Flowers on trail

BRUNSWICK – The Maine Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club will host a presentation on “Flowers of the Appalachian Trail” at 7 p.m. Monday, March 17, at the Unitarian Universalist Church.

Member Wayne Newton will present a slide show on the topic. Newton has thru-hiked the trail twice and collected a photo library of the flowers he saw on his journeys. It is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Jeff Aceto at [email protected] or 650-5674. For more information about the AMC, visit www.outdoors.org.

Visit Web for funds

LEWISTON – Student nurses from the University of Southern Maine hope Internet users will help them raise $8,000 by surfing the Web.

Seven students from USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College will join a team of faculty and volunteers on a trip to the Dominican Republic in August. The team will serve 2,000 needy patients over the course of 10 days, traveling to remote villages. Students pay their own expenses for the trip, but first must raise money for medical supplies.

Among other fund-raising efforts, they’ve registered their project with Goodsearch.com, a search engine powered by Yahoo. In fact, this search engine works just like Yahoo, but with one difference: it gives nonprofits and charities a share of its profits. Every time a user who’s designated USM as recipient uses Goodsearch.com, money is donated to the Dominican Republic outreach project.

“We know money is tight right now,” said Jennifer Sullivan of Auburn, one of the student nurses raising money for the project. “This is an easy way to support a good cause by doing something most of us are already doing anyway. We hope people will help us spread the word.”

Grain conference

WATERVILLE – University of Maine Cooperative Extension and the Maine Organic Milk Producers will sponsor the 2008 Dairy Forage/Grain conference with a focus on processing grains for their livestock.

The conference will provide information to answer the question, “Is it time to grow some of your own grain?” With increasing costs of grain and higher transportation costs, producers may want to consider adding these crops to their farm enterprise.

The seminar will be held on Friday, March 28, at Governor’s Restaurant, beginning with registration at 9:30 a.m. Topics and presenters include Sid Bosworth from the University of Vermont who will discuss various corn harvest methods There will also be a farmer panel discussion with Maine grain growers.

Preregistration is required. The cost is $10 a person and includes lunch. Registration materials can be found at www.umext.maine.edu/waldo/calendar/forageconf.htm or by contacting UMaine Extension Waldo County Office at 1-800-287-1426 or 342-5971.

Host families sought

ERDT/SHARE! is seeking volunteer host families for international exchange students who will arrive in August for enrollment in local high schools for the 2008/2009 fall semester or academic school year.

The students, between age 15 and 18, speak English, are covered by medical insurance and have spending money. They are in need of American families to provide a home. Families are able to review student applications and select the student they feel will best match their family.

For more information, contact Brenda Hornberger toll-free at the ERDT/SHARE! NorthEast Regional office at 1-866-900-3738, or by e-mail at [email protected].