SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2015
Applicants sought for Habitat
for Humanity homes
Informational meetings set for next week.
Florence
Habitat
for
Humanity is looking for peo-
ple with moderate incomes
who would like to become
Habitat homeowners.
Anyone who has lived or
worked within the Siuslaw
Fire District for at least one
year and is a legal U.S. resi-
dent may be eligible.
Applications will be consid-
ered based on need, ability to
make mortgage payments and
willingness to work with
Habitat for Humanity volun-
teers in building the home.
Information and home own-
ership applications will be
available at three meetings in
the Florence Habitat for
Humanity
office,
2004
Highway 101, north of City
Lights Cinemas. The meetings
are Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 7 p.m.,
Friday, Jan. 23, at 1 p.m., and
Saturday, Jan. 24, at 10 a.m.
9 A
KB Gallery to host watercolor workshop
Award-winning water-
color
artist
Kathryn
Damon-Dawson
invites
anyone who wishes to dis-
cover the joy of painting
with watercolor to a work-
shop
titled
“Making
Friends with Watercolor.”
The workshop is Sunday,
Jan. 25, from 2 to 5 p.m., at
Kenneth B Gallery, 1458
First St., in Old Town.
This will be an introduc-
tory workshop offering an
exploration of beginning
methods and various tech-
niques of watercolor paint-
ing.
Cost is $30 and includes
all materials necessary for a
Award-winning watercolor “White Bishop, Black Knight”
by Kathryn Damon-Dawson (courtesy photo)
three-hour session.
Damon-Dawson recent-
ly received an award for
her painting, “White
Bishop, Black Knight” in
the Watercolor Society of
Oregon’s Fall 2014 exhibi-
tion.
Besides painting, she is
a published author and
founding member of
Backstreet Gallery, where
her works are available for
sale, 1421 Bay St., in Old
Town.
Tickets and workshop
information are available
online at www.KennethB
Gallery.com, or call SK
Lindsey at 541-999-5875.
The Florence Garden Club
invites Siuslaw and Mapleton
high school seniors to apply
for the Garden Club scholar-
ship for the 2014-2015 school
year.
Applicants must be plan-
ning a post-high school career
in horticulture or a related
field, such as forestry or envi-
ronmental science.
Awards are typically $1,000
spring community plant sale.
Florence and Mapleton area
merchants have contributed
merchandise and services for
raffles as well as monetary
donations to the club for
scholarship fundraising.
The Florence Garden Club
was formed in 1949 to
improve the community and to
promote the knowledge of
horticulture.
The club meets the second
Wednesday of each month at
12:30 p.m., at the Presbyterian
Church on Highway 101 in
Florence.
The club currently has more
than 100 members.
For more information about
scholarship applications, con-
tact a school counselor or call
Carol Jolley, scholarship
chairwoman, at 541-902-9343.
State parks department offers local grants
RELAY FOR LIFE
SALEM — The Oregon
Parks
and
Recreation
Department (OPRD) has
announced the opening of the
2015 Local Government Grant
Program grant cycle for fund-
ing public parks and recreation
projects.
Large, small and planning
grants are available for cities,
counties, metropolitan service
districts, park and recreation
Flor enc e K ic k Off
Join us Saturday, January 31st
4:00pm - 7:00pm
At the Elks Lodge (back dining room)
1686 12th Street, Florence OR
C h i l i C o ok Off
&
De s sert A u c t ion !
districts, and port districts
looking to fund the following
types of projects: planning,
development, rehabilitation,
acquisition and acquisition and
development.
The program is designed to
help local government agen-
cies acquire property for park
purposes and fund outdoor
park and recreation areas and
facilities. The grants are fund-
ed from voter-approved lottery
money.
OPRD gives more than $4
million annually to Oregon
communities for outdoor recre-
ation projects and has awarded
nearly $50 million in grants
since 1999.
