Two Salem senior centers are taking steps to help the homeless and less-fortunate in their communities. “We still have two or three individuals who look for homeless coming for lunch at our Marion-Polk Food Share lunches,” says Donna Avina, president of South Salem Senior Center. “For quite a while after the homeless camp on Commercial near us was broken up, we had a number, mostly men. Most of these people are gone now, because we heard they broke up the two camps these groups had set up.

Read a good book lately? Even techies like to read a good book once in a while, and libraries, book stores, book publishers, even online sites such as Goodreads.com, meetup.com and Facebook, provide outlets to discuss the written word.

The Contreras family owns a small bakery but bakes traditional Mexican goodies with a big heart. “We love what we do,” says Maria Contreras, who runs Pilos Mexican Bakery in Corvallis with her parents, Celestino Contreras Padilla and Marcelina Lopez de Contreras, and brother Alberto Contreras.

Whether a small flower or a full arm sleeve, the beauty of body art transcends age so go ahead and get that “tat.”

Reduce at home, at work and on the go. Since waste reduction is the highest priority in the solid waste hierarchy, Marion County Environmental Services reminds the community that it’s much better – and less expensive – to not generate waste in the first place than to have to recycle or dispose of it afterward.

Kyle Isaacs and Lori Killen Aus are part of a growing breed of mobile dental care providers who actually pack up their dental tools and come to their patients — from the home to the hospital and even to senior care facilities.

Are you prepared for any emergency that could threaten your health and safety? Are you ready to help others in your neighborhood in case of a disaster?

Do you remember newsreels before movies, Blackjack chewing gum, roller skate keys, Butch wax, party lines, and cereal with prizes in the box? Did your mom buy her groceries at a particular grocery store just to get that free dinner plate? Did the groceries come with an added bonus – S&H Green Stamps?

When temperatures dip, two local groups step up to help provide wood for those who may be struggling to stay warm.

It’s a wrap — but be aware, officers driving these particular cars still enforce traffic laws and other police duties.

It turns out, Silver Falls State Park is a great place to birdwatch. “American Dippers at the waterfalls, a sheer abundance of Wilson’s Warbler and Pacific Wren and Red-breasted Sapsuckers just about everywhere,” says Steve Shunk, owner and lead guide of Paradise Birding. “You can catch the morning songs of the Varied Thrush and Swainson’s Thrush, and just being in the temperate rainforest habitat is invigorating.”

Do you know that honeybees travel about 55,000 miles and gather nectar from approximately two million blossoms just to make one pound of honey? Honeybees have been around for some 30 million years, and are one of the most important pollinators in Oregon agriculture, increasing crop yields and producing better produce, according to reports from beekeepers.

At a time when most seniors are enjoying their retirement, Guy and Mary Ann Scott still run a 400-acre farm about 10 miles northeast of Sublimity. “We’re very busy,” Mary Ann says. “We have a big garden and big yard to take care of and other daily chores.”

Retired businessman Bill Lackner loves to fish, dig clams and catch crabs “over and over, again and again.” “I got interested in these activities when I was unable to work, and wrote a book about harvesting the amazing bounty from the marine environment common to the Oregon Coast,” says Lackner, founder of the Clam Diggers Association of Oregon. “The work included thousands of hours of research. The topics in the book, which in time became an encyclopedia, was too large to be published.”

“I don’t get new clothes very often and when I do, I feel awesome.”

Hungry, but no time to roam the aisles of the grocery store? Local grocery outlets are now offering ways for customers to shop without coming into their stores.

Dee Anna Morgan has been an arts and crafts gal as far back as she can remember. “We are neighbors with Jessica Ramey, and one day she sent me a Facebook invite to ‘like’ the Free Art Friday page,” says Morgan, who lives with her husband Hugh in South Salem.

At the Monmouth Senior Center, everyone is made to feel welcome. “The senior community needs someone to care, make them feel important, give them a place where they can fellowship, have fun, increase their knowledge, provide ways to keep their bodies fit, and even have a place to volunteer so they know they are still needed,” says Sue Teal, director. “The center serves 55 and older, but also is considered a community center that allows people to rent the facility or hold classes for younger adults.”

Restaurateur Carlos Pineda knows first-hand how networking helps to keep small businesses afloat. “My wife and I own El Patrón Mexican Grill,” Pineda says of his Keizer restaurant. “We opened about two years ago, and it’s been a difficult journey to start, but it’s been a fun ride so far.” At his restaurant, Pineda is living his dream of making people happy with lots of “good, fresh and authentic” Mexican food.

For Salem Friends of Felines, the holiday season is simply “meow-velous.” “Kittens are in high demand come holiday season,” says Heather Clark, SFOF’s director of marketing and fundraising. “Unfortunately, the breeding season, also known as the kitten season, is generally over by the time the holidays come so there are very few available. We do, however, have many young adults and senior (kitties) deserving of love waiting for find homes year-round.” Although many people like choosing a feline “gift” for their loved ones, SFOF prefers adopters meet the kitty in person to make sure there is chemistry between them, Clark says.

Fun happens when friends get together to sing. “Spreading joy through music gives meaning to my life,” says Jerry Jeffreys, one of many “best friends” singing in the all-volunteer, mixed-voice choir, Just for Fun Singers.

If ever there was a question that gets answered with a storm of finger pointing, it’s asking, “Why is the cost of college and student debt so high?”

For Dale Harris, the old adage “put pencils in a drummer’s hand and out comes a cadence” has roots in his boyhood and stays true today. “When I was around 6 years old, I beat on a type of stool with straw interior nearly destroying it by my playing it like a drum to the music on the radio,” says the 86-year-old Salem father of four. “I got my first real drums in grade school and played in a grade school orchestra.” In high school, Harris switched to prancing in front of the band as drum major at the Rose Festival Parade.

Terry Marsh’s garage in south Salem is haunted — or at least it is every October near Halloween when it’s filled with an array of ghosts, witches, zombies, tombstones and even the Grim Reaper.