By Melinda L. Lucas The deadline for this year’s Albany Ministerial Alliance Christmas basket program is just a little over a week away, with applications due on Friday, Dec. 6. Forms for Albany and Moran families are available at participating churches and at ResourceCare.

By Kathy Thomson The fifth grade class from Nancy Smith Elementary School attended Camp Grady Spruce, an outdoor educational camp on Possum Kingdom Lake, last week.

By Kathy Thomson The Albany student council will host a blood drive at the secondary campus next Monday, from 10:00 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. “The blood drive is open to everyone,” said advisor Donnie Lucas.

By Kathy Thomson Nancy Smith Elementary School fourth grade students and their teachers traveled to the Abilene Ballet Theatre’s 32nd annual performance of The Nutcracker last week at the Paramount Theatre. “It’s always a really great event,” said NSES fine arts instructor Robbin Westmoreland.

By Melinda L. Lucas Matthews Memorial Presbyterian Church will host its third annual Cele-bration of Remembrance on Sunday, Dec. 8, at 6:00 p.m.

By Melinda L. Lucas Friendship Baptist Church members held their fourth annual Harvest Acres on Saturday, Nov. 23.   “The baked goods flew off the table pretty much as soon as they were set down,” said church member Danita Johnston.

By Kathy Thomson Two Shackelford County 4-H members placed well at the District 7 Food Show on Thursday, Nov. 21 in the Big Country Hall located at the Taylor County Expo Center in Abilene.

By Donnie A. Lucas In a rare second-round loss, the Albany Lions saw their season come to an end earlier than usual with a 24-20 loss to the Windthorst Trojans Friday in Graham.

By Donnie A. Lucas The Lady Lion basketball team is off to a 3-0 start to the season after a pair of wins over the last week. The varsity also hosted a pair of games this week, suffering the first loss of the season in a tough 27-32 game with Ballinger on Monday.

By Kathy Thomson This Saturday, Nov. 30, is the deadline to register fifth and sixth grade boys and girls to play in the Albany Little Dribblers Association youth basketball league, according to organizer Clint Chapman. Sign-up forms were sent home from the elementary school last week.