AAUW

Armed Forces Day, May 15, will be celebrated by the American Association of University Women Sandhills/Southern Pines Branch with a spring luncheon at the Pinehurst Member’s Club at 12:30 p.m. A social hour/cash bar will begin at noon.

The guest speaker will be Sgt. Major Tina Carazo, U.S. Army, chief instructor at the NCO Academy of the United States Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, Ft. Bragg. Carazo oversees courses and instructors at the academy, which offers advanced professional development for Special Forces, civil affairs and psychological operations NCOs. She is originally from St. Louis, Mo., and joined the Army in 1989. She will speak about her journey in the military with a focus on the challenges and rewards of serving as a woman, the educational benefits she gained and future initiatives at the academy.

AAUW invites the public to attend this special program and luncheon. To make a reservation for the luncheon, contact Lois McCarthy at (910) 295-2871 or Eleanor Chajkowski at (910) 255-6027 prior to May 11.

AAUW works to advance equity for women and girls through advocacy, education and research, nationally as well as locally. Membership in AAUW is open to anyone holding an associate or baccalaureate degree from an accredited university or college.

Coin Club

The Moore Numismatic Association Coin Club meets at 7 p.m., Wednesday, May 5, at the Aberdeen Fire Station, U.S. 1.

Meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month. Meetings consist of coin news and events, member presentations and discussions, and a coin raffle and auction.

Club membership is $15 per year, $6 for those 17 and under.

“New members are always welcome,” says Paul Brill, secretary-treasurer.

Call Brill at (910) 638-4542 for more information.

Computer Club of the Sandhills

The Computer Club of the Sandhills meets Monday, May 10, at 4 p.m. on the lower level of the Whispering Pines Village Hall.

Don Sebastian will present “Free Google Services.” Some of the topics he will cover include: Google Voice; Google Talk; Google Gmail; Google Video; IGoogle; Google maps and Google documents.

Sebastian is a pilot who has been in the flight testing maintenance business for 40-plus years. He inspects planes from Piper Cubs to Boeing airliners and holds an airline transport rating, is a certified flight instructor,and an A&P mechanic for jets, turboprops, pistons and helicopters. He has been pushing buttons on computers for 30 years.

The Computer Club meets on the second Monday of each month and visitors are always welcome.

For additional information contact George McNally at (910) 949-2294.

Eureka ECA

The Eureka ECA met at Russell’s Fish House for its April meeting.

Eight members attended the luncheon. Mary Ruth Whitaker led the group in their monthly exercises.

Reports on activities conducted this month included success at the bake sale conducted along Joel Road during the Five Mile Yard Sale.

Members also reported picking up 13 bags of trash along Star Ridge Road for the Spring Roadside Pick Up. Pennies were collected for the Women of the World project.

The members voted to sponsor a child in foster care as one of this year’s projects. Committees were formed to research and report on upcoming projects for 2010.

Next month’s meeting will be held at the Senior Citizens Building at 2 p.m. Monday, May 17. The program will be utilizing various exercises to maintain good health. For more information about the meeting call Earlene Frye at (910) 947-5415.

Upcoming events for the club include:

Making fidget aprons and mastectomy pillows on July 22 at the Agricultural Building.

“Members are encouraged to come when and if they can,” says a spokesman. “Bring your lunch.”

A bake sale will take place at Highlanders Farm on May 8. The club will be selling cakes, pies and cookies. The sale will begin at 8 a.m.

Men’s Fellowship

The Sandhills Men’s Fellowship announces that Bob Farren will be the guest speaker at the breakfast meeting Tuesday, May 11, at the Pinehurst Member’s Club.

He will discuss the many enhancements being made to Pinehurst No. 2.

Farren is the director of the Golf Course and Grounds Department at Pinehurst. He graduated in 1979 from Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., with a degree in parks, recreation and tourism and began working at Pinehurst in 1982 as an assistant superintendent.

He and his wife, Kathy, live in Pinehurst and are both active in the community as well as the First Baptist Church in Southern Pines.  Their son, Casey, will graduate in May from N.C. State in the School of Design with a focus on architecture.  Daughter Kristin is a sophomore at N.C. State.

Fellowship begins at 7:45 a.m. with breakfast following at 8 a.m. For more information, call Tom Stewart at (910) 295-9775.

NARFE

The National Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) Sandhills Chapter 1895 will hold its monthly meeting Monday, May 10, at 10:30 a.m. at the Community Congregational Church, 141 N. Bennett St., Southern Pines.

Guest speaker John  Krahnert III, a reporter for The Pilot, will speak on regional journalism and answer general reporting-related questions.

Chapter 1895 welcomes all Federal (including U.S. Postal Service) active employees, retirees, spouses and surviving spouses to monthly meetings.

Additional information about NARFE is available by contacting Vilma Geisert at (910) 215-5898 or George Sandoval at (910) 246-9881.

