The Bill and Joan Alfond Foundation has awarded Good Shepherd Food Bank, Maine’s largest hunger-relief organization, a $200,000 grant to fund strategies for eliminating food insecurity in Piscataquis County and central Maine, including Dexter.

Three current Foxcroft Academy students and two incoming students were presented Horizon Scholarships by Tom Lizotte of the Foxcroft Academy Board of Trustees at a May 9 assembly. Horizon Scholarships provide financial support for exceptional academic experiences not presently offered at Foxcroft Academy.

Greta Schroeder of Biddeford has been hired as the new director of library services for the Thompson Free Library in Dover-Foxcroft. Schroeder, who starts in her new position on May 18, will replace Helen Fogler, who is retiring after serving for 21 years in that role.

Summer vacation doesn’t have to mean the end of learning for the school year. Foxcroft Academy is pleased to announce the following summer school offerings for credit: Local Ecology, Practical Spoken French, Introduction to Human Services, Personal Finance, and Lobster Bowl Media Relations.

Leslie Lizotte, Aging and Disability Resource Center specialist from the Eastern Area Agency on Aging, will be holding a Medicare 101 class at the Piscataquis County office building (Peaks House) located at 163 East Main Street from 10 a.m. to noon on Wednesday, May 16.

The following births were recorded recently at Mayo Regional Hospital

Upcoming events around the region.

Sponsored by Pine Tree Hospice and the Maine Humanities Council, this book club offers a wide range of readings that will make you think about the subject of tenderness as you never have before. Join this engaging book club that is facilitated by Greg Winston, a professor of English at Husson University. The group will provide a platform to read different, distinctive works that will fascinate and intrigue. Read, discuss, or feel free just to listen – and enjoy this experience. Members need not attend all events.

Dexter Dover Area Towns in Transition (DDATT) is sponsoring a free artisan bread-making workshop from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 12 at the Universalist Church kitchen on Hall Street.

A near-capacity crowd filled the Center Theatre on May 4 for opening night of “Disney's Lion King Jr.” They were treated to a local all-youth cast performance that brought them to their feet in a standing ovation. The play, directed by Ben Layman with vocal direction by Emily Allen, is a production of the Center Theatre and Slightly Off-Center Players.

Tisbury Manor Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) held its first meeting of the year on April 22. At this meeting Colleen Taylor, left, was awarded her 10-Year Membership Certificate. Taylor served as Tisbury Manor registrar for six years and she is currently the chapter historian.

Area youth are invited to a Hooked on Fishing Not Drugs event from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 19 at the (Dover-Foxcroft) Kiwanis Park Pond behind the Piscataquis Regional YMCA -- those stopping by are asked to bring bait and tackle. The session is sponsored by the Maine State Police, Dover-Foxcroft Police Department and Will’s Shop ‘n Save.

On May 1 a special assembly was held at Foxcroft Academy to announce the Class of 2018’s outstanding scholars at the annual Rose Award ceremony. This year the recipients are Jinlin “Wayne” Chen, Jenna Clukey (the Class of 2018 valedictorian), Emily Curtis, Maya Hagelin, Charlotte Jolin, Gabrielle Jolin, Shu “Will” Lin, Griffin Loomis, Virginia Macomber, Avery Nelson (the salutatorian), Jacob Olson, Esau Olson, and Joshua Reed.

Piscataquis County Democrats and guests gathered on April 29 for the annual spring Brunch at American Legion Post 29. Over 100 people enjoyed a delicious brunch prepared by David Ziemer, Sue Mackey Andrews and numerous volunteers while listening to candidates for governor, the Second Congressional District and local candidates for the Maine House and Senate.

Fourteen members of the Abbott Memorial Library’s Book Club met on April 25 to celebrate the club’s 10th anniversary. An anniversary dinner was served featuring foods of the 1950s, members had just completed reading David Halberstam’s ”The Fifties.”

The Center Theatre for the Performing Arts announced that it will be hosting the first annual Central Maine Talent Search. The event, which will offer cash and other prizes totaling close to $2,000, will consist of three preliminary events in June, July and August and a grand finale in September. Entrants must be at least 10 years old, can perform any entertaining talent either by themselves or with two other people, and cannot have been paid more than $500 to perform their talent in the past year.

Foxcroft Academy is pleased to announce the honor parts for this year’s graduating class, the 195th class in school history. The Valedictorian is Jenna Clukey and the Salutatorian is Avery Nelson.

Maine Woods Forever is pleased to announced that the Greenville-based Natural Resource Education Center (NREC) Maine Woods Explorers program is one of three recipients of the 2018 Teddy Roosevelt Maine Conservation Award – a youth-oriented award created to recognize young people and youth groups whose efforts are in the spirit of Roosevelt’s conservation ethic and achievements. The award recognizes what Maine’s youth are doing to appreciate and conserve their forest heritage. It also encourages them to become future conservation leaders.