Palermo Food Pantry needs donations

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Due to the recent fire at the Hannaford distribution center in Portland, food donations from Hannaford stores to the local food pantries have decreased. The timing could not have been more unfortunate, as very little local produce is coming in just yet.

Over the past six years, the Palermo Food Pantry has grown from 15 families to at least 50 families. Most of these people are disabled elders, although there are some young families with children and infants who regularly use the Pantry. Since food stamps have been cut drastically, food pantries across the country have sprung up to provide a safety net for people facing layoffs, injuries, and family breakups. Here in Maine, a recent report stated that 20% of us face food insecurity. Most of those people are children.

Meanwhile, people still need to eat. The Palermo Food Pantry has access to food from Good Shepherd, but must buy it from the distribution center in Orono. Please consider donating money or non-perishable food items to your local pantry. The Living Communities Foundation can also act as a funding conduit for the Palermo Food Pantry, to purchase gas and food. Please send your check to: LCF, P.O. Box 151, Palermo, ME 04354, and put “Food Pantry” in the “for” line in the lower left corner to assure that all 100 percent of your donation will go to feed people.

PALERMO: Meet the Author series

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The Palermo Community Library presents Sister Elizabeth Wagner, the award-winning author of Seasons in My Garden: Meditations from a Hermitage, on Sunday, April 30, at 2 p.m. She will disclose what led her to become a hermit and the founding of Transfiguration Hermitage, in Windsor.

In the prologue, Sr. Wagner writes: “I didn’t come to Maine gladly. In fact, I came kicking and screaming: ‘This is Siberia, Lord!’…I came to Maine because it was a place that I could earn a living in solitude… And yet for me, it felt as if I’d been exiled to Siberia.”

In her inspirational book, she reveals how her contemplative life of prayer, tending a garden and meditations, led her to a deeper understanding of the presence of God.

The Library is located at 2789 Route 3. For more information: call 993-6088 or email palermo@palermo.lib.me.us.

The Palermo Community Library offers Kindles, books, large print books, audio books, Inter-library loan, DVDs, VHS tapes, Wi-Fi, patron computers, printing, faxing, and ancestrylibrary.com! There is also a community room with a large screen TV available for meetings and presentations.

The Palermo Community Library is an all-volunteer library. If you would like to volunteer, please call 993-6088.

 

PALERMO: Order Vidalia Onions Now

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The deadline for ordering Vidalia onions, fresh from the farm in Georgia, is fast approaching. April 27 is the last day to call Connie at 993-2294 or e-mail pwhitehawk@fairpoint.net. These fresh, sweet beauties will be ready for pick up at the Palermo Community Center on Turner Ridge Road as of 8:30 a.m., on Saturday, May 6, as well as Sunday, May 7.

The onions are carefully packed into 25# boxes to prevent bruising on their express trip to Maine. The price is $27.00 per box. These onions keep up to 6 months, if they are kept in a cool place and not allowed to touch one another. Half boxes can be ordered for $16.00 a box (We have to buy boxes.). However, if you get together with friends and order four or more boxes, you get a discount of $2 per box. Recipes are available!

Racing Extinction in Palermo on April 28

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PALERMO — As Earth Day approaches, now is the time to consider all of the lifeforms that share our planet with us. Native Americans consider these beings as relatives, and that is really a good way to value them. However, humanity has not been treating these relatives very well.

Academy Award-winning filmmakers expose the forces that are leading our planet to what could be the next mass extinction, potentially resulting in the loss of half of all species. Two forces, the shadowy international wildlife trade, and the gas and oil industry, are uncloaked for what they ultimately do to life on our Earth. This may sound depressing, but the film is actually an inspiring affirmation to preserve life as we know it, and know that we can get off what Native Americans term The Death Path.

Racing Extinction will be shown on Friday, April 28, following a delicious free potluck meal at 6 p.m. at the Palermo Community Center on Turner Ridge Road in Palermo. Bring a dish to share or a donation to the Food Pantry and prepare for spirited discussion following the movie. Contact Connie Bellet at 993-2294 for further info.

