GRAY – A free winter emergencies presentation and discussion will be sponsored by the Gray Region Citizen Corps at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13, at Stimson Hall. Participants will learn how to be prepared for getting stuck in the car or in the open. The seminar was postponed from December due to an early winter storm.

It is an educational, family event. The leader will be Brad Rounds of the American Red Cross. He is also a Registered Maine Guide and is the education director for the Maine Association for Search and Rescue.

Election of officers will also be held. Mark D. Grover, executive director, is not running for re-election. He has completed two terms of office after organizing the group in mid-2003. The group became incorporated as a charitable nonprofit at the start of 2004.

The corps also encourages residents to answer a skills survey available in the lobby of the Gray Public Safety Building. It allows the information to be entered into its database. During a regional disaster, those in the database can be contacted to help their neighbors.

Volunteer skills are needed for tasks ranging from delivering groceries to taking care of pets. Volunteers provide monthly safety and emergency preparedness seminars.

More information about the federal Citizen Corps program may be found at http://www.citizencorps.gov. The local group is in the process of establishing a Web site at http://www.grccme.org.

The local group publishes a periodic electronic newsletter. E-mail may be sent to info@grccme.org. Phone messages may be left with Gray Public Safety at 657-3931.