FARMINGTON – A new service and social organization is being proposed at Mt. Blue High School by the Farmington Rotary Club that would offer community service, leadership skills, activities and a chance to socialize with other youth Rotary clubs in the area.

Interact, a program of Rotary International for 14- to 18-year-olds, would meet weekly with SAD 9’s volunteer coordinator, Pauline Rodrigue, club adviser. Members would also become part of the Farmington Rotary Club’s projects and community and world service activities.

The project will be presented at a meeting of the SAD 9 board. If approved, sign-up information will be distributed to students and parents.

In other news, Rotary members, through collections at weekly meetings, have raised $700 to help Gulf Coast hurricane victims. The money was sent to Rotary District 6200 in southern Louisiana, which, according to the Rotary International Web site, is on the ground there using 100 percent of donations to directly help victims.

Rotarians will join with the Clearwater Lake Improvement Association on Sunday, Oct. 16, at the Industry town hall to raise money for hurricane relief efforts at a 4:30 p.m. public supper. All money raised would be accounted for under the Rotary International guidelines and will be sent to a local club in the area affected to use solely in relief efforts.

Ongoing club projects include work on Centennial Park along the rail-trail on the University of Maine at Farmington’s Prescott Field. Two dozen park benches have been built with donated material, and volunteers are widening the trail all the way to the Sandy River. Also, members are selling $5 raffle tickets for a vacation of choice.

The second prize is $500 and the third, a shotgun or cash equivalent.

As part of its World Service Project, members recently collected more than $530 to buy five sewing machines, part of a community service effort led by a Rotary club in Cucuta, Colombia, to create a dress workshop for poor families.

The project teaches single mothers the art of making, weaving and sewing cloth to make garments for their families.

For more information on joining Rotary, call President Adrian Harris at 779-9000.