•March 6, 2024•

The organizational meeting of the “Genealogy Circle” will be on Tuesday, March 12 at 6:30 pm at the Moultrie History Center at 1303 S. Hamilton, Sullivan. The group will serve both beginning and experienced genealogists, as well as everyone in between. Circle members will have a chance to explore genealogy further, share ideas, solve problems, and assist others.

Meetings of the Genealogy Circle will be on the second Tuesday of each month at the center. Future programs may include speakers and time to work on your own genealogy using the resources available in the History Center’s library.

There is no fee to join, and computer knowledge is not necessary. The leader will be Gail Price of Mattoon, an experienced genealogist and former librarian for the historical society. The public is invited to participate.

•March 6, 2024•

The Coles County Chorus annual Lenten benefit concert will be held on Sunday, March 17th at 4 p.m. in the United Christian Church, 200 East Lafayette, Mattoon. This is a different church than where the concert had been held in the past. For 25+ years the Coles County Barbershop Chorus has performed an annual Lenten benefit concert which has raised thousands of dollars for area homeless shelters and food pantry programs. The concert will be one hour of sacred and gospel songs sung by the chorus, quartets and ensembles. Admission is free and a free will offering will be taken.  Every penny raised will be given to area food pantries and homeless shelter programs. Each year over $2,000 is raised by the CCC for those in need. The thirty man chorus and quartet singers are from 19 different towns as far north as Champaign, as far south as Newton, as far east as Paris and as far west as Taylorville.

•March 6, 2024•

Jayla Jets-Black, a 7th grade student at Sul-livan Middle School, has taken the first step to become an internationally recognized artist by winning a local competition sponsored by the Sullivan Lions Club. She placed first at our local level and her poster advanced to the district level where we recently received the news that she placed 3rd. Jayla’s poster was among more than 600,000 entries submitted worldwide in the annual Lions International Peace Poster Contest. Lions International is sponsoring the program to emphasize the importance of world peace to young people everywhere. The poster followed this year’s Lions Inter-national Peace Poster Contest theme “Dare to Dream. It received high marks for its originality, artistic merit, and portrayal of the contest theme. Sullivan Lions Club wants to thank all Sullivan Middle School students who submitted an entry and give a special thanks to Sullivan CUSD #300 Art Teacher, Melissa Nichols for her assistance.