Applications, a grant manu-
al, application deadlines and
other information are online at
www.oprdgrants.org.
AARP seeks volunteers for Florence program
Anyone who is passionate
about safety, enjoys helping
others and strives to make
their community a better
place, AARP Driver Safety
would like to meet you.
AARP Driver Safety, the
nation’s first and largest older
driver safety initiative, is
recruiting
volunteers
to
instruct, coordinate and pro-
Chili Winners announced at 6:00pm
Dessert Auction starts at 5:30pm
Bowl of Chili - $3.00
Stick around for fun and games,
Minute to Win it challenge and live music!
Breaking news,
photo galleries
and MORE!
For more information, contact Nicole Hundley at (541) 554-9862
We ’ r e
or more. Applications are
available through high school
counseling departments.
Deadline for applying is
April 1.
Since the first scholarship
was awarded in 1994, more
than $47,000 has been distrib-
uted to local students. The
Garden Club raises funds
throughout the year from
donations, raffles and the
in it to wi n it !
Visit the Siuslaw News
online at
mote the AARP Smart Driver
Course.
AARP Driver Safety has
opportunities available for
instructors who will organize
and teach AARP Smart Driver
classroom courses at local col-
leges, community centers,
libraries, hospitals and senior
centers.
There are immediate open-
ings in the Florence and adja-
cent areas.
This is a great opportunity
to help seniors avoid crashes,
brush up on basic driving
skills and learn how to adapt to
new driving conditions and
most importantly continue to
maintain their independence
longer.
All AARP Driver Safety
volunteer positions are unpaid.
However, volunteers are reim-
bursed for approved out-of-
pocket expenses, such as
mileage, parking and basic
supplies.
If you have a prior teaching
or instructor background, or
have been an associated with
driving, such as in law
enforcement, trucking, taxi
driving or if you just like
interacting and helping peo-
ple, AARP would like to tell
you more about this opportu-
nity.
Send an email with a brief
note about your background to
dennisdater@gmail.com, or go
online to www.aarp.org/drive.
Click the Volunteer, Teach or
Promote a Class button, and
fill in the application at the
bottom of the screen.
WWW.THESIUSLAWNEWS.COM
Processing 2014 state, federal
tax filing begins Tuesday
L O R I G AT E S
VP, Florence Branch Manager
We are Oregon Pacific Bank!
We focus on building genuine relationships with our clients, being there in person whenever you need us.
member
1355 HWY 101
F LO R E N C E
541-997-7121
www.opbc.com
@OregonPacBank
SALEM — The 2015 tax
filing season has begun for
both the Oregon Department
of Revenue and the Internal
Revenue Service.
Both agencies will begin
accepting returns electronical-
ly and processing all returns
on Jan. 20. Revenue encour-
ages Oregon taxpayers to e-
file their state and federal tax
returns.
“Taxpayers can get their
refunds sooner if they e-file,”
said Ken Ross, manager of the
Personal Income Tax program.
“You can get your refund in
seven to 10 business days,
instead of the six to eight
weeks it takes to get your
refund if you file a paper
return.”
Other e-filing benefits
include: Fewer errors, faster
return processing, quicker and
safer return transmission, and
acknowledgement of receipt
from Revenue and the IRS.
There are a number of e-fil-
ing software options.
Oregon has teamed up with
the IRS Free File Alliance,
which means some of the
Oregon-approved online tax
preparation sites offer free e-
filing for federal and Oregon
returns.
For more information on e-
filing, visit www.oregon.gov/
dor/e-filing.
Visit www.oregon.gov/dor
to get tax forms, check the sta-
tus of your refund, or make tax
payments; or call 1-800-356-
4222 toll-free from an Oregon
prefix (English or Spanish);
503-378-4988 in Salem and
outside Oregon; or email
questions.dor@oregon.gov.
For TTY (hearing or speech
impaired), call 1-800-886-
7204.
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CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
Garden Club seeks student applicants for scholarship