was going on, I held an Open House this past weekend in my home.......another 20 candles sold there. I had such a great week!!! My order was placed and is on its way --- the school is not expecting delivery for at least a week to 10 days (their assumption, not based on anything I've told them) --- won't they be surprised to find out delivery is much, much sooner!

In addition to this, one of the students sold a candle to a friend, who happens to run two gift shops in a local tourist spot..........the gift shop wants to retail the candles. Chris works at a local spa doing nails --- her boss wants to retail them --- her boss also supported Chris in the fundraiser by buying the candles......she's hooked!

Now, as I'm sitting here tonight writing this for Charlie, my aunt who is an elementary school teacher here locally, just asked me to present the fundraiser to the PTA this coming Monday night. The company that normally scheduled the school's Spring Fundraiser (a different product) has gone out of business, so the PTA is looking for something else. My aunt had a brochure and some scent samples in the teacher's lounge.......the head of the PTA ate them up! If this fundraiser is approved, I'll have 830 children out selling candles.........my UPS man will probably run away screaming!

I work a full time job in property management, and had originally gotten into this for some extra cash. At the rate this is going, maybe I'll be able to retire from that really soon! I have only heard great comments from all of my customers --- they can't stop raving about the products! I have not really put forth much effort to date; I've really only promoted to friends and family..........but word of mouth moves quickly in this small town of mine, and my friends and family are my biggest promoters!!

Thanks for letting me share, and I count my blessings in finding my sponsor Jeana Jones!

Lisa Kashner

As I was putting together packets for an upcoming fundraiser, I was thinking about a few other successful fundraisers I have done with nursing homes and wanted to share my experience with the groups.

We normally think of schools for fundraisers, but I have had success with nursing homes, healthcare facilities, assisted living centers, etc. My contact person has always been the Director of Activities. They are always looking for ways to raise money for the residents, for trips, socials, supplies, etc.

The first nursing home fundraiser I did back in May was trying to raise funds to enable them to buy a Christmas present for every resident. They do set up a tree in the lobby with paper angels, that visitors can take and return a gift, but it is never enough for every resident. That fundraiser raised enough money for them to meet their goal and to add much needed funds to their petty cash. Last month the Director called me to book a fundraiser the first week of November.

I wanted to share something I have done with the votives that may open the door for you with the nursing homes, if not for a fundraiser, it should generate immediate sales.

I have taken an empty votive box and filled it with 12 different votives wrapped in individual zip lock baggies and labeled with the scent name. On top of the box I placed a Sensory Perception label, which simply stated: Hand Poured Gourmet Candles Ideal for sensory perception, to evoke pleasant memories. Open, pass around and enjoy!

The best scents to use are familiar scents such as Fresh Apple, Christmas Pine, Victorian Rose, Baby Powder, etc. Any scent that is easily identified. When I made up these boxes, I took advantage of one of the specials, buy 10 boxes of votives, get 2 free. That gave me 12 boxes of individual scents to bring to the fundraiser. I priced them at $30.00 a box and sold out.

The activities leaders love them, and have told me they are pleased the candles are in plastic baggies, because it makes them very sanitary. The activity leader uses the votives in their morning group as a memory jogging tool. The sense of smell is one of our strongest senses and most of the elderly residents are losing their sense of smell. Using our votives helps them to remember sights, sounds, smells of something in their past and gets them to open up and share stories with the group.

Think about being in an orchard and picking Fresh Apples with your family, the smell of the juicy apples, the crisp cool fall air, or the sweet, sugary smell and taste of Cotton Candy at the local carnival. With all the upcoming holidays, these centers are in need of extra funds and are happy to have a new idea and new product to use. Have I mentioned the orders and repeat orders you will be getting from the staff and visitors? Hope this has given you some new ideas. I am already starting my countdown to the Fall Fling and look forward to meeting all of you.

Warmly, Karen Singer

Here is the article that appeared in the Sierra Sun Newspaper:

Christine Stanley
September 1, 2005

Gail Wahl turned on her television Tuesday night to find the newscast monopolized by images and stories of Hurricane Katrina's aftermath.

"It was tugging at my heart to do something, so I decided to start a relief effort in the name of Truckee," she said.

Wahl, who is a distributor for gourmet soy candle maker Mia Bella, will be selling her scented wares in front of the Albertsons in Truckee for $20 on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. She is also asking local businesses to match what she makes, or to make a flat donation.

Proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross in Truckee's name, Wahl said.

"Gail is a very giving and wonderful woman with a big heart," said Gratitudes owner Julie Tenorio. "She told me what she was going to do with her product and I am certainly going to make a donation to her cause."

Julie Peters, a Truckee local who once lived in New Orleans, said she is also interested in setting up a fund-raiser in town. She will join Wahl at Albertsons from 11 a.m. to noon on Saturday. She has asked that people interested in planning a larger effort speak to her then.

"Some people have lost all that they own," Peters said. "Others who had to leave their homes and evacuate have no idea what they are going to return to, and now there are looters."

The mayor of New Orleans said Wednesday that he estimates thousands dead as a result of Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath.

"We know there is a significant number of dead bodies in the water," and other people dead in attics, Mayor Ray Nagin said. Asked how many, he said: "Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands."

It is estimated that more than 78,000 people have taken refuge in shelters, and the Bush administration declared a public health emergency on Wednesday for the entire Gulf Coast.

-The Associated Press contributed to this report.

My husband and I recently had the occasion to go to Cabos San Lucas for a week. When we arrived at our 1st Class Resort I realized I forgot to pack a Bella Bar.

I MISSED MY BELLA BAR...
The "Resort" soap didn't hold its lather. We weren't able to shave with the "Resort" soap. We weren't able to wash our hair with the "Resort" soap.

MORAL OF THE STORY...
Don't leave home without your Bella Bar! Once you've used a Bella Bar - "RESORT SOAP" just doesn't match up! Thanks for a great product!

Connie Gleave
Diamond Team Leader