Nov. 25 – Dec. 11

• Sturgeon Bay Schools has once again been the recipient of a Kohl Breakfast Start-up Grant to help offset the costs of running a breakfast program, this time for Sunset School Kindergartners.

The grant monies have been used to equip the small kitchen area with a refrigerator and freezer, and enough portable insulated carts to deliver the breakfasts to each classroom. Funds are also included to offset some labor costs, and during National School Breakfast Week in March, the school will be offering a free breakfast all that week to Sunset Kindergartners, with parents joining in on one of the days.

All the schools in the district offer a breakfast each morning, following the USDA guidelines for a nutritious meal, which always includes fresh fruit or juice and milk. Cost is $1.75, but if the student qualifies for a free or reduced lunch, there is no charge for breakfast. Free and reduced meal applications are available on the Sturgeon Bay website: http://www.sturbay.k12.wi.us, or at the offices of all the schools in the district.

• The Jim Larsen Bays & Girls Club of Door County will hold a Wine & Cheese Gala, December 3, 2009 from 5 – 7:30 pm at Stone Harbor Resort in Sturgeon Bay.

In addition to wine, cheese, hors d’oeuvres, silent auction and verbal auction items, there will be an opportunity to meet a number of NFL players, including Harry and Madonna Sydney (Green Bay Packers), Chris Greisen (Arizona Cardinals), and Al Johnson (Dallas and Arizona).

Tickets are $20 per person and $150 per table of eight. Advance tickets are available at Greisen’s Appliances Plus, Associated Bank West Side branch, Baylake Bank (downtown), Citizens Bank, Cupola House in Egg Harbor, and at the Boys & Girls Club office located at 1756 Michigan in Sturgeon Bay.

Sponsors include Stone Harbor Resort, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, VFW and Kiwanis. Special thanks to United Way of Door County.

For more information, or to purchase tickets, call 920.746.5125.

• Working in conjunction with Neighbor to Neighbor, the Door County Senior Center, and the Social Services Department, Baylake Bank volunteers are once again teaming up with generous community contributors to provide gifts and personal care items to those in need this holiday season.

The needs of mature, homebound residents in Door County is significant, according to Jan Scoville, Director of the Neighbor-to-Neighbor, a non-profit organization that comforts and assists people experiencing conditions or limitations that lead to a deterioration in quality of life. Demand for Neighbor-to-Neighbor services has surpassed 2008 levels by more than 200 people, many of whom are mature residents in the area.

This season, a Holiday Gift Tree will be displayed at Baylake Bank Conference Center. Members of the community are invited to select from the tree a number which represents an individual whose name remains anonymous.

“Baylake Bank and Walmart provide the baskets, and by filling it with cheer – and some basic necessities like socks, toothpaste, and lotion – you can really make the holidays brighter for someone in our community,” said Malzahn.

The filled baskets are collected and delivered prior to Christmas by Malzahn and her elves. For more information about how to participate, please contact Barb at 920.743.5551, ext. 1136.

• On December 13 members of the Door County Chapter of The Compassionate Friends will participate in 13th annual Worldwide Candle Lighting designed to honor the memories of all children, regardless of age, who have died.

The local candle lighting will be part of a special service held at 6:30 pm at the United Methodist Church in Sturgeon Bay and will feature a program of remembrance followed by the lighting of candles at 7 pm. Candles are first lit at 7 pm, local time, just west of the International Date Line. As candles burn down in one time zone, they are lit in the next, creating a 24-hour wave of light as the observance continues around the world.

The national website, http://www.compassionatefriends.org, will also feature a Remembrance Book on December 13, which in a 24-hour-period normally receives thousands of tributes from family members and other caring individuals.

Everyone, whether or not they have suffered the personal loss of a child, is invited to join in this moving tribute. To have a candle lit for a child, grandchild or sibling, contact Carol at 920.743.3476. For more information about the local Door County Chapter of TCF visit http://www.doorcountytcf.org.

• The recently released book, The Relativity Diet: A Diet Theory of Everything, is a culmination of Dr. Shaun Melarvie’s efforts since 2001. As someone who struggled with obesity most of his adult life, it was eight years ago following a serious heart condition that he began to figure it out. It took him five years of contemplation, personal growth and research, and then another three to coalesce it all into a format that would be accessible to a general audience.

In The Relativity Diet Melarvie addresses “everything” about weight-loss that matters. He explains the medical implications of obesity, including the prevalence and commonly associated medical illnesses, including diabetes, in a common sense style that is backed up by recent medical literature. He manages to do this in a pleasing format best described as a hybrid of science and narrative, which more often than not, leaves the reader smiling, if not laughing out loud.

When asked why he tackled such a topic, Dr. Melarvie replied, “…I want to help others in a manner other than that which involves six inches of sharp, cold steel.”

Books are available at local booksellers and the DCMH gift shop. For more information email [email protected].

• The Door County Humane Society is encouraging everyone to show their “Stray Pride!” during Sturgeon Bay’s Christmas by the Bay Parade on Saturday, December 5.

