Around Town (12/26/14)
New Year’s mochi event
Livingston United Methodist Church will hold its annual Mochi Tsuki rice-pounding event beginning 10 a.m. Saturday at 11695 Olive Ave. in Livingston. Price is $4 a pound for plain mochi and $1.50 apiece for ahn (sweet) mochi. Orders will be taken all the way up to the day of the event. Order forms are available at the church office. Orders also can be placed by calling the church office at (209) 394-2264 or leaving a message (please state how much you are ordering, name, address and phone number). Orders will be ready for pickup from 1 to 4 p.m. only on Saturday in the Pioneer Hall.
Pasta dinner at Castle
Castle Air Museum’s Pasta Dinner is scheduled for 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. Jan 24. The annual fundraiser will be held at the Atwater Community Center, 760 E. Bellevue Road, in Atwater. Dinner and dessert is $10. Dine in or take out. For more information, call (209) 383-3854 or (209) 723-2178.
Focus group canceled
The city of Merced’s Programmatic Climate Action Plan/CEQA Permit Streamlining Focus Group meeting for Jan. 22 has been canceled. At this time, there is no alternative date scheduled. For more information, call (209) 385-4768.
Bicycle Commission
The city of Merced recently announced the Bicycle Commission 2015 meeting schedule. The meetings are held the fourth Tuesday of every even-numbered month at 3 p.m. at the Merced Civic Center, 678 W. 18th St. Next year’s scheduled meetings are Feb. 24, April 28, June 23, Aug. 25 and Oct. 27. The Dec. 22 meeting will be rescheduled due to the holiday.
Blood drives
BloodSource Merced is hosting its 2014 Season of Giving drive until Wednesday. Blood donors will receive a commemorative T-shirt and other items. Last year more than 900 people gave blood, helping to save more than 2,700 lives. The group hopes to collect more than 1,000 donations this month to help 3,000 local patients in need. BloodSouce is at 382 E. Yosemite Ave., Merced, and 1040 W. Monte Vista Ave., Turlock. For more information, go to www.bloodsource.org or call (866) 822-5663 to schedule a donation appointment.
Menudo on Sundays
Club Mercedes (a non profit organization) continues to serve menudo every Sunday at the club, 569 W. Ninth St., Merced. Serving time is 8 a.m. to noon or until it sells out. Prices are $7 for a small bowl or $8 for a large bowl. Hot tortillas, sweet bread and coffee included, $5 bloody mary specials as wells as other beverages are available. For information, call the club after 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, (209) 383-9906.
Grief-sharing group
Central Presbyterian Church is hosting a 13-week grief-sharing group every Sunday from 1 to 3 p.m. The group will meet at Hoffmeister Center, 1920 Canal St. For more information and/or to RSVP, call the church office at (209) 723-0491.
If you would like to have an event announced in Around Town, send information to aroundtown@mercedsunstar.com at least 10 days before the event. Items run according to space available.
This story was originally published December 25, 2014 at 8:43 PM with the headline "Around Town (12/26/14)."