Maine Winter Sports Center coach Melissa York will be the guest speaker at the membership meeting of Penobscot Valley Ski Club at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 13, at Fields Pond Audubon Center in Holden.
The ski club’s Sally Burke reports that York will discuss the center’s “mission of re-establishing skiing as a lifestyle in Maine.”
Part of the program “will highlight success stories from MWSC’s work in Aroostook County,” Burke wrote, “and how these successes can be applied to communities all over the state.”
Attendees also will have an opportunity after the talk “to try out their marksmanship” with “laser biathlon rifles,” Burke added.
If you would like more information about PVSC, the opportunities its membership offers, or about attending this meeting, call 234-2326.
For those unfamiliar with PVSC and what it has to offer, you can learn all about this organization that has, according to its Web site, been “promoting skiing since 1936,” at www.pvskiclub.org.
Among other activities, PVSC offers a Learn to Ski-Snowboard program and is accepting applications for its second session. That application deadline is Thursday, Jan. 22, and you can obtain applications, and information, at the Web site.
Nordic and Alpine skiing opportunities, including youth development and racing programs and ski trips, are all part of the membership opportunities for those involved with PVSC.
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Here’s a reminder for, basketball foul-shooters ages 8-13 who reside in SADs 12, 13, 54, 59 and 74 about the Skowhegan-Madison Elks Lodge Hoop Shoot.
In an earlier column, Mike Lange reported the 33rd annual competition begins with sign-up at 2 p.m. and competition at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 11, at Madison Memorial High School
Youngsters compete in three age categories: 8-9, 10-11 and 12-13, and winners advance to the state championship from which those winners compete in the regional and national Hoop Shoot contests.
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Earlier this month, I wrote about a new program being launched in Hancock County for people who are raising children of their relatives or, in some instances, close friends.
Candy Eaton, director of Hancock County Children’s Council, which is a program of Downeast Health Services in Ellsworth, wrote that HCCC, working with Maine Kids-Kin, a program of Families and Children Together in Bangor, is offering a new support group called Relatives and Parents.
That new support group will meet monthly, on the second Tuesday of each month, and the first meeting is 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 13, at the offices of Downeast Health Services, 52 Christian Ridge Road in Ellsworth.
Eaton pointed out that this first meeting is for adults only and that, if you are interested in attending, you should call her at 667-5304, ext. 261.
During this first meeting, Eaton explained, participants will be offered the opportunity “to design future meetings and activities” that the group believes will help its members “in meeting the challenges of raising your relatives’ children.”
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The public is invited to meet the artist during a reception for Leigh Butler of Bangor, 4-6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 14, at the Eastern Maine Community College Library Gallery on the second floor of Katahdin Hall on the EMCC Bangor campus.
Now through Feb. 27, Butler’s exhibit, “This is my Father’s World,” is featured in the EMCC Library Gallery Art Series.
For more information, call Janet Blood at 974-4606.
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In mid-December, Ronald McDonald House of Bangor celebrated its 25th anniversary and, as part of that celebration, announced as it enters its 26th year, it has launched a new Web site, www.ronaldmcdonaldhousebangor.com.
There you will find all you need to know about this “house that love built.”
According to a release, the Bangor facility opened Dec. 16, 1983, and since then has served more than 11,000 families needing “short-term accommodations while their children received treatment at nearby medical facilities.”
The 14-bedroom facility is on State Street in Bangor, across from Eastern Maine Medical Center. It also “provides services, beyond housing, to families being treated for cancer or blood disorders.”
For more information about Ronald McDonald House of Bangor, visit the Web site, call 942-9003, fax 990-2984, write Ronald McDonald House, 654 State St., Bangor 04401, or e-mail info@ronaldmcdonaldhousebangor.com.
To everyone associated with Ronald McDonald House of Bangor, as a staff member or a volunteer, congratulations on a quarter-century of service to residents of eastern Maine and beyond.
Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; javerill@bangordailynews.net; 990-8288.