 

Palermo Consolidated School honor roll

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High honors: Cody Devaney. General honors: Lily Bray, Wyatt Bray, Nickolas Christiansen, Timmy Christiansen, Eric Cochran, Jacob Devaney, Jessica Giguere, Grady Hotham, Hallee Huff, Rachel Huntoon, Bo Johnson, Moira MacDowell, Richard Mahoney, Adalyn Mann, Holden McKenney, Sophia Pilotte, Kaden Porter, Karen Potter, Lilly Potter, Riley Reitchel, Kinsey Stevens, Paige Sutter, Aidan Tirrell, Jackson Tirrell, Lily Vinci, Savannah Weymouth and Sam York.

Springtime Vidalia onions now on sale in Palermo

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PALERMO: Sweet, crisp Vidalia onions, fresh from the fields of Georgia, will be coming to the Palermo Community Center on May 5. These large beauties come in 25 pound boxes for only $27. Go in with your neighbors and relatives, and you can get four boxes for only $100! They keep in a well-ventilated cool place for up to six months, especially if they are not allowed to touch one another.

Orders must be placed by April 28. To order, e-mail pwhitehawk@fairpoint.net or call Connie at 993-2294, and be sure to leave your phone number. You will be called as soon as the boxes are unloaded in the late afternoon of May 5. You may pick up the onions during the weekend, as well. Payment is accepted at the time of the order, or in cash at the time of pickup. Checks may be mailed to the Living Communities Foundation, P.O. Box 151, Palermo, ME 04354.

Your support of the Living Communities Foundation is highly appreciated. Proceeds from the sale will go toward roof repairs of the Community Center, the Community Garden, and the Palermo Food Pantry. Stay tuned for upcoming spring and summer events at the Community Center.

PALERMO NEWS: Maine’s Champion Trees topic of Palermo talk

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PALERMO — Maine’s Champion Trees will be the focus of Duane Prugh’s talk at 2 p.m., Saturday, April 8, at the Palermo Community Library, 2789 Route 3. The free event is co-sponsored by the library and the Palermo Historical Society.

Prugh will speak about the most magnificent of trees in Maine, including two national champions, the largest of a particular species in the United States. Maine, the most heavily forested in the nation, has more than 160 different types of trees, many of which have been standing for more than a century.

For more information, contact Palermo Historical Society at 873-4143, palermohistorical@gmail.com, www.palermohistorical.org or Palermo Library at 993-6088, palermo@palermo.lib.me.us, www.palermo.lib.me.us.

 

PALERMO NEWS: “Merchants of Doubt” exposed on Friday

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PALERMO — On Friday, March 31, the Palermo Community Center will host another monthly potluck Dinner-and-a-Movie event, starting at 6 p.m. This one comes from the director of Food, Inc. Merchants of Doubt takes audiences on a satirically comedic , yet illuminating, ride into the heart of the conjuring world of spin doctors. Filmmaker Robert Kenner reveals a secretive group of highly-charismatic, silver-tongued pundits-for-hire who present themselves in the media as scientific authorities – yet have the aim of spreading maximum confusion about well-studied public threats from toxic chemicals and pharmaceuticals to climate change.

Bring a dish to share with friends and neighbors, or a donation to the Food Pantry. The event is free and open to all. The Community Center is just off Turner Ridge Rd., across from the ball field. For more information, please contact Connie at 993-2294.

Local student named spelling bee semifinalist

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Cody Devaney

Cody Devaney, an eighth grader from Palermo Consolidated School, part of RSU#12, recently qualified, for the second year in a row, as one of the top 100 fourth-eighth graders to compete in the Maine National Geography Bee, held at the University of Maine at Farmington. He won the school bee three years in a row and his twin brother won the year before that (who also placed in top three for the last three years.)

Cracking Your Genetic Code in Palermo

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Many of us have journeyed into our pasts through the study of genealogy, but now we can have the information in our DNA – all three billion chemical letters of it – read, stored, and available for analysis. What will this mean? We stand on the verge of a medical revolution that enables scientists to pinpoint and neutralize the genetic abnormalities that underlie a number of medical conditions. Who has access to this information? (Insurance companies, prospective mates, employers?) One thing is certain: the era of personalized, gene-based medicine is relevant to everyone.

Join them at 6 p.m. on Friday, January 27, at the Palermo Community Center for a delicious potluck dinner. Bring a dish to share or contribute to the Food Pantry. After dinner, they’ll show “Cracking Your Genetic Code,” in the downstairs screening room. All are welcome, and it’s free. For more information, please call Connie at 993-2294.