The Kachemak Emergency Service Area Board holds its regular monthly board meeting at 7 p.m. today. The meeting is at the Diamond Ridge Fire Station at 65705 Diamond Ridge Road. The public is welcome to attend. For more information, call 235-9811.

The Homer Community Food Pantry holds its Empty Bowls Luncheon from 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. Friday at the Homer United Methodist Church ground level. Soup is $10 or $30 for soup and a handcrafted bowl. For more information, call 399-2007.

The Alaska Training Cooperative offers a Conflict Resolution Skills/Alternatives to Violence workshop from 6-9 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at 63540 Skyline Drive. Roger Kluck of Seattle and Karen Cauble of Homer facilitate the workshop. The workshop teaches conflict resolution skills through experiential learning exercises, with the goal of helping people think about and make choices to reduce conflict in work and everyday settings. Space is limited to 20 people. The fee is $60 for the 18-hour workshop. Register online at ttclms.org/class_detail.php?z_classid=106473. For more information, call Karen Cauble at 235-3832 or email klcauble@hotmail.com or Lisa Cauble at 264-6276 or lisa@alaskachd.org.

Leather tooling classes are offered Saturday at Chapman School in Anchor Point. Tandy Leather also brings leather supplies for sale from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. The classes are belts, 9 a.m.; $25; wallets, 11:30 a.m., $30, and holsters, 2:30 p.m., $35. All students are eligible for a prize drawing. Class size is limited. To register, call Linda at the Thimble Tree, 299-1692.

Dr. Tony Burgess presents “Evolving with Grasslands and Savannas on the Kenai Peninsula” at 7 p.m. Nov. 17 at the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies for the Homer Native Plant Society’s November meeting. Burgess will discuss some habitat changes predicted on the Kenai Peninsula, and how we might adapt, based on his studies of grassland ecosystems in the Southern Prairies and American Southwest. He is a former designer, manager and faculty with the Biosphere 2 project in Arizona. Light refreshments will be served. For more information, call 235-9344 or email jwoodring@alaska.net. 

The Anchor Point Fire and Emergency Medical Service Area Board will hold its board meeting at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 18  at the Anchor Point Fire Station, 72440 Milo Fritz Ave. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend. For more information, call 235-6700.

The annual Scandinavian Dinner is 6 p.m. Nov. 20 at Faith Lutheran Church. Tickets are available by calling 235-7600. Cookie making is 2 p.m. on Monday and lefse rolling is 2 p.m. Wednesday. Bring the family for lutefisk, lefse. Swedish meatballs and more.

The Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA) offers a 12-hour Fishing Vessel Drill Conductor workshop in Homer from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Nov. 21 at the Best Western Bidarka Inn, 575 Sterling Highway. This workshop is an excellent opportunity for commercial fishermen and other mariners to gain hands-on training with marine safety equipment and learn best practices for surviving emergencies at sea.  

Instructor Rob Hulse will cover cold-water survival skills; EPIRBs, flares, and maydays; man-overboard recovery and firefighting; immersion suits and PFDs, helicopter rescue, life rafts, abandon ship procedures, and emergency drills. There will be an in-the-water practice session, giving participants practical experience with PFDs and immersion suits, employing survival techniques, and righting and boarding an inflatable life raft.

AMSEA Drill Conductor workshops meet the training requirements for documented commercial fishing vessels operating beyond the federal boundary line.  This workshop is offered to commercial fishermen at no cost, thanks to support from the U.S. Coast Guard, the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community & Economic Development, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Health.  For more information or to register, contact AMSEA at (907) 747-3287 or www.amsea.org.

The Kenai Peninsula Borough reminds residents clearing snow from driveways that it is illegal to plow snow from private property into roads, ditches and rights of way. Such snow causes more work for borough snow removal crews, a cost incurred by taxpayers, and causes obstruction hazards and sight problems for motorists.

The borough also reminds parents to tell children of the hazard of playing in snow piles and berms near roads. Snow plow drivers may have difficulty seeing children playing in berms.

Anchor Point Senior Citizens

The Anchor Point Senior Center on Milo Fritz Road is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 9 a.m.-noon Friday. The center serves Thursday night dinners starting at 5:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome. Bingo is at 6 p.m. with play starting at 7 p.m. on Friday nights. The Helping Hands Thrift Store is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Exercise sessions are at 10 a.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays. The Annual Holiday Bazaar is Nov. 7 with tables available. To sell items, stop by the office or call 235-7786.

Friendship Center

Friendship Center Adult Day Services is open 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday with extended hours for special situations. Programs are offered daily, including story time, crafts and musical performances. Call 235-4556.

Homer Senior Citizens

Homer Senior Citizens lunch is open to seniors and guests and is served noon-1:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. The lunch menu for this week is: today, maple smoked pork,; Friday, almondine trout; Monday, chicken salmonbocca; Tuesday, barbecue brisket; Wednesday, chicken parmesan; next Thursday, citrus and rosemary roasted leg of lamb.

Strong Women classes are 1:30-2:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Homer Senior Center. The cost is $3 for members and $6 for nonmembers per class.

Zumba Gold classes with Maria are 11 a.m.-noon Tuesdays and 1:30-2:30 p.m. Thursdays at the Homer Senior Center. The cost per class is $4 members, $6 nonmembers.

Duplicate Bridge meets at 1 p.m. Thursdays. Tai Chi classes are Thursdays at 3 p.m. The cost per class is $3 for members and $6 for nonmembers. Call Daniel Weisser at 235-4555.

Caregiver Support Group meets 2-3:30 p.m. the second and fourth Thursday in the senior center conference room. Call Jacquie Thaute at 299-2924 or Daniel Weisser at 235-4555.

Kachemak Bay Campus

New classes and workshops include Navigating Using GPS, Radar and Sonar, Nov. 19, 5:30 p.m., $30; Vessel Navigation Using Electronic Charts, Dec. 1,  5:30 p.m., $25; Aluminum Fabrication, Oct. 30-31, Nov. 7-8,  $250; Global Climate Change, Oct. 22-Nov. 19; Art Activities and Techniques for all Classrooms, Saturdays, Nov. 7-21. For information about GED, ESL and ABE classes, call 235-7743. Registration for winter and spring classes has started.

Pratt Museum

Fall gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday through November. Business offices are open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. A series of prototype exhibits are featured in the lower gallery. These are “works in progress,” and opportunities to collect feedback on text, design and interactive components. The public is invited to come by the gallery and give feedback. There are questionnaires available to provide direct input.

South Peninsula Hospital

The South Peninsula Hospital annual craft fair is 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the hospital conference rooms. Shop for art, quilts, homemade dolls, fudge and other holiday gifts.

Dr. Andrew Peter presents “Diabetes Related Eye Disease: Prevention and Treatment” at 7 p.m. Nov. 18 at the SPH Training Center, 203 W. Pioneer Ave. Eye disease can be a complication of diabetes that is often preventable, yet diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in working-age Americans. Eye problems that commonly affect those with diabetes include diabetic retinopathy, cataracts and glaucoma. Come learn the facts about diabetes related eye disease at the free community presentation.