Republican Men

Sheriff Lane Carter will be the featured speaker at the May 13 meeting of the Moore County Republican Men’s Club.

Nonmembers are welcome, according to a spokesman.

The meeting begins at noon at the Country Club of North Carolina.

Interested persons can call Miles Barber at (910) 295-1577.

Seven Lakes Lions

Joyce Scarlett. from the Senior Enrichment Center will speak on Medicare benefits at the Seven Lakes Lions Club meeting Thursday, May 6, at 6 p.m. at West Side Community Center.

Call Roger at (910) 673-0845 for dinner reservations.

This meeting is open to all community residents.

The Seven Lakes Lions help the sight and hearing impaired. Used eyeglasses are collected at Seven Lakes Prescription Shoppe and Seven Lakes Eye Care.

For membership information, call Keith at (910) 673-2611 or Ray at (910) 673-3006.

Photo Club

Producing entertaining slide shows is the focus of the next meeting of the Sandhills Photography Club at 7 p.m. Monday, May 10, at Christ Fellowship Church at the corner of Midland and Pee Dee roads in Southern Pines.

The first of the two featured slide shows is “Florals, Nature and Wildlife,” created by club members Jim Smith and Gary Magee, using 248 slides provided by other club members at the request of the Foxfire Garden Club.

This project incorporates a musical soundtrack, transitional effects and image motion effects. A short discussion of the software used will follow.

The evening’s program will conclude with a second slide show created by local photographer and artist Frank Pierce using photographs taken during his visit last year to Southern Pines’ sister community in Northern Ireland.

For more information about the club, visit the website www.sandhillsphotoclub.org.

Whispers

Superior Court Judge James Webb recently presented a program at a Whispers luncheon attended by both women and men at the Country Club of Whispering Pines.

Webb discussed the need for a new courthouse with an adjoining jail. A question-and-answer session followed.

New officers for 2010-2011 are Sandy Armstrong and Sue Jaehne, co-presidents; Pam Venet, vice president; Hope Dugenske, recording secretary; Mary Steffan, corresponding secretary; and Sharyne Rogers, treasurer.

The next Whispers luncheon, being planned by Lori Motta, Mary Lou Winn, Nancy O’Connell, Sue Jaehne, Doris Russell and Mary Steffan, will be held Wednesday, May 12, at the Country Club of Whispering Pines. Professor Bill Croft, of the Health Sciences Department at Sandhills Community College, will present the program “Mindful Eating: Focus on Healing Foods.”

The planned luncheon menu is chicken salad on a croissant with a side salad and choice of dressing, lemon meringue pie and a beverage station. Reservation checks in the amount of $14, made out to Whispers, should be sent to Nancy O’Connell, 4 Pine Crescent, Whispering Pines, NC 28327 prior to Friday, May 7.

The social time begins at 11:30 a.m., with lunch served at noon.

For information, call (910) 949-4234.

Kiwanis of the Pines

Bob Vetter, of the Sandhills Area Land Trust, was the speaker for the Kiwanis of the Pines recently.

He gave members an overview of which counties in North Carolina were included in the Land Trust. Moore County is one of the six counties in the state that make up the “Lagoon of the Ocean” that stretches from the Georgia border to the Virginia area.

Women of Weymouth

Women of Weymouth will wrap up their 2009-2010 season with the annual strawberry social luncheon Monday, May 17, starting at 10:30 a.m.

Pianist David Michael Wolff will present the program. Wolff is a prize-winning international performer who made his orchestral debut as a piano soloist at the age of 12.

Three years later he entered the University of Washington on full scholarship majoring in romance languages and piano performance. He went on to obtain his master’s degree in New York City and has won numerous prizes in international competitions, including grand prize in the Naomi Management International Competition in New York City.

He was then presented in recital at Carnegie Hall, where he continues to appear regularly, both as a pianist and conductor.

After firmly establishing his career as a concert pianist, Wolff took up the baton and began a second career as a conductor. He studied three years in Rome and began performing throughout Italy, conducting opera and symphonic works, as well as conducting piano concertos from the keyboard.

Wolff is principal conductor of the Manhattan Chamber Philharmonic as well as the Carolina Philharmonic. He is an avid linguist, fluent in five languages, and is a sought-after coach of international opera stars as well as aspiring concert pianists.

His diverse interests have led to collaborations with such artists as Mikhail Baryshnikov and to numerous commissions to arrange and compose works for opera, modern dance and other multimedia projects.

Wolff recently took part in the internationally renowned St. Bart’s Music Festival in the French West Indies, where he was assistant conductor.

Wolff is also the newly appointed music director at Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Pinehurst.

“This is wonderful to have this remarkable artist come to Weymouth,” says program chairman Donna May, “We are very fortunate to have him.”

There is a luncheon charge of $5 for WOW members and $10 for guests. Seating is limited.

For reservations, call Marion Gaida at (910) 295-0591.