April is National Volunteer Month. Throughout the month, HuffPost Impact will be telling stories of volunteers who have made an extraordinary difference through their dedication and innovation. Have you been inspired by a volunteer in your community that you think we should feature? Send us your story at impact@huffingtonpost.com.

The HuffPost Impact crew is based out of Santa Monica, CA, so we've become intimately familiar with some of the more prominent causes in the area. Among these: ocean conservation, urban education, political corruption, pollution. Once cause that often gets overlooked in the city, but one we've hoped to bring more attention to, is that of youth homelessness.

According to The Los Angeles Youth Network, over 10,000 young people are homeless in L.A. Many of these teenagers and children have left families that abused drugs or alcohol; that were physically and verbally violent; that were sexually abusive. Some of these young people were even abandoned. Most of the homeless youth in America are never reported missing by their families.

It's a problem too often ignored by our nation's philanthropists and newspapers. (A quick Google search of the Los Angeles Times found very few recent articles on the topic of homeless youth - the top result is an article from 1993.) That's why we decided, for our first Volunteer Spotlight of National Volunteer Month, to feature someone who's actively trying to solve this problem, and using an unorthodox approach to do it.

Audrey LaRoque is Assistant Director of StandUp For Kids' Venice outreach program. Several times a week, her and a group of unpaid volunteers walk up and down the boardwalk of Venice Beach, handing out food, socks, underwear, tampons and other necessities to the hundreds of young people who call this area their home. Some of the kids are selling bracelets and necklaces, others products made out of hemp. Most don't want to answer questions. They're afraid of police - in early February, a sweep of the area netted arrests of 50 vagrants, though according to StandUp For Kids, there were no social services offered, as the police claimed.

LaRoque believes that the best way to change this expensive and unhelpful cycle is to integrate these abused young people back into society in a productive way. She's been working with a local restaurant to employ many of these teenagers, and there are plans to open up a cafe staffed entirely by those living on Venice Beach. This initiative, she believes, gives the kids a better chance of being productive and reclaiming the lives they lost in their youth.

WATCH:

To learn more about StandUp For Kids' efforts to help homeless youth, visit standupforkids.org and subscribe to their newsletter. You can find a program in your community and make an immediate contribution of $5 by texting STANDUP to 85944. Drop them a note if you'd like to get involved in one of their outreach programs.

Note: Huffington Post's Impact section is published in collaboration with Causecast, an organization which provides online tools to nonprofits. StandUp For Kids has a profile on Causecast.org, though they are not paying clients and Causecast in no way benefits from any donations given to this organization.

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iPad reviews from technology writers began surfacing Wednesday evening, with most offering glowing appraisals of Apple's latest product. However, one caveat was consistent: iPad's inability to play flash video.

Walt Mossberg, the personal technology reporter for The Wall Street Journal, suggested that the iPad could help touchscreen computers overtake the mouse:

For the past week or so, I have been testing a sleek, light, silver-and-black tablet computer called an iPad. After spending hours and hours with it, I believe this beautiful new touch-screen device from Apple has the potential to change portable computing profoundly, and to challenge the primacy of the laptop. It could even help, eventually, to propel the finger-driven, multitouch user interface ahead of the mouse-driven interface that has prevailed for decades.

USA Today's Edward C. Baig says the "stunning" iPad is "rewriting the rulebook":

The iPad is not so much about what you can do -- browse, do e-mail, play games, read e-books and more -- but how you can do it. That's where Apple is rewriting the rulebook for mainstream computing. There is no mouse or physical keyboard. Everything is based on touch. All programs arrive directly through Apple's App Store. Apple's tablet is fun, simple, stunning to look at and blazingly fast. Inside is a new Apple chip, the A4. The machine is the antithesis of the cheap underpowered netbook computers that Jobs easily dismisses.

The New York Times' David Pogue deemed the iPad "polarizing" and wrote two reviews for groups at either end of the spectrum. One for "techies" and one review for "anyone else."

Pogue's review for "techies":

The Apple iPad is basically a gigantic iPod Touch.

It's a half-inch-thick slab, all glass on top, aluminum on the back. Hardly any buttons at all -- just a big Home button below the screen. It takes you to the Home screen full of apps, just as on an iPhone.

Pogue's review for "anyone else":

The iPad is so fast and light, the multitouch screen so bright and responsive, the software so easy to navigate, that it really does qualify as a new category of gadget. Some have suggested that it might make a good goof-proof computer for technophobes, the aged and the young; they're absolutely right.

The Chicago Sun-Times' Andy Ihnatko described the tablet as "pure innovation":

The iPad user experience is instantly compelling and elegant. It's not every computer and every function. It's a computer that's designed for speed, mobility, and tactile interaction above all other considerations.

