January is National Blood Donor Month. In honor of this important event, Harbor Buick GMC will be hosting a blood drive on Saturday, January 28th. Donations will be accepted as appointments or walk-ins alike. One donation has the potential to save three lives. With the blood banks running low, at this time, it is crucial that the community comes together and donates a few minutes to make a difference.

As an added bonus, the Red Cross is awarding one donator a $1,000 VISA gift card. All donations from December and January are eligible for the region-wide drawing. If you’d like to schedule an appointment for Saturday, contact Denise at 219-771-7760.

During the past year, Porter County Parks and Recreation has expanded its offerings to kids in the area.

Camp FUNset welcomed hundreds of campers to Sunset Hill Farm County Park last summer and, during winter break, a two-day camp was offered for the first time.

The growth is continuing this winter and spring with a new program called Club FUNset, a monthly get-together for kids ages 6 to 12 that begins in February.

We have a WINNER!.....in our "Step Up, Think And Buy Local" campaign. After getting people all over our area to qualify for our Grand Prize, we had the Executive Director of the Greater Portage Chamber of Commerce, Terry Hufford, stop by and draw the winning ticket.

He pulled out the name, Larry Strickland from Gary!

The Arnell Auto Group has offered their office as a drop-off location for donated items to benefit two families who were recently affected by a house fire in Chesterton. They lost everything.

Items needed include:

Family 1: Bathroom items like towels, body soap, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, toilet paper, along with any kitchen items as far as towels or dish soap and laundry soap and personal care items! Any kind of gift cards would help.