Ivy
Green Rebekah Lodge #36 is hosting a Scrap Book Event on Saturday,
March 26th from 1:00 to 10:00 p.m. at the Epsom Public Library. Plan
to join the fun for a great time of scrap booking with friends. Food
and beverages will be provided. There will be raffles for some great
prizes! For info and to register please call 736-8681 or 736-4707.
Vickie Benner, children’s librarian at the Epsom Public
Library, would like to thank Michelle Muise and her Girl Scout group
for helping with our children’s craft event during the recent school
vacation. Mrs. Muise, the girls and parent volunteers assisted
with the children’s crafts and games. Everyone attending had a great
time! Story Time at the library continues on Tuesdays at 2
pm and Thursdays at 3:30 pm. Children enjoy stories, songs and
crafts. If you would like to be a guest reader for Story Time,
please call Mrs. Benner. Toddler Time for younger children and
their caregivers is held Wednesdays at 10:00 am. and includes
stories, songs, movement activities and simple crafts. Older
children are invited to join the Lego Club on Thursdays at 3:30 pm.
Make a Lego creation with the library’s supply of Lego’s, enjoy a
snack and get together with friends. For info about any of these
programs call 736-9920.
LCIF
Japan Relief Update Submitted By Eberhard J. Wirfs,
Chairperson, Lions Clubs International Foundation
I am deeply
humbled by the generous outpouring of support from Lions worldwide
to my call last week to donate funds to the Foundation’s Japan
Relief Fund. Already, LCIF has received donations or
commitments exceeding US $6 million, including US $3 million that
the Lions of Japan are working to raise themselves during their own
crisis. Again, it’s so very humbling to see such compassion by the
network of caring Lions and Leos worldwide. I thank all who
have already donated from the bottom of my heart.
With the
expected death toll now exceeding 18,000 and rising, the devastation
is clearly greater than anyone could have imagined. And more than
400,000 people are still in shelters, in the cold, often going
without a hot meal for days on end.
Now that the roads
have re-opened, Lions from all over Japan are sending relief aid
from every corner of the country -- 30 tons of rice is being sent
from Sapporo, US$50,000 worth of baby formula from Hokkaido, and
women’s health products from the southern area of Shikoku - all
through the Lions network in Japan. Within a day of the
disaster, many courageous clubs distributed 20 tons of food, water
and emergency supplies, despite great risks and challenges to
themselves. Even our Lions blue-colored Lions relief tents are being
delivered to give shelter for Lions volunteers and other relief
workers in the hardest-hit areas.
To distribute the aid
effectively, the Lions of Japan quickly set up four Lions relief aid
warehouses in affected areas. Lions are coordinating relief aid
distribution with local government officials and with the Japanese
Red Cross. As a result, Lions are helping coordinate blood donation
campaigns within Japan.
As you know, we have 31 Lions clubs in
Sendai - the largest city affected by the quake - and nearly a
club in every town up and down the coastline. Whether it’s
clothes and food today, or shelter next week, or a wheel chair the
week after, Lions will be there to give dignity to those who have
suffered such unimaginable pain and suffering.
While many of you
have already generously donated, for which I am very thankful,
please encourage your fellow Lions, Leos and friends to also donate.
Please know that every donation will be put to careful use, and 100
percent will go to the cause. Also, donations received between
March 11 and June 30, 2011 will be eligible for Melvin Jones
Fellowships.
I am again humbled by your generosity to date.
The Lions of Japan have always been there for the rest of us in
times of need. So I am proud of you, and never prouder to be a
Lion, when we come to their aid in the wake of this historic, awful
tragedy.
NH Lions are working hard to help the relief effort.
Please send checks to PO Box 414 or 39 Lantern Lane, Epsom, NH
03234.
Local
Students Named To Dean’s List At Ithaca College
The following
students were named to the Dean’s List at Ithaca College for the
fall 2010 semester.
Epsom Ryan Wessels, Son of Wilfred and
Susan Wessels of Epsom,NH, was named to the Dean’s List at Ithaca
College’s School of Health Sciences and Human Performance.
Steven
Brasley, Son of Gerard and Linda Brasley of Epsom,NH, was named to
the Dean’s List at Ithaca College’s Roy H. Park School of
Communications.
Coeducational and nonsectarian, Ithaca College is
a nationally recognized independent college of some 6,400
undergraduates and 400 graduate students. Located in Ithaca, New
York, the college offers more than 100 degree programs.
Letter
To my constituents in Allenstown, Epsom, and Pittsfield: The
Merrimack County delegation met to approve the county budget. The
Executive Committee had approved, 11-2, a budget calling for a
million dollar property tax increase after using $4 million from the
fund balance to reduce taxes. I’m all in favor of reducing taxes,
but taking that much from the fund balance meant a cut to the
county’s credit rating, and at least $160 thousand more in interest
expense this year alone. We met with some other Representatives to
develop a budget with no new taxes and less taken from the fund
balances.
The delegation first voted, 22-15, to disapprove a new
contract with Correction employees that called for a 3% raise for
2010. Then we debated the budget. After 15 roll call votes, the
delegation finally approved, 23-17, an amended budget that cut all
employee cost of living increases, trimmed the Sheriff’s budget, and
grants to organizations like the Boys and Girls Club and visiting
nurses, but raised taxes only 0.6% from last year. This was clearly
the least spending we could get approved, but it still rankled that
we were dipping into the fund balance and spending so much on
interest.
SB25 reassigned the Connecticut River Valley resource
commission from the Governor’s Office of Energy and Planning to the
Department of Environmental Services. No cost effect, nobody
objecting: we voted immediately to recommend this bill. SB68 would
put a five year limit on disciplinary actions by the electricians’
board. The licensing subcommittee is going to review other
professional boards to see if this limit is necessary or typical.
SB112, increasing membership of the advanced manufacturing
education council, was also unopposed. SB127, a housekeeping update
for Manchester’s Retirement System, had already been approved by the
Mayor and Aldermen, and with no substantive changes, we recommended
both these bills immediately.
Representative Carol McGuire
[email protected]
782-4918
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