No images? Click here Join The FriendShip next week to learn about the K-9 Team! Read below for details about that and our other March activities! Dear Friends, The FriendShip has a great lineup of activities in March! Check out the details below, and feel free to contact the office at 803-602-6434 or contact@thefriendship.org for more information or to RSVP. Meet the K-9 Team on March 18!Join other members and volunteers of The FriendShip on Thursday, March 18 at 2:00 p.m. as we hear from members of the Columbia Police Department K-9 Team about their work to keep our community safe! We’ll learn about the extensive training the canines go through with their human partners to become skilled in tracking suspects, finding illegal drugs, sniffing out bombs, and apprehending criminals. Over the years, K-9 teams have tracked and located missing persons, apprehended dangerous suspects, and have been responsible for the removal of significant amounts of illegal drugs from local communities. We’ll get to meet some of the canines who are more than just partners with their human handlers; they are family members too! This program will take place via Zoom. The Zoom information will be sent out in advance to all members, volunteers, and guests who RSVP. Guests are welcome! Extra Helping Hands for Your Yard/Outdoor Project!(Event on March 27; sign up today!)Do you have an outdoor task in your yard or shed that you’ve been wanting to get taken care of?! Here’s a great opportunity to check it off your list… The Servant Ministry of St. John’s Episcopal Church holds an annual Saturday of Service during which their volunteers work on community projects around town, and once again they have offered to complete projects for members of The FriendShip as a part of this day. In the past, they’ve done an amazing job for our members by taking care of things like raking, trimming shrubs, cleaning siding, and more. If you could use one-time assistance on a yard project (or even help with a small outdoor painting task or clean-up task in a shed), please contact The FriendShip office as soon as possible (no later than Thursday, March 18) to discuss this opportunity. Also, if you are a volunteer who might be interested in assisting the Saturday of Service volunteers, let us know; we plan to have a FriendShip volunteer on-site with each member to be a liaison. The Saturday of Service is scheduled for March 27. Save the date for our March Afternoon Social Hour!All members and volunteers are invited to join our monthly Afternoon Social Hour which will take place via Zoom on Tuesday, March 30 at 2:00 p.m. Please join us for a chance to get to know and catch up with others in the network! More details are forthcoming! Update on the Vaccine Rollout!South Carolina Has Opened Vaccine Eligibility to Those 55 & Up The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) has just opened Phase 1B of the vaccine rollout, and this phase now includes everyone 55 and older—as well as people with increased risk for severe Covid-19 disease, teachers, and essential workers. If you need help registering or getting to your vaccine appointment, please contact The FriendShip office. For details and a full list of everyone included in Phase 1B, please see DHEC's website: https://scdhec.gov/covid19/covid-19-vaccine. You can also call DHEC's Vaccine Information Line at 1-866-365-8110 (which is currently operating 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., seven days/week) for more information. While many FriendShip members received their vaccines at hospital sites in the earlier phase of the rollout, several FriendShip volunteers who recently got their vaccines have shared that they were able to make appointments at nearby pharmacies. It is great that there are now even more options available! The CDC Has Released Guidance for Those Who are Vaccinated This week, the CDC released information about how to continue to protect yourself and others if you have been fully vaccinated. Click here to read more. Take care! - The FriendShip |