The Oak Ridge Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) is now in its fourth decade of helping community residents to complete and file tax returns.
The 2021 VITA Tax Center will open on Tuesday, February 9, and it is again located at the United Way of Anderson County at 728 Emory Valley Road. The Center will be open from Tuesday through Saturday. The new operating hours are from 1-6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. There will be no evening hours.
Oak Ridge Police Chief Robin Smith will speak to the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge on Tuesday.
The meeting will be virtual, conducted online, because of COVID-19. It is scheduled to start at noon Tuesday, January 19.
Smith has served with the Oak Ridge Police Department since 2012. He served as a lieutenant for two years before being promoted to captain and then deputy chief, a press release said. He was appointed ORPD chief in October 2018.
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A celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday morning will feature Garfield Adams, Oak Ridge High School principal.
It’s the 33rd Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Program, and it’s titled “The Community Speaks.” The theme for this year’s program is “A Change Has Come.”
The program is virtual, and it will be on Zoom Webinar. The program will feature a past first-place winner of the NAACP Essay Contest, a press release said.
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David Lane Mason, a member of the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board and community volunteer, died of COVID-19 complications on Monday. He was 79.
Mason was a former deputy director of environmental management and enrichment facilities at the former K-25 site, and he retired from the United States Enrichment Corporation in 2005 as the director of Centrifuge Engineering and Manufacturing Project, according to his obituary.
As a founding member of the Oak Ridge Rowing Association, Mason helped develop and build the rowing course at Melton Hill Lake, his obituary said. As a member of the Sunset Rotary Club of Oak Ridge, he helped establish the annual Da Vinci Arts and Science Fair for elementary and middle school students, the obituary said.
A nuclear physicist and Oak Ridge resident, Mason died at the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville on Monday. He was a community advocate for more than 50 years, his obituary said.
Here is more information about Dave Mason from his obituary:
[Read more…]Nine Oak Ridge congregations will present a free drive-through nativity from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, December 19.
Everyone is invited to drive through the parking lots of the following churches in order, beginning with First Christian Church on the west end of town, to view scenes from the Christmas story, a press release said. [Read more…]
Santa will be on hand at this year’s Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce’s “reverse” parade to be held Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020, from 6-8 p.m. (Submitted photo)
The Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce’s annual Christmas Parade will be held this year, but with a twist. This year’s offering will be a “reverse” parade, a press release said.
The event will be held on Saturday, December 12, from 6-8 p.m. The theme of this year’s “reverse” parade is “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.” More than 40 individuals and organizations have signed up to display along the parade route, the press release said. [Read more…]
A temporary road closure is planned for Lafayette Drive on Saturday, December 12, to allow for the “reverse” parade to take place.
The northbound lanes of Lafayette Drive will be closed to traffic beginning around 3 p.m., a press release said. The southbound lanes and access roads will be closed to traffic beginning around 5 p.m. Both will remain closed to traffic until the parade ends at 8. [Read more…]
First Presbyterian Church will provide a free meal and bag of groceries to food-insecure guests who stop by the church between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 10.
The church’s monthly Welcome Table community meal program plans to supply each guest with a meal consisting of taco soup, Fritos, fruit, and brownies, a press release said. In addition, each family in a car will receive a bag containing foods for making a holiday dinner. [Read more…]
The fifth season of the Winter Farmers’ Market begins indoors Saturday, December 5, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., and it is focused on safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, a press release said.
The market is open Saturdays through March (closed December 26), at St. Mary’s Catholic School at 323 Vermont Avenue in Oak Ridge.
All vendors and customers must wear masks, and vendors are spread apart for social distancing, the press release said.
New this year is a 100 percent touch-free curbside pickup program called Market-to-Go. Customers can shop farmers’ market products online during the week, and pick them up curbside on Saturday mornings, the press release said.
“We have been working all year to get ready for a safe, indoor market. Not many towns our size offer a Winter Farmers’ Market, much less one with more than 30 vendors and a convenient online store,” said Rebecca Williams, director of Grow Oak Ridge, the nonprofit organization that produces the market.
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Molly McCanta and her University of Tennessee students are analyzing moon rock from NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972. She will discuss this moon science at the Children’s Museum Gala on Friday. (Submitted photo)
Moon science and moonshine will each be featured at the December 4 virtual Gala hosted by the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge. The Gala theme, “MoonShine on the Mountain,” celebrates the region’s mountain heritage with humor, stories, and music, as well as the Museum’s own Rocket Room that encourages play in a space-like setting, a press release said.
Sugarlands Distilling Company, the Gatlinburg-based producer of award-winning moonshine and other spirits, will add its expertise and storytelling to the event, supporting the Gala in a variety of ways.
As for moon science, Molly McCanta will be a guest at the Gala, explaining how she and her University of Tennessee students are analyzing moon rock from NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972. The UT professor is participating in a three-year project with researchers at two other facilities as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing in 1969. [Read more…]
ORAU exceeded its goal of raising $100,000 in donations as part of its internal annual giving campaign that benefits the United Way and Community Shares, a press release said. Total donations during the past 10 years have totaled more than $1 million.
As part of the 2020 ORAU Annual Giving Campaign, a total of $106,373.72 was pledged, the press release said. Employees donated by payroll deduction and could earmark their donation for United Way, Community Shares, or both nonprofit organizations.
“ORAU is especially proud of our employees for stepping up during such a time of uncertainty and COVID-19 to help others in need in our communities,” said ORAU President and Chief Executive Officer Andy Page. “This year, the entire campaign was conducted virtually, so our internal organizations did not have the opportunity to include fundraisers and friendly competitions to raise money like we have done in the past.” [Read more…]
The free community Thanksgiving Dinner at High Places Community Church and Grove Theater in Oak Ridge is Thursday.
This year’s program has been changed to allow people to maintain physical distances.
The Oak Ridge Community Thanksgiving Dinner is hosted by a grassroots group of people.
Dinner will be served by drive-up/walk-up from 12 to 1 p.m. Thursday at 123 Randolph Road in Grove Center.
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