The Homer Foundation’s Youth Advisory Committee, or YAC, announces the availability of grant funds to support projects that will be used to promote fun, affordable, easily accessible and healthy activities for youth ages 10 through 18. Nonprofits providing programs and/or services for youth must submit a letter of intent to the Homer Foundation by March 29. Guidelines for the letter of intent are available from the Homer Foundation. For more information, contact Joy Steward at 235-0541 or email jsteward@homerfund.org.
An “Almost Spring Fling” craft fair to benefit Special Olympics is 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday at the Homer United Methodist Church. The fair features products and services from consultants as well as lots of handmade items. Space is available at $50 a space. Tables can be provided. For more information, contact Joyce Shuler at (907) 398-6712 or email joyce.shuler@yahoo.com.
St. John’s Women’s Guild holds a spring bazaar and bake sale from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday in the basement of the St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 255 Ohlson Lane.
Alaska Bible Institute holds its graduation ceremony at 6 p.m. March 28 at the campus at 1295 Mission Road. Due to space constraints, guests are limited to high school age students and older, with no child care available. For more information, call 235-8648.
Registration has started for the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival, to be held May 8-12. This year’s keynote speaker is Jeffrey Gordon. For a list of events and presentations, visit www.kachemakbayshorebirdfestival.org. For more information, email shorebird@homeralaska.org or call the Homer Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center at 235-7740.
The Kachemak Bay Birders monthly meeting is 4:30 p.m. Monday at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center akuditorium. This week’s topic is “Shorebird Identification Made Easy.” Local birder and guide Aaron Lang offers rules he uses to make shorebird identification easier. The meeting is open to the public and free.
VFW Post 10221, Anchor Point, invites people to its Annual Community Easter Egg Hunt at 2 p.m. March 31. There are designated age areas for the hunt. There will be special prize eggs that will be marked and redeemable for a choice of prizes. There also will be goodies to enjoy after the hunt.
Through the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve’s Coastal Training Program, Pam Kylstra, a program development specialist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coastal Services Center, offers a free course, “Project Design and Evaluation,” from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. April 8-9 at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center. The course provides coastal resource management professionals with the knowledge, skills and tools to design and implement projects that have measurable impacts on the target populations they want to reach. This interactive curriculum can help increase the effectiveness of projects by applying instructional design theory to the project’s design. Spaces in this course are limited. To register and for more information, visit kbrrprojecttraining.eventbrite.com.
Anchor Point Senior Center
The Anchor Point Senior Center is open at 8 a.m. Monday through Thursday for coffee. Enjoy coffee and conversation. The senior center also is open 7-9 p.m. Tuesday nights for game night. Enjoy cards, chess, dominoes, cribbage, checkers and pool. Regular hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 9 a.m.-noon Friday. For more information 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.
Homer Senior Citizens
Homer Senior Citizens lunch is open to seniors and their guests and is served 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday through Friday. The lunch menu for this week is: Thursday, baked ham and scalloped potatoes; Friday, teriyaki glazed baked sockeye salmon; Monday, closed for Seward’s Day; Tuesday, barbecue beef brisket; Wednesday, fried chicken.
Strong Women classes at Homer Senior Citizens Recreation Room are 2-3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Cost is $3 for members and $6 for nonmembers per class.
Tai Chi classes are Thursday at 3 p.m. Cost is $3 for members and $6 for nonmembers per class. For more information, call Daniel at 235-7655.
Kachemak Bay Campus
Registration is being held for these upcoming classes: beginning fly fishing begins Friday; creative food writing begins March 28; birding workshop begins April 2; garden design with Brenda Adams meets April 6 and 13; botany of Kachemak Bay begins April 11; organic gardening meets April 19-20; watercolor workshop with artist Jan Peyton meets May 31, June 1 and 3. Computer classes offered include Excel, MS Word and Quickbooks; all start in April. Registration also is open for a special personal narrative workshop from May 3-5 with visiting memoirist Debra Gwartney, finalist for the National Book Critics Award. Enrollment is limited; register early. For a list of all courses, visit www.kpc.alaska.edu/kbc. Call 235-7743 for information.
At 6:30 p.m. March 29, author Tom Kizzia and historian Steve Haycox present “Seward: Alaska’s Indispensible Man – A Commemoration of Seward Day” at the college.
At 6:30 p.m. April 4, visiting fiction writer Nancy Zafris does a public literary reading.
The Kachemak Bay Campus Community Advisory Board seeks new members. For more information, call 235-1656 or send a letter of interest to KBC, 533 E. Pioneer Ave., Homer AK 99603.
Registration has started for the 2013 Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference, to be held June 14-18 at Land’s End Resort. Poet Naomi Shihab Nye is the keynote presenter. The early registration fee is $375, space available, with a special student rate. For program and registration information, visit writersconference.homer.alaska.edu.
Pratt Museum
Regular hours are Tuesdays through Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Free Winter Wednesdays with free admission to the museum continues in March. “Encounters: Whales in Our Waters” is on exhibit until July 21.
In conjunction with this special exhibit, the Pratt holds a series of talks relating to whales and whale research. The first talk is at 5 p.m. Friday Dena Matkin, who has studied killer whales in Southeast Alaska since 1987, will present “Transient Killer Whale Predation Trends in Southeast.”
The museum seeks people to volunteer time and energy this summer. People of all ages can offer their volunteer services to enhance the high quality of experience summer visitors have at the museum. If you enjoy interacting with people and have two to four hours a week to spare, the museum invites you to join its dedicated team of volunteers. Contact Jennie Engebretson at 435-3326 to learn more about volunteering. Volunteers also are needed to help clean aquarium tanks 10-11 a.m. every Thursday. If interested, contact Art at 435-3323 or building@prattmuseum. org.
R.E.C. Room
The R.E.C. Room (Resource and Enrichment Co-op) is a multipurpose space for youth ages 12-18 as a safe environment to hang out with friends. Hours are 3-6 p.m. Monday-Friday in the lower level of the Kachemak Bay Family Planning Clinic outreach building on Nielsen Circle. Visit www.recroom.kbfpc.org or call Anna at 235-OPEN (6736).
Seldovia Village Tribe Health & Wellness Center
The SVT Health & Wellness Center offers a series of classes covering all aspects of wellness every Thursday at 6 p.m.
Today and on March 28, Jenifer Dickson, a certified nutritional therapist, will lead Part 2 of her “Spring Cleanse and Sugar Detox” class. Participants will discover the health benefits of cleansing and detoxification.
The SVT Health & Wellness Center is located at 880 East End Road. The classes are open to the public. For more information or to suggest topics for future classes, call Amy Rattenbury at 226-2228, ext. 660.
South Peninsula Hospital
In recognition of National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, South Peninsula Hospital is offering reduced rate screening colonoscopies.
Colon cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in America, and more importantly, colon cancer can often be cured and even prevented. Colonoscopy is the preferred screening method for colon cancer, as it allows physicians to look directly at the entire colon and to identify suspicious growths.
South Peninsula Hospital offers $500 off screening colonoscopies scheduled in March and April. For more information on these offerings, visit the hospital website at www.sphosp.org or contact 235-0310.
