I just want to compliment you on your special section on the Charity Awards 2013. The selections you made were so worthy; and the content, the photos, the choices of volunteers to recognize and those descriptions were all outstanding! I found it all very touching.

What a chip off the old block! In honor of Father’s Day, we asked LN readers to submit photos of St. Louis dads and their look-alike children. This year’s winners are Brian Tash and his one-and-a-half-year-old son, Hunter Tash, of Creve Coeur. “Everyone tells me all the time that Hunter looks just like Brian’s Mini-Me,” says wife Cristina Tash. The two love to play baseball, football and soccer together, and “Brian loves to read to him.” For winning, Brian will receive gift certificates to La Cantina and Amigos Cantina restaurants (a $100 value)—just in time for Father’s Day. Below, take a peek at other area look-alikes. Can you tell who’s who?

Retasha Smith arrived at The Haven of Grace’s doorstep alone, pregnant and confused. But the organization quickly came to her rescue. A dependable support system and resources to become independent led her to a productive family life. 

An unusually warm summer night in Seattle in 2009 would forever change the lives of countless St. Louisans. A man trespassed through an open window of the residence St. Louis native Teresa Butz shared with her fiancée, Jennifer Hopper. The intruder sexually assaulted and stabbed the women, eventually killing Butz. 

Piccione Pastry has a sweet new deal for area nonprofits. The late-night Italian bakery shop, which opened in the Delmar Loop this April, is serving up Pastries With a Purpose.

St. Louis restaurants were well represented on the Opinionated About Dining's Top 25 Midwest Restaurants list that was recently released. Niche took the No. 2 slot; Sidney Street Cafe was No. 8; Stone Soup Cottage was No. 11; Brasserie by Niche came in at No. 12; Farmhaus garnered No. 13; and Tony's landed at No. 20; and Harvest rounded out the list at 22. Well done!

Aubrey Allicock will lift his voice for those touched by cancer at the annual Sing for Siteman concert. Through Stevie Wonder’s If It’s Magic, the Opera Theatre performer will honor his father, a colon cancer survivor, as well as event founder Carol Wong’s father, who lost his battle with cancer. “I don’t know one person who hasn’t been affected by cancer, and it’s such a wonderful gift to be able to help,” Allicock says. 

For many people, the end of May means one thing and one thing only: If you have a child or grandchild, or a friend moving on to a new phase in their academic career, the month of May means far more than flowers or Mother’s Day or spring-cleaning; It means graduation.

Friends and family say that Megan McCarthy Strout and Ryan Emerson Maher were meant to be together—even if their paths often seemed to lead them apart.

Although Yolf has only been on the market for a couple of months, you’re not imagining things if it sounds familiar to you. Pete Gubany invented the game, and if it wasn’t for the sales help of his friend Terry Pullaro, it might never have made it to market. With several thousand games sold, the game was wildly popular, says Bob Ament, the company’s ‘caddy.’

For children and adults with developmental disabilities, just getting by on a day-to-day basis can be a challenge. And their families often have a difficult time determining the best ways to help their loved ones enjoy happy, fulfilling lives.

The Colonial Marketplace in Ladue is almost complete. With only a small handful of vacancies left and stores opening left and right, this shopping strip is becoming a destination—in fact, so much so we thought you might like a guide book.

Ladue’s own GRANT WEBER will be featured on the Lifetime Television show, The Balancing Act. Weber is the CEO of Riley’s Premium Pet Products, a local manufacturer of healthy dog treats that are good enough even for humans to eat. In fact, we’re told that most of the Lifetime crew sampled the treats during filming! Weber’s segment on the show will air on Lifetime June 4 and 11 (6 a.m. St. Louis time).

It is considered the most important day of your life—and you don’t want to spend it worrying about tables, décor and dealing with vendors. Brides who want to plan their own festivities often feel overwhelmed by the way things will—or will not—come together on the big day, and St. Louis event organizer Kate & Company offers a unique semi-planning services to help these brides stay blushing, not flustered.

Writing your thank-you notes should start right after any engagement party you may have. If people are kind enough to give you a gift, a lovely handwritten note (on a fold-over note card, written in black ink) is a priority—a priority you should carry all through the bridal shower, cocktail parties, rehearsal dinner and wedding events.

This summer, think of your backyard as the next decorating frontier. Use designer-quality furniture, rugs, lighting and charming decorative accents for stunning results.

Creating good by giving back is a gift to yourself, local financial advisers say. But before making a major donation to support your favorite cause, heed the following pieces of advice to avoid scams, maximize that gift and leave a lasting legacy of philanthropy. 

Stories: Winning Juliet focuses on the new girl at a high school who runs into unexpected animosity and resentment by some established ‘popular’ students when she decides to audition for the female title role in the school’s production of Shakespeare’s tragedy, Romeo & Juliet.

Spring means spring cleaning, and we know you’ve worked so hard to tidy up this season. Now imagine, after wiping away the dust, making repairs and clearing out the junk, you find you’re left with a boring—or worse, outdated—home. With its assortment of products and customizable design service, hidden gem B. Davis Design is here to help.

Food in America is more than a necessary aspect of survival: It’s a part of our language, culture and social experience. We gather around meals. Our idioms and phrases make food references. We represent and define areas and events by the meals or snacks that coincide. While this may be many people’s America, dinner isn’t on the table for every family. Despite misconceptions about hunger, a lack of food is a sincere problem for Americans every day, including the approximately 57,100 individuals who depend weekly on the St. Louis Area Foodbank.

The common wisdom is that people who love their work are those who find the most success. Here, we feature three women who prove that common wisdom right: By following their dreams, each built a business that has seen more success than most of us would dare to dream for. As John Updike once said, “The refusal to rest content—the willingness to risk excess on behalf of one’s obsessions—is what distinguishes artists from entertainers and what makes some artists adventurers on behalf of us all.”

Story: May ekes out an existence as a cook at a nameless place in a tiny town on the Mojave Desert. Her home is a drab motel room with a bed, a table, a couple of chairs and drinking glasses stored in the bathroom. Her life is dreary but made drastic as well by the unwelcome arrival of her former lover, Eddie.