El Dorado Hills will soon have a new California Welcome Center located in the El Dorado Hills Town Center. Although welcome centers are traditionally thought to be at state line borders, the new center will promote areas of interests and attractions for travelers on Highway 50.

A new Web site, parenthelplive.com, is an online resource to give busy parents easy access to local parenting professionals. The interactive forum connects parents with experts, leading psychologists and educators to receive interactive parenting classes and phone therapy sessions. For more information, go to parenthelplive.com.

Start 2010 out with new resolutions and write them on a calendar that supports a great cause with California Family Fitness! They choose a cause each year to feature and this year they are selling recipe calendars to benefit the local chapter of the Autism Speaks Organization. You can pick up your calendar at any of the 16 California Family Fitness Clubs in the area.

This month Style commends Del Oro High School senior Alexis Rockefeller for her volunteer work in raising money for Foresthill seven-year-old Maxwell Herlehy, who has been battling cancer for the past several years. In addition to creating a Web site for community fundraising, Rockefeller has also partnered with companies like Dental Designs in Roseville and Mikuni Restaurants to help spread the word. The drive goal is $10,000 and it runs through February 2010. To find out more about this great cause, visit maxsmiracle.moogo.com.

Local Girl Scouts hosted a “Caroling for Cans” event in Folsom on December 15. More than 300 Girl Scouts, ages 6 to 17, sang holiday carols throughout the Folsom Briggs Ranch neighborhood, collecting canned food as they went, which were donated to the Twin Lakes Food Bank. Great job girls! If you are interested in donating food throughout the year, visit twinlakesfoodbank.org.

New to the Folsom area is the Palladio 16 Cinemas, which opened on December 9 and is the only all-digital projection theatre in the Sacramento region! For the grand opening, Cinema West and Elliott Homes hosted a sneak preview charity event complete with a red carpet entrance and mock paparazzi. Proceeds from the event benefitted the Mercy Foundation and its Telemedicine program at Mercy Hospital Folsom. To check out the new theatre, visit gopalladio.com.

We also welcome Café Nostra to El Dorado Hills, formerly Carpe Diem, located at 3907 Park Drive next to Sky Sushi. The new spot will offer fabulous coffee and goodies to eat, wine and beer in the evenings, and entertainment on select nights. For more information, call 916-933-3110.

Check back next month for our annual Home Design feature issue!

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