Look for the Door County Humane Society van and lots of four legged friends during the parade, or join in the festivities. Line-up is at 9:15 am, and the parade starts at 10 am. The parade starts at Sawyer Park to Oak Street to Madison Avenue, across the new bridge through downtown to Third Avenue and up Jefferson Street to 6th Avenue.

For more information call 920.746.1111 or email [email protected] or visit http://www.dooranimals.com.

• The Door County Home Builders Association (DCHBA) recently purchased a tool trailer and donated use of it to students who are learning how to construct a home with the Door Kewaunee Business and Education Partnership (DKBEP).

DCHBA paid about $7,500 for the trailer, which securely stores tools on home construction job sites. The long white trailer on wheels has been imprinted with the DCHBA logo as well as its support of DKBEP.

The DKBEP, Sturgeon Bay, is designed to create partnerships between business and education. Since 2007, it has involved high school students from Kewaunee and Door Counties in construction of three new homes with a current project underway in Luxemburg.

Tara LeClair, business and education manager for DKBEP, thanked the Home Builders Association for the donation.

For more information visit http://www.dchba.org or http://www.dkbep.com.

• Join the Door County League of Women Voters as they sponsor a roundtable discussion on sexual assault. Karrie Anthony of the Door County Sexual Assault Center will present “Sexual Assault Prosecution Status and Legal Update” on Friday, December 11, 11:30 am, at the Inn at Cedar Crossing.

If you wish to attend, please RSVP to Sandy Brown at 920.743.8146 or email [email protected] by 5 pm on Wednesday, December 9.

• On Saturday, December 12 from 9 am – noon parents are invited to participate in the Drop and Shop event, where they drop off their children (infants through 6th grade) at St. Peters Lutheran Church and School while they then go out and shop.

Registration will take place at 8:30 am. Crafts, snacks, music, games and Bible study will be available for the children while parents have the opportunity to shop for their families, returning to pick up their children no later than noon.

St. Peters Lutheran Church and School is located is 108 W. Maple Street, Sturgeon Bay. Please use the Larch Street entrance to the parking lot behind the church/school. For more information call 920.818.0088.

• The Wisconsin Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus (WACVB) recently awarded a 2009 Wisconsin Tourism Trailblazer award to the Door County Visitor Bureau (DCVB) for their outstanding 2009 Festival of Blossoms spring marketing and partnership project.

Each year WACVB gives out Wisconsin Tourism Trailblazer Awards to destination marketing organizations like the DCVB for outstanding marketing and partnership projects that help to advance Wisconsin’s tourism industry.

The objective of the DCVB’s 2009 Festival of Blossoms campaign was to increase business throughout Door County during the shoulder season of late April – early June. The program was created to re-invite visitors, provide incentives to customers and potential visitors to travel and also remind them that spring is a great time to visit the area.

The campaign successfully worked with area lodging partners to develop an extensive, cooperative email list along with Festival of Blossoms themed spring lodging packages. The DCVB sent out email newsletters and e-cards to more than 400,000 email addresses and was able to track nearly 550 room nights that were sold as a result of the 2009 promotion.

The DCVB previously won Tourism Trailblazer awards for their Explore The Door video podcast initiative in 2006 and for their Kingdom So Delicious promotion in 2005.

• The Christ Child Society will host two events in the coming weeks, their November monthly meeting and a Shower of Love Mass.

The November meeting of Christ Child Society will take place on Monday, November 30 at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 1756 Michigan St. Coffee and conversation will be served at 12:30 pm with a meeting to follow.

A Shower of Love mass with the children of John Bosco School will be held on Friday, December 18, 11 am at Corpus Christie Church. Bishop Morneau will be the celebrant, and a luncheon will follow at the Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club.

The Christ Child Society was founded in 1887 by Mary Virginia Merrick in Washington, D.C. Mary, who was wheelchair bound, heard about a child born on Christmas Day to a needy family and set about sewing a layette. She encouraged family and friends to join her in helping other needy children. Today the society has over 7,000 members and 44 chapters across the United States. The Door County chapter was founded in 1996.

For information, call 920.823.2200 or 920.823.2073.

• Grace Rossman, a Thrivent Representative serving Lutherans and their family members in Door County, views life from a different perspective after working side-by-side with Salvadoran families during an October Thrivent Builds Worldwide trip.

From Oct. 16 – 25, Rossman and a team of 27 other Thrivent Financial representatives from across the United States helped construct homes in a new community called “Villa Esperanza” or “Village of Hope.” This holistic neighborhood will offer families in need access to land, a house, basic services and social infrastructure such as green areas and a community center.

The 10-day experience in Central America invigorated Rossman, and she plans to share this experience with as many people as possible to raise awareness of the burden of poverty housing and encourage others to get involved in similar service work.

“There was great satisfaction in helping families build one of the most basic human needs – a roof over their heads,” said Rossman.

For more information visit http://www.thriventbuilds.com/worldwide.