Karen, I’m with you. I am also personally offended by organizations going far out of their way to remove all reference to religions traditions so as not to offend anyone. Let’s face it. There will forever be offended folks. Keep the holiday traditions as normal. To the Town of Cary: I’m waiting for the “Egg Hunt” announcement in May and September, and the “Sit with Santa Claus/St. Nicholas” announcement in July.

Anne Whipple , Morrisville

Recognizing SCORE volunteers

April 19-25 is National Volunteer Week. The purpose of this week is to recognize and celebrate the efforts of volunteers at the local, state and national levels. This year’s theme is “Celebrating People in Action.” One volunteer group that demonstrates this spirit is SCORE. SCORE is a nonprofit group of volunteers dedicated to the formation, growth and success of small businesses. The U.S. Small Business Administration began sponsoring SCORE in 1964 and since then, SCORE has grown to nearly 400 chapters with 10,500 volunteers throughout the country.

These retired and working executives and business owners donate their time and expertise as volunteer business counselors and provide free confidential, one-on-one counseling. In addition, SCORE in recent years implemented e-mail counseling. Over 1,000 virtual volunteers are ready to answer any small business question, any time — day or night. Small business owners can find an expert to answer their questions from anywhere in the country.

In North Carolina, the 15 SCORE chapters have over 400 volunteer members and provide individual counseling and business workshops for aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners. In Fiscal Year 2008, SCORE helped over 16,000 start-up and existing business clients. We encourage business owners and those who are just thinking of starting a business to call SBA at 1 (800) 827-5722 or visit sba.gov or score.org to find out more about SCORE.

Lee Cornelison, SBA North Carolina District Director