To Paris Citizens: the Paris Town Office Will Be Closed on Monday, February 15Th in Honor

Town of Paris

Email Update

February 12, 2016

To Paris Citizens: The Paris Town Office will be closed on Monday, February 15th in honor of President's Day.

Members of the Paris Police Department enjoyed coffee and doughnuts with residents of the Maine Veterans' Homes - South Paris Thursday, part of the national Coffee with a Cop effort. Paris residents, what would you like to do with the Fox School? The Town of Paris is Requesting Expressions of Interest (REOI) regarding the future use of the Mildred M. Fox School Building located at 3 E Main St, in Paris. Interested parties may download a copy of the REOI requirements on our website, or stop in at the Paris Town Office during normal business hours to pick up a copy. Completed forms may be dropped off at the Paris Town Office or e-mailed to [email protected]. All REOI’s must be submitted to the Town Office no later than 5:00 PM 3/24/2016. All REOI’s must be sealed and marked “Fox School REOI”. The Board of Selectmen will review the REOI’s on or about 3/28/2016. We appreciate your feedback! Do you need help paying for prescription medications? Call MedAccess, they can help. MedAccess works with individuals and healthcare providers to identify ways patients can save money on prescription medications. The free program, administered by MaineHealth, helps patients and healthcare providers evaluate options such as pharmaceutical companies' patient assistance programs, low-cost generic programs, and Medicare Part D and state and local prescription programs that can help save on prescription medication costs. Local representative at Western Maine Health, FMI call 207-393-3107.

We are in for a very cold spell of weather. The Coat Room of Oxford is in desperate need of winter coats, especially for teens and young adults. Donations can be dropped off at the Chamber office or at Norway Laundry. The Coat Room, which is a program through Rightstart, distributes winter clothing to families free of charge. Located next to the Dollar Tree and Ocean State Job Lots in Oxford, The Coat Room is open Wednesdays from 2-4 PM or by appointment. Contact Wendy Williams at 207.527.2351.

Need help filing your taxes? AARP can help! You do not have to be a senior citizen to qualify for this free service, just call Steve of AARP at 333-6448 and leave your name and number for a callback. Sessions are scheduled at the Norway Memorial Library, all Oxford Hills residents are encouraged to call, must meet low-income standards, and this is for individual tax forms, not for businesses. If you or someone you know could benefit from this service, please share!

Shared from Paris Parks & Recreation Committee: Baseball sign-ups are scheduled for Wednesday, March 9th 5-8 and Saturday, March 12th 9am-noon, both at town office. Paris nights at In the Zone will be 6-8pm on Thursday, February 25th and every Tuesday night throughout March. Cost is $3 per player each night. Also softball league for spring will be 14u this year from 12u in the past. We will still have three levels: majors, minors and rookie. FMI contact Dana Chandler at 743-8402. Shared from the Rotary Club of Oxford Hills: On Wednesday 5 of our members were recognized for their years of perfect attendance! From L to R; Chris Summers, President, Patty Rice (23 years), her husband, George Rice (22 years), Stan Brett (20 years), Ron Morse (5 years), Dan Allen (26 years). Congratulations and thank you for your service! Shared from Community Concepts: Search Engine Optimization: Maximizing the visibility of your website. To be held March 17, 2016 – 9:00 – 10:30 a.m. at the Bethel Inn Resort. Your business website is one of the most important tools your company owns for sales and customer acquisition. It is vitally important that people who are searching for your products or services be able to find your website. Learn how to improve your chances of being found on the internet. Topics covered include:

• What SEO used to be and what it is now

• Factors that affect how well your site is ranked

• Basics of SEO – keyword research, unique page titles, unique META descriptions, page content, Google Analytics, web design

• What you can do to improve your business’ rankings

The cost to attend is $25 for members of any chambers of commerce that serve Oxford County and $30 for nonprofits and businesses that are not a chamber member. To register for the workshop with a credit card go to www.WMEDC.org and click on Events, or you may also send a check payable to Community Concepts Finance Corporation, 17 Market Square, S. Paris, ME 739-6543 or [email protected]. Shared from Oxford Hills Adult Education of South Paris: End the month of February by taking an enrichment class! Monday, February 22 there's a Driver Education Instructor orientation and a Woodlot Management class being offered. Tuesday, February 23 Chinese Language, Chinese Calligraphy, and Facilitating Healthy Emotional Exporession in Children is being offered. Wednesday, February 24 Parent's In the Know, and Substitute Teacher training are offered. Last but not least Thursday, February 24 Compters for Beginners is being offered. To register online go to www.sad17.maineadulted.org or call 743-8842, option 1.

For businesses that have an immediate need, Maine Business Lending at Community Concepts Finance Corp (CCFC) launched a new loan program earlier this month. The new program, which was developed to provide quick access to capital for Maine business owners, was announced at the new offices of the Maine Business Lending Center in the Community Concepts building at 240 Bates St, Lewiston.

"The new program aims to be paperless, where applicants can upload all the required documents directly to our website," Maher explains "but, more importantly, it is fast." Loans of $10,000 or less allows for faster loan closings, with minimal paperwork required. "This means if we receive all the required paperwork on Monday we can have a check ready on Friday." The Maine Business Lending Center is a division of Community Concepts Finance Corp, a non- profit Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) with a mission to provide education and financial resources, including loans, for business and economic development activities in urban and rural low-income areas. For more information, please visit: www.mainebusinesslending.com or contact Zachary Maher, Loan Officer, at (207)333-6410 or email: [email protected].

A glimpse of Paris history…who can forget Minnie’s?