On Thursday, December 13, West Calcasieu Cameron Hospital (WCCH) will hold its monthly Pink Crusade Breast Cancer Support Group meeting at 6 p.m. at Dynamic Dimensions in Sulphur, located at 545 Cypress Street. Dr. Stephen Castleberry, general surgeon, will speak on the sentinel lymph node biopsy, a procedure used with many breast cancer patients in helping to determine if cancer cells have spread. There is no charge to attend. Refreshments will be served. For more information, call (337) 528-7320. 

Do you support a Calcasieu Parish School? Elementary, Middle School, and High Schools, whether public or parochial - area schools have the chance to win -- and YOU can make it happen for your favorite school! Chick-fil-A at Lumpkin Plaza wants you to get the word out to your co-workers, PTOs/PTAs, teachers, staff and any student who has a facebook account!
    1 - Visit their page on facebook: Chick-fil-A at Lumpkin Plaza
    2 - "Like" the page and post the name of your school on the page!
    3 - Share with all your facebook friends, asking them to do the same.
That's all it takes! The contest ends on December 14th, at midnight! They will tally all the schools submitted, along with the number of people who posted that school's name on our facebook page.

Hart Eye Center of Lake Charles will host a free LASIK screening on December 15, 8am until noon, at its 1920 W. Sale Road location. Local ophthalmologist Dr. William B. Hart says the screening includes a no-obligation, individualized exam for vision prescription and corneal topography in order to determine likely candidates for the procedure. Individuals attending the screenings must call 439-4014 to make an appointment. Dr. Hart will continue to offer cataract exams at the screening. For more information or to check for future screening dates, visit www.harteyecenter.com.

The Institute for Industry-Education Collaboration at McNeese State University is offering the ServSafe Manager certification course; $195 (includes book, review and exam), December 17-18, 8am to 4:30pm.  Seats are still available.  For more information or to register, call 337-562-4139 or email iiec@mcneese.edu.

The Calcasieu Parish Public Library will offer holiday entertainment on December 17 with The Kinders' rollicking music show. The programs can be seen at the following locations and times: Sulphur Regional Library (1160 Cypress St.) at 10am; and Moss Bluff Library (261 Parish Road) at 6pm. To learn more about the Kinders, please visit their web site at www.kindersongs.com. For more information on library services, resources and programs, please visit http:calcasieulibrary.org .

Zydeco Crawfish is now open Wednesday through Saturday from 5pm to 9pm.  They are located at 5400 Hwy 14, south of McNeese St.  They offer boiled crawfish to go, live crawfish and catering.  Find them on Facebook to receive updates or call 337-479-2295. 

Individuals are needed as volunteers to assist with providing free tax preparation for the upcoming tax season. United Way of Southwest Louisiana is looking for individuals to join their volunteer team as an Internal Revenue Service-certified volunteer tax preparer. The IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program provides free tax preparation services for low-income individuals and families. No experience is necessary to become a volunteer tax preparer. Volunteers will need to complete an online IRS course to obtain certification in basic tax preparation. There are a number of sites that will be providing tax preparation services. For more information and to sign up, call 337/433-1088, Ext. 11.

Habitat for Humanity is looking for volunteers to commit to one day (or more) of working on site with them on a new home! Available dates at this time are December 17-20, 2012. If you would like to come as an individual, or as a group, please contact us as soon as possible since we are expecting available times to go fast. Contact HFHCA's Volunteer Coordinator to reserve an available date for you or your team: volunteer@hfhca.org.

The Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau is honored to host the Lieutenant Governor's Tourism Summit in Lake Charles January 22-24, 2013 at L'Auberge Casino Resort. Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne has declared 2013 the Year of Music, so the conference theme will be "Louisiana Strong - Tourism Jam Session." The Louisiana Travel Promotion Association has planned one of the largest educational opportunities for tourism professionals across the state at the Summit. Attendees will hear from the Lieutenant Governor and other legislators on the state of the industry; Roger Dow, the President and CEO of the US Travel Association; and the Louisiana Office of Tourism. Breakout sessions will be held for sales, marketing, leadership and communications. To attend the entire conference, the Early Bird Rate is $325 until December 31. Or, consider coming for a single day for $195. To find out more about the conference, go to www.ltpa.org.

American pop rock band, Matchbox Twenty, will hit the stage of L'Auberge Casino Resort on Friday, March 22. Matchbox Twenty recently released its fourth album, "NORTH," which debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. Tickets will go on sale on Feb. 8, and can be purchased for $55 via www.ticketmaster.com. Must be 21. For more information on upcoming concerts log on to www.mylauberge.com or visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/laubergedulac.