The most compelling sign that Apple got this right is the fact that despite the novelty of the iPad, the excitement slips away after about ten seconds and you're completely focused on the task at hand ... whether it's reading a book, writing a report, or working on clearing your Inbox. Second most compelling: in situation after situation, I find that the iPad is the best computer in my household and office menagerie. It's not a replacement for my notebook, mind you. It feels more as if the iPad is filling a gap that's existed for quite some time.

WATCH: ABC's Neal Karlinsky visits a closed Apple store for a hands-on encounter with the iPad and to meet with app developers:

WATCH: USA Today's Graham Jefferson reviews the iPad and shows users what they can expect:

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I'm a blogger fellow with Brave New Films on their 16 Deaths Per Day campaign for worker safety. Join us on Facebook.

It's hard to find a tougher job in America than harvesting in the fields. Throughout California, known as the nation's salad bowl, farmworkers, frequently migrants with little knowledge of their rights as workers or even the English language, toil in triple-digit heat, often without shade or water breaks. Needless to say, this dangerous work has resulted in serious injury and even deaths.

Jose Rosario Valencia started feeling nauseated just after 9 a.m. on July 17. His heart rate sped up and his knees buckled.

Valencia was scared. He'd heard of other farmworkers dying of heat stroke in the fields.

"I thought about my family and how they would suffer," said Valencia, 46, who moves irrigation pipes in the onion fields.

Even though California passed a groundbreaking law in 2005 to protect farmworkers from heat illness and death, there have been as many as 10 heat-related fatalities in the years since. Among the victims in 2008 were a pregnant teenager who died when her body temperature climbed to 108 degrees after working in a Lodi vineyard and a 37-year-old man who suffered heat stroke after loading table grapes near Bakersfield. The state has confirmed heat as the cause of six of the deaths and said it may have been a factor in the others.

Farmworkers get paid by the piece, based on how much they load, and their employers set quotas that they are expected to cover. They have every incentive to avoid breaks and work as hard as possible; in some cases, the water is simply out there for display. As a result, farmworkers skip bathroom breaks. They skip water breaks. They stay out in the fields under 100-degree heat with the fear that they would be fired if they did not. And as a result, workers die.

The most celebrated case in recent years was that of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, a 17 year-old farmworker who died of heat strike in the fields in the summer of 2008. She was pregnant at the time.

Maria collapsed while working for Merced Farm Labor in a vineyard owned by West Coast Grape Farming outside of Stockton, CA. Maria worked for nine hours in temperatures that reached 101 degrees. There was no water nearby. There was no shade.

After about 2 hours of delays, Maria was finally taken to a clinic. Her temperature upon arrival was 108.4 degrees. Maria's heart stopped six times in the next two days before she passed away. Doctors said if emergency medical help had been summoned or she had been taken to the hospital sooner, she might have survived.

In 2009, Cal-OSHA, the state occupational safety board, delivered regulations to combat heat-stress related injuries and deaths. The employers first tried to amend the regulations, trying to classify the vines in the vineyard as "shade." But they failed, as Cal-OSHA refused to rewrite the laws.

However, lobbying for changes in the law is only one way that employers evade oversight. Under the Schwarzenegger Administration and during the historic budget crisis in the state, funding for Cal-OSHA has shrunk. Only two HUNDRED inspectors monitor all the worksites in the nation's most populous state, including the 35,000 farms. There are more fish and game wardens in California than worksite inspectors.

And if an employer is cited, they can use a favorable appeals process to reduce the fines or dismiss the violations, something which has been done repeatedly in recent years. All violations can be appealed to a judge, appointed by the appeals board. Then the appeals board can vacate the judge's ruling. This offers many opportunities to game the system.

The head of the state Senate's Labor Committee accused a workplace safety board Wednesday of being biased toward employers and ignoring a law that requires fines for failing to report on-the-job injuries.

After a hearing, Sen. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) said he might introduce legislation that could lead to criminal charges against board members if they continue to disregard the law that calls for a $5,000 fine for employers' failing to report accidents in a timely manner.

The hearing came after a Times investigation last fall that found that the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health appeals board repeatedly dismissed and reduced the penalties levied by division inspectors, even in situations in which workers had died or were seriously injured.

One recent case was dismissed based on a spelling typo in one document. And this is more about ideology than budget problems: for example, Cal-OSHA received stimulus money to hire more inspectors, but has so far declined to do so.

Despite all of these obstacles, the new emphasis on worker safety by Cal-OSHA in the last growing season did pay some dividends. Last year, more vigorous training and enforcement efforts did serve to reduce heat-related illnesses and deaths. But already Cal-OSHA is talking about backing off, content that the media storm over the plight of the farmworkers has largely ended.

