Creative art seminar

EmpowerME, a community series on health empowerment, will be hosting its fifth program in collaboration with Be the Influence, Maine Public Health and Opportunity Alliance. The discussion from 2-3 p.m. Wednesday, May 19, is entitled “Zine Project.” During the session, participants will have the opportunity to get creative in making art by exploring new virtual learning platforms. For more information and to register, email director@betheinfluencewrw.org.

Youth resiliency program

Raymond and Windham seventh and eighth graders are welcome to join a program provided by Be the Influence and professional facilitators from Acorn Productions. This workshop will focus on theater skills and improvisation where students will develop monologues to perform. Participants will enjoy brainstorming and acting exercises that focus on personal experiences in building up resiliency, which presenters say is a very important trait in every young person’s life.

The dates for the workshop are May 17, 20 and 27, and June 3 and 10 from 2:45-4:15 p.m. at Windham Town Hall gym. The $20 fee includes a T-shirt. Register with the Windham Parks & Recreation at windhamrecreation.com/info/activities or call 892-1905.

Library plant sale

The Raymond Village Library is pleased to offer its great annual plant sale to the community, beginning Monday, May 24. The sale will be by appointment only, with no more than three people allowed to shop at any time. If interested in buying plants and scheduling an appointment, email Leigh Walker at lwalker4@maine.rr.com or text or call 310-0741. (Leave a message, as she might not be available to answer calls.)

Guidelines for shopping are as follows: Meet Leigh at the library at the appointed time. wear a mask and pay with cash or check (if using a credit card let Leigh know when the appointment is made).

The library is looking for donations of plants for the sale. Feel free to drop them at the library by the gazebo in the community garden on the far side of the parking lot at any time. To view a list of plants that are available for sale, visit the library website at raymondvillagelibrary.org. This list will be changing over the next couple of weeks, so keep checking back.

Virtual reading group

Raymond Village Library will be hosting a virtual literary discussion of “The Red Address Book” by Sophia Lundberg at 6 p.m. via Zoom Monday, May 24. Contact Melanie, the book club facilitator, at mechampn@outlook.com for the Zoom link and password. For more information, call the library at 655-4283.

Hawthorne House fundraiser

The Hawthorne Community Association is sponsoring a yard sale from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 29 at the Hawthorne House, corner of Cape and Hawthorne roads in Raymond. Note the address for a GPS is 40 Hawthorne Road. The sale will be held outdoors and plenty of hand sanitizer will be available. The rain date is May 30. For more information about this fantastic treasure of Raymond history, visit hawthorneassoc.com.

Summer meal program

The RSU 14 food service program has done an amazing job at providing delicious and nutritious meals to students in school and in the remote learning community this school year. Both breakfast and lunch have been provided at no cost.

RSU 14 will be continuing its bulk meal program this summer, very similar to the current Weekend Meals, provided two times a week and full of fresh fruits and veggies, healthy grains, milk and more. More details regarding when and where will be coming later in May. These meals will continue to be available to all children ages 18 and younger.

While school meals have been free this school year, many families have carried balances that were past due from previous school years that still must be paid. Did you know that payment to school meal accounts for the purpose of reducing debt is tax-deductible, as long as the payment is not for a child that you are directly responsible for? This means that grandparents and other benefactors could help pay down past due lunch debt and each of those payments would be considered tax-deductible. For questions, email jreilly@rsu14.org or rroderick@rsu14.org or call 892-1800.

Alissa Messer can be contacted at alissamesser@gmail.com.