Warm heart, warm home

Warm your heart by donating a pint of blood and get a chance to win some heating oil to warm your home.

The Gray/New Gloucester Lions Club has teamed up with Steinert Energy to offer a chance to win $200 worth of heating oil to those donating blood at the Lions blood drive on Wednesday, May 20, at the Newbegin Gym in Gray.

The lucky donor will be selected at the end of the drive and will have until Oct. 15 to schedule delivery through the offices of Steinert Energy.

A large turnout is anticipated. Appointments are highly recommended so the Red Cross can plan appropriate staffing levels and donors can avoid long wait times.

Appointments can be made by contacting the Red Cross directly at 775-2367 or toll free at 1- 800-482-0743. Be sure to specify the Lions blood drive for May 20 in Gray.

Don’t forget your glasses

Your old ones, that is. May is Recycle for Sight Month, just in time for spring cleaning. All you have to do is donate your old eyeglasses, hearing aids, sunglasses and cell phones to the GNG Lions, and the Lions will do the rest. Each year Lions Clubs distribute millions of pairs of glasses around the world.

Check with family, friends, neighbors, coworkers – almost anyone who wears glasses will have some they no longer use that are too valuable to simply throw away. In charge of lost-and-found? Here’s your solution to the glasses that no one has claimed.

Specially marked collection boxes are located at The Gray Marketplace and the Gray Family Vision Center. The Gray Transfer Station is also a drop-off point – just give the items to any of the attendants. The contact person for the Lions is Joe Murray, e-mail jmurray1@maine.rr.com.

Today’s economy

The Gray-New Gloucester Business Association’s next Breakfast Seminar is coming up, on Friday, May 22, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at Spring Meadows Banquet Center, on Route 100 in Gray.

The seminar topic is “Credit Lending in Today’s Economy.” Talking to the group will be Alden Turner, a senior area manager from the Small Business Administration, and speakers from Androscoggin Bank and Key Bank. The cost is free for members and $3 for nonmembers.

Lifetime Auto Care, Route 100, Gray, and MaineHometownNews.com along with the G-NGBA are sponsoring this event. For more information, call 657-2033, e-mail mkp@gbamaine.org or visit www.gbamaine.org.

On the shelf

You can sign up for genealogy sessions at the Gray Public Library, Hancock Street. Appointments are available on Wednesdays between 2 and 8 p.m. Ask at the Circulation Desk for details.

Afternoon Book Club, Thursday, May 21, at 2 p.m. features “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Wells. Evening Book Club is on Wednesday, May 20, at 6:45 p.m. There is a reader’s choice of any book by William Maxwell.

Gray Library hours are Tuesdays and Wednesdays 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Thursdays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Fridays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturdays 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Call 657-4110 or go to www.gray.lib.me.us for more information.

Gray Recreation events

Gray Recreation’s Summer Day Camp for children age 5 to 13 runs from June 29 to Aug. 21, daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Extended care from 7-8 a.m. and 4-5:30 p.m. is also available. Camp officials promise fun and safe programs that vary daily, plus weekly field trips. Call to register at 657-2323.

Saturday suppers

The First Congregational Church of Gray, 11 Yarmouth Road, will hold its monthly public supper on Saturday May 22. Baked beans, casseroles, salad, homemade biscuits and pies are served in the supper room from 5-6 p.m. Cost is $7 for adults, $3 for children under 12. For more information call 657-4279 or, on the day of the supper, 657-3279.

Youth Learn to Fish Day

Sponsored by the Gray-New Gloucester Optimist Club and FET Inc. in conjunction with Hooked on Fishing not Drugs, the Youth Learn to Fish Day will be held Sunday, May 17, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Pineland Farms Campus in New Gloucester. This event is for children age 4-12.

Exit 63 master plan

On April 30 a public meeting was held to discuss the future of the area around Exit 63. The meeting was very informative; plans where shown for a proposed business development near the new bypass and also for a “ring road” connection from the Maine Turnpike to the Pineland area. Area land use, traffic, housing, economy and recreation where some of the topics that where addressed, and public wishes and comments where encouraged during the meeting.

There will be many more years and discussions before these plans come to fruition, but check this column for other meeting dates or the Web site at www.gpcog.org for more information, maps of the proposals and to leave comments. This meeting was hosted by the Greater Portland Council of Government, Maine Department of Transportation, Maine Turnpike Authority and Town of Gray.

Got skunks

Sparks Ark will be at the Maine Wildlife Park on Saturday, May 16, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dave Sparks is a licensed animal damage control agent and the professional to call when you experience a conflict with the area wildlife.

Next weekend, May 23 through Monday, May 25, the Friends of the Maine Wildlife Park will hold its annual plant sale. Enjoy great spring plant deals with flowers, vegetables and baskets grown in their own greenhouse. Plants will be available all day each day.

These events are sponsored by the Friends of the Maine Wildlife Park. There are opportunities for gatehouse attendants, tour guides, gardeners and store clerks in the snack shack and nature store through the Friends. For more information, call 657-4977, ext. 0.