Rising compliance and awareness, Welsh said, may allow his agency to relax its inspection efforts in 2010.

"The 3,400 inspections we did last year was a little more than we can sustain," he said.

This is why we need HR 2067, the Protecting America's Workers Act (PAWA). A fully resourced OSHA could fill in the gaps where the state-level agencies often fail. They could deliver larger penalties without the byzantine appeals process at agencies like Cal-OSHA. They could provide the ability for families to seek justice from employers through the courts. Simply put they could restore the promise of a safe and health workplace for everybody in America.

Even in the fields.

Ever wonder what the true stories behind the family tales in Delirious and Raw are? Charlie Murphy breaks them down in this video.

We all know that we need clean air and water to live. But what many of us DON'T realize is that there is another resource we depend on just as much to survive: dirt. Yes, that stuff you played in as a kid and obsessively clean off your car. Believe it or not, dirt is an essential element to our existence on Earth, and DIRT! The Movie aims to teach us all about it. This acclaimed documentary goes beyond preaching about the dangers of pollution, educating the viewer on why we need dirt to survive, how it affects our daily life, and what we can do to improve it.

Every person on Earth, regardless of age, race, or social status depends on healthy dirt to survive. However, it is one of the elements of our planet we take most for granted. DIRT! The Movie does a great job of mixing facts, personal anecdotes, and animation to create a film that educates as well as entertains. Experts from all over the world weigh in on just how important dirt is to us, and they do so in a way everyone can understand- no scientific mumbo jumbo. The animation is clever and cute while remaining relevant, and lets be honest, how could you NOT love little Digby? (If you don't get it, watch the movie)

Although the film does a great job describing why dirt is important to human kind, the real takeaway from this film is that everyone can help to restore it to a healthy state. The movie highlights people from all different ages and backgrounds. A young couple owns their own organic farm that provides vegetables to inner-city people. Children attend a sustainable school and learn about composting. Inmates learn the environmental and personal benefits of gardening. A woman in the Bronx creates her own green rooftop. The possibilities are endless and range from small lifestyle changes to huge worldwide movements. But it is clear after watching DIRT! The Movie that people from all walks of life can really make a difference.

It is that balance of teaching as well as motivating the viewer to take action that makes DIRT! The Movie unique and fun. In fact, that sense of involvement has been pushed beyond the movie into local communities with DIRT!'s program that sets up screenings all over the country. On the DIRT! The Movie website, it is simple and free to create your own screening to bring the movie to your own town or find a showing near you. These screenings make the dirty, fun, and relevant DIRT! The Movie available to people everywhere, and hopefully also creates an impact so that people can work toward restoring our dirt to a healthy state, and save the planet in the process.

Want to learn more? Check us out on Facebook.

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Collegetown USA might not offer the most spectacular date spots, so why not find the best spots to go out on campus?

No great arts scene in your town? Why not check out a student play, or at least get cheap movie tickets through your student union? No parks nearby? Find a comfy spot on the quad and have a picnic. Here are some of the most creative ways to save cash and still get some quality alone time from our HuffPost College Reporting Team.

A Tea Party leader acknowledged she supports abolishing Social Security in an appearance this week on "Larry King Live."

St. Louis Tea Party co-founder Dana Loesch said she would "absolutely" eliminate the program, which has existed since 1935.

Talk show host and Libertarian leader, Wayne Allyn Root agreed: "At best I'd do away with it, because I can find a better way to spend and save my own $15,000."

More from the transcript of the "Larry King Live" segment:

Loesch: For the first time ever in American history, just to exist in this country, you have to purchase a product now. You have to purchase insurance. And they can try and make it go through the IRS --

King: No, no. Wait a minute. We had to pay Social Security. That's a socialist concept. Republicans voted against it --

Loesch: -- Oh I agree. It's bankrupt.

King: Would anyone turn away Social Security now? Would you do away with it?

Loesch: I would, yeah. Absolutely.

King: Would you do away with it, Wayne? Would you do away with Social Security?

Root: Well, I'd certainly like to. At best, I'd do away with it because I can find a better way to spend and save my own $15,000.

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NEW YORK — Heidi and Spencer Pratt did it. So did Kate Gosselin and Omarosa.

These "reality stars" have all published books, extending another minute or two the 15 minutes of fame that Andy Warhol once predicted for everyone.

Now trying to stretch those minutes into hours are some of the current crop of "The Real Housewives." Eight women from the Bravo franchise have penned books – most with the help of a ghost writer.

