AARP

AARP Chapter No. 2564 meets at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 15, at Sandhills Community College Garden Center. The group will tour the gardens.

AARP meets the third Thursday of each month with the exception of July and August.

Carolina Bird Club

The Carolina Bird Club will be returning to Southern Pines for the 2008 spring meeting May 2-4.

Field trips will feature some of the most popular destinations like Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve, Sandhills Game Land, Hobby Field (Scissor-tailed Flycatchers), and Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge; as well as Nature Conservancy's Long Valley Farm, Woodlake, and the privately owned Raft Swamp Farm.

The Friday evening speaker will be Jeff Marcus, a biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Commission, who will present a summary of the research and conservation initiatives under way on the Sandhills Game Land and will discuss restoration efforts that have been so successful on state lands in the region.

Saturday evening, a buffet dinner will be followed by the annual meeting and then a program by biologist and internationally renowned local photographer, Todd Pusser. Pusser contributes to Wildlife in North Carolina magazine, and has an extensive background in natural history of the area. He will show a variety of wildlife images taken in the Sandhills.

Meeting headquarters will be at the Days Inn in Southern Pines.

Computer Club

The Computer Club of The Sandhills meets from 4 to 5 p.m. Monday, April 14, in the lower level meeting room of the Whispering Pines Village Hall.

The guest speaker will be Chad Landingham, an instructor at Sandhills Community College, who will present the program "How to Select Your New PC." Landingham will discuss cost and performance considerations in selecting a new personal desktop and laptop PC. For example, what does some of the new technology mean, what is important, what to look out for, what is necessary/desirable, how to make comparisons, etc.

A native of Winston-Salem, Landingham majored in industrial technology at Western Carolina University. Afterward, he worked in IT support with Microdevices in Greensboro and with Personal Computer Systems in Knoxville, Tenn. In addition to teaching at Sandhills Community College, he provides PC support services to the public.

The club meets on the second Monday of each month, and visitors are always welcome.

Health Resources

Health Resources Network will meet at noon Wednesday, April 16, at Table on the Green at Midland Country Club.

The first speaker will be Claudia Collins, branch manager from AAA. She will be discussing traveling for seniors. Next, Deborah Dover, community relations from FirstHealth of the Carolinas will speak on behavioral health services and senior life solutions programs.

Those interested in attending should call Veronica Sanchez at 910-944-1116 by April 14.

Kiwanis of the Pines

Willy Campbell, of the local chapter of SCORE, attended the Kiwanis of the Pines meeting recently to let members know about this organization.

SCORE provides business counseling in planning, marketing, financing, accounting, manufacturing, construction, acquisitions/ divestitures, Internet and franchising so that a new individual will have all the needed information before starting a business or a long-standing enterprise. They also provide seminars at the Sandhills Community College through fundamentals of business planning, accounting, and business financing, and marketing.

They are also a resource of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Those interested may visit www.sandhillsscore.org or call (910) 692-3926.

At a recent Thursday morning meeting of the club, member Frank Quis Sr. gave an informative talk on Project Able. Project Able's mission is helping our troops who are wounded or disabled while in any branch of the military.

Community Congregational and Brownson Memorial Presbyterian Churches have been major contributors, along with Kiwanis of the Pines and several individuals.

Those wishing to contribute to Project Able should make checks payable to Project Able, and mail to Caroline H. Eddy, executive director, The Coalition, 1500 West Indiana Avenue, Southern Pines, NC 28387.

Women of Weymouth

Richard Johnson will present the program for the Women of Weymouth meeting at 10 a.m. Monday, April 21, following a 9:30 coffee time.

The Kansas-born Johnson is a nuclear engineer, and after a long career with Westinghouse, he and his wife Barbara retired to Pinehurst nine years ago. Barbara Johnson is chairman of the Smooth Jazz and Cool Art dinner evening at Weymouth on May 8.

He became involved with the Sandhills Community College Continuing Education Program and has been a volunteer there for four years, teaching such subjects as global climate, evolution, and biology and behavior. His topic for the April program will be science and religion.

Guests are welcome.

SCWC

Sandhills Christian Women's Connection hosts its monthly luncheon on Thursday, April 17, at CCNC. (Please note that the meeting is in a different location this month.)

Julie Jordan, a Mary Kay beauty consultant will demonstrate a new line of colors for Mary Kay. She will demonstrate what a difference colors make when you apply your makeup. Two of the members will serve as models.

The guest speaker is Rebecca Buie of Buies Creek.

"We are excited to welcome Rebecca back as a speaker," said Sherry Brown, chair of SCWC. "Rebecca will tell what happens after the fairy tale. 'Beyond the Cinderella Story' is her tale of when life doesn't turn out 'happily ever after' it can still be 'joyfully ever after.'"

All Sandhills women and their guests are welcome to attend the luncheon held at the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst from noon to 1:30 p.m.

Call Joan at 673-5146 or Anne at 215-0074 to make reservations.

"Be sure to let us know if you will be taking advantage of our free nursery," says a spokesman.

The cost of this month's luncheon is $15, all inclusive. A courtesy call is requested no later than Tuesday, March 15.

AAUW

"Behind the Pay-Gap: What Can We Do to Change This?" will be the panel presentation for the Sandhills/Southern Pines Branch of the American Association of University Women meeting at 1 p.m. Thursday, April 10, at Our Saviour Lutheran Church.

The three panel speakers will be Dr. Suzanne Adams, Sandhills Community College; Mimi Allen, Moore County Schools, and Cinnamon LeBlanc-Johnson, FirstHealth Center for Health and Fitness.

Membership in AAUW is open to all graduates who hold an associate or higher degree from a regionally accredited college or university.

AAUW values and seeks a diverse membership. For more information call Jackie Wilson at 949-4675 or Lois McCarthy at 295-2871.