Tomorrow is Ground Hog's Day!

Spring and Winter can resemble one another quite nicely, whether rain, snow, mud, or other. We received a nice note from Alice Burger about the Service Above Self Award given to Bill; she was quite humble about her involvement and clarified that it was Bill who exemplified such service, and that he would be proud to know that Rotary promotes the type of self-less connections that he modeled. Basket Bingo is around the corner; we need to sell those tickets! It is Sunday, Feb. 11th and those who are helping are asked to be there early. For more information, contact Deb Harris and Kent Wiles. The Price is Right is coming up, too, in March. And on Saturday, February 17th, the Children's Task Force Pizza Sale will be underway. Our speaker of the day was Jim Baumer; Jim spoke to us about the Workforce Investment Board for West and Central Maine. He is an accomplished author and publisher, with his latest work being a compilation of stories about the home baseball teams in Maine. However, today the focus was on training tomorrow's workers. Jim explained that there were many employers who have jobs available, but they have a difficult time finding employees who have been trained in work ethics and practices, ready for the work force. He emphasized the importanze of public and private partnerships in putting together programs to prepare good, trained, skilled workers. In particular, he advances that the soft skills or those that are applied such as work ethics, writing skills, reading and business math skills are lacking. He is preparing a training program which is called "Work Ready" that is being used as a means to impart these necessary skills/ Businesses who are interested in this program to prepare their workers can contact him through the Workforce Investment Board for Western and Central Maine. Thanks, Jim, for helping us all to recognize the needs of our communities and to pitch in with support for such necessary programs! ~Scribe of the Day, Susy