Jill Zarin from "The Real Housewives of New York" got the idea to write a book from feedback she received to a scene last year in which her mother gives advice to cast member Bethenny Frankel. "Secrets of a Jewish Mother" comes out in April. In it, Zarin, her mother Gloria Kamen and sister Lisa Wexler share stories from their own lives and dispense advice on everything from friendship to money.

Last week's episode of "The Real Housewives of New York City" (now in its third season) features Zarin, her mother and sister at a photo shoot for the book cover.

Barnes & Noble's vice president of merchandising, Patricia Bostelman, expects Zarin's book to do well.

"The books that have done the best are the books that are really woven into the plot of the show," Bostelman said.

If that's the case, then Danielle Staub of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" should have a best seller. Her book, "The Naked Truth," will be released in June. Much of the New Jersey show's first season focused on the discovery of a 1995 book that revealed Staub's 1986 federal prosecution for possession of cocaine and extortion.

"Danielle's story is incredibly moving and inspirational. ... Her book 'The Naked Truth' is just that – a no-holds-barred account from a true survivor," Jennifer Bergstrom, vice president and editor-in-chief of Gallery Books, a division of Simon and Schuster, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. The book has a first printing of 150,000 copies.

Fellow cast mate Teresa Giudice is releasing a book of Italian recipes in May called "Skinny Italian."

Like Warhol's ephemeral 15 minutes, the "Real Housewives" books are merely a short-lived trend, Bostelman said. They can sell well but their shelf life tends to run out. The most important factor is whether the books have broad appeal.

"The first question," Bostelman said, "is who is the customer? Is there a customer? Will someone be interested in buying this book?"

If ratings are any indicator, fans will at least be curious. So far, the third season of "The Real Housewives of New York City" is up 15 percent among total viewers.And numbers increased for the recently aired fifth season of "The Real Housewives of Orange County."

Still, the only real publishing success story so far is Bethenny Frankel.

Frankel, who appeared in the 1994 teen slasher movie "Hollywood Hills 90028" and the 1995 comedy "Wish Me Luck," and was a contestant on "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart," has written two best sellers: "Naturally Thin" and "The Skinnygirl Dish."

Booksellers are likely to order more copies of a book such as Zarin's than one written by Alex McCord, also in the New York cast. McCord and husband Simon van Kempen wrote a book about parenting children in an urban area. "Little Kids, Big City: Tales From a Real House in New York City" comes out in April.

But it hasn't always been easy for the "Housewives" to get publishers.

Vicki Gunvalson of the Orange County cast acknowledges that shopping her idea around fell flat.

"At that time, NeNe Leakes' ('The Real Housewives of Atlanta') book had just come out, Bethenny Frankel's book was out," Gunvalson recalls. "I think they were in 'Housewife' overload and it just didn't work. I started a company called Woo Hoo Productions and self-published it. It's been fabulous! I don't have to share the proceeds."

Gunvalson said she has sold more than 1,500 copies in the past month and is working with Borders and Barnes & Noble to get copies in their stores. It is available on her Web site and Amazon.

Leakes' "Never Make the Same Mistake Twice" has sold 9,000 since it hit stores last August. And "Class With the Countess," out last April, by New York housewife LuAnn de Lesseps, has only sold 6,000 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan.

The Housewives aren't the only ones writing books. Chronicle Books will publish "The Real Housewives Get Personal" in June, written by the creators of the series. It promises to be a tell-all providing what happens behind-the-scenes with anecdotes from cast members.

___

On the Net:

http://www.bravotv.com/the-real-housewives-of-new-york-city

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PORT LUDLOW, Wash. (AP) -- A Washington state homeowner says he left his front door open for his own cats. He wasn't expecting a 35-pound bobcat to walk in, but that's what happened.

The Port Ludlow resident told animal control officers he watched the wild cat jump over a couch, climb over a big screen TV and then jump up to a loft, where it made itself at home.

Washington Fish and Wildlife Officer Win Miller says the bobcat apparently felt safe upstairs.

With the help of a tranquilizer gun, animal control officers were able to secure the cat and remove it from the home last weekend.

Fish and Wildlife says the bobcat wasn't harmed and was released back into the wild about six miles from the home. One of the homeowner's pet cats was briefly scared away, but "Boo Boo" made it home safely Tuesday.

WATCH: Local news report about bobcat "intruder"

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He became America's most famous teacher after a 1988 movie portrayed his success at mentoring working-class pupils at Garfield High to pass a rigorous national calculus exam. He died of cancer.

Jaime Escalante, the charismatic former East Los Angeles high school teacher who taught the nation that inner-city students could master subjects as demanding as calculus, died Tuesday. He was 79.