By Kathy Thomson

This Sunday afternoon, members of the Albany Ministerial Alliance along with volunteers from the community, will deliver the Alliance’s annual Christmas baskets to those in Albany and Moran who have requested home delivery of the food boxes, and those who wish to help spread some holiday cheer are invited to come to The Feed Store and join the gift giving.

“We always welcome extra helpers, and they can either deliver a route, or jump in and assist another group if all of the routes are covered,” said Alliance secretary Tisha Wilkins.

With no Albany News scheduled for publication next week, readers and advertisers are reminded that all ads and news articles should be submitted the following week by Monday, Dec. 30 at 12:00 noon for the Jan. 2 issue of the paper.

Typically, the deadline is at 12:00 noon on Tuesdays, but because New Year’s Day falls on Wednesday, the staff plans to finish that issue earlier in order to comply with the print schedule.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Republic Services, trash pickup contractor for the City of Albany, will run on slightly different schedules for the next two weeks.

Residential trash containers and business and industrial containers normally picked up on Wednesday, Dec. 25 will change to Thursday, Dec. 26. 

Trash service will continue to be one day later than normal through the holiday week for both residential and business containers, with Saturday pickup planned for the usual Friday schedule.

The same timetable has been issued for the week of New Year’s.

By Kathy Thomson

Christmas is less than a week away, and with the help of generous donors, several local organizations are working to help make sure that everyone in Shackelford County has a Merry Christmas.

Food Drive

ResourceCare program assistant Ragan Riley has requested donations of non-perishable food items in time for the upcoming holiday.

“We would like to anyone who is able to do so, to donate non-perishable food items that we can distribute to those in need this Christmas season,” she said.

By Melinda L. Lucas

Students at the Albany Independent School District will be released for the day at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 19, and will break for the Christmas holidays at noon this Friday, Dec. 20.

The district will be closed for the winter break from Monday, Dec. 23 through Friday, Jan. 3.

A staff development day is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 6, and classes will resume at the normal times on Tuesday, Jan. 7. 

AJSH

Semester finals are continuing through this Friday at the secondary campus.

By Kathy Thomson

Several students and teams from Nancy Smith Elementary School and Albany Junior High placed at the district A+Academics University Interscholastic League meets held during December. 

Writing exams were taken at the regular campuses. Speaking events were held in Stamford on Tuesday, Dec. 3. The remaining academic contests took place at Hawley on Tuesday, Dec. 10.

UIL rules group second through fifth graders in the elementary division, and place sixth through eighth grade together in the middle school section. 

The Hendrick Regional Blood Center bloodmobile will be at First Baptist Church on the first Thursday of the new year, Jan. 2, from 1:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. 

Hendrick Regional Blood Center supplies all of the blood and blood products used for patient care at 17 area hospitals.

Blood center employees urge community members to donate blood to help ensure that patients in the hospitals they serve have a supply of blood ready and waiting before an emergency occurs.

Donors will receive a T-shirt. Those who have eligibility questions can call 325-670-2880. 

By Kathy Thomson

The former Shekinah office building, located catty-corner to the post office and near the Depot, is being re-purposed into a long-awaited senior citizens center, but funding is still needed to complete the transformation.

According to Albany city manager Billy Holson, pledges for the building are still outstanding.

By Kathy Thomson

The Shackelford County Youth and Livestock Association met last Tuesday, Dec. 10, to finalize plans for this year’s stock show, and with a large number of entries expected, the annual fundraising drive has begun.

“It looks like it will be bigger than ever this year,” said association president Bronco Askew. “I haven’t heard the exact numbers yet, but Chris (Beard) had a stack of entry cards that must have been around four inches high.”

By Melinda L. Lucas

A new board member was sworn in during a very brief meeting of the Shackelford County Hospital District directors on Monday, Dec. 16.

Chris Beard, who had indicated his willingness to serve the remainder of an unexpired term vacated months ago by Angela Farmer, was present for the session and repeated the required oath.

Since there was not a quorum present, a conference call on speaker was placed to members John Ayers and Jo Ann Estridge.

The call was just long enough to swear in Beard and approve the bills for payment.