Here are brief thoughts on some of the issues and events we’re hearing about from around the North Quabbin area:
Orange library patrons continue to invest time and energy in plans to renovate and expand the town’s Wheeler Memorial Library. The project is currently 12th on the state list for funding. The town may be offered a state subsidy in the next few grant cycles, and local officials say they want to be ready.
Already the town has a schematic design, a designer and some private donations raised to offset the cost to taxpayers for the town’s share of the project.
The current plan is to expand and improve the current building, making it accessible for all, to upgrade the children’s area and the teen space and to add a community room.
To keep the project moving and to be ready when state money becomes available, the town is looking for residents who want to advocate for the library, to join sub-committees, to submit ideas, to donate and to contribute their energy.
The library is one of the town’s most valuable cultural and educational institutions. So, what are you waiting for?
The Petersham Historical Society will be raising the dead, in a way, at the Center Cemetery during a Ghost Walk on Oct. 21. The Ghost Walk will be “haunted” by personalities from Petersham’s past, allowing visitors to learn more about Petersham’s history as the ghostly guests greet them.
The Walk will allow attendees to step back in time and meet neighbors from the past, played by actors from today. Each ghost will tell his or her story and let contemporary residents know what life was like when their predecessors walked the Hilltop Town.
There is no charge for this event, and everyone is invited to join this program sponsored by the Petersham Historical Society and the Petersham Cemetery Commission, with the help of the Petersham Cultural Council.
The state is helping area RNs advance their careers and enhance their value to the community by making it easier for them to get bachelor in nursing degrees.
Fitchburg State University has received a $29,000 grant from the state Department of Higher Education that makes it easier for RNs with associate degrees to get a four-year BS online.
Fitchburg State will work out arrangements with Quinsigamond, Bristol and Middlesex community colleges to allow associate degree-earning registered nurses to matriculate into Fitchburg State’s online RN to BS nursing program while they remain in the workforce.
Massachusetts wants 80 percent of the state’s nurses to have their bachelor of science in nursing degrees by 2020. This program will help make that happen in this region.
The Athol Police Department has been named one of 30 finalists in the contest that could net it a $50,000 SUV for its K9 team.
Athol Officer Craig Deveneau and K-9 Gronk are competing for public votes to win a new Chevy Tahoe through the contest sponsored by non-profit Vested Interest in K9s, Inc..
The more online votes the more likely the local dog officer can win.
To cast votes and view official rules visit www.vik9s.org/suvgiveaway.
Vote, and vote often.
The Athol Lions Club plans to cash in on our fear again this year.
It will present two nights of fright-filled fun at its 20th annual Haunted Hayrides on Oct. 12 and Oct. 14 at Silver Lake.
The Lions have been planning the event for the past few months and project co-chairmen Ricky Misner and Dave Bishop are putting the finishing touches on the layout.
Proceeds benefit an amazing number of local charitable causes supported by the Lions: scholarships, eye and hearing cases, local sports teams, Salvation Army, Athol Area YMCA, DARE, Food-a-Thon, the Alan E. Rich Environmental Center’s accessible boat dock, Council on Aging holiday dinner, Foundation Fighting Blindness, District Sight and Hearing Fund, Mass. Association for the Blind, Mass. Lions Eye research, Sightmobile, All State Band, Barton Center, 4 Paws for Ability, Youth Speech Contest, Worcester Free Clinic, and World Service Day.
So, screw up your courage and take the ride.