North Meck DECA, a local chapter of the national association of marketing students that compete at the local, state, and international levels, is hosting a community-wide book drive to raise awareness about literacy issues and concerns. DECA students are asking for donations of any and all books, no matter the condition or genre.

Books may be dropped off at Main Street Books, 126 S. Main St., until Jan. 31. They also may be dropped off at home of DECA member Sarah Houck, 539 Watson St., Davidson. Read the full story

Updated Tuesday, Jan. 15
The fog was thick and the temperature hardly frigid as a record 660 riders pedaled away from the start of Saturday’s 15th annual Polar Bear Metric Century (100k) and Half Century (50k) rides through the North Mecklenburg/Lake Norman area.

Riders met and finished at Ingersoll-Rand headquarters on Beaty Street in Davidson. The morning started out grey and wet, but temperatures rose into the 70s, and sun poked through by the finish. Read the full story

Five-year-old Caroline Cain of Huntersville did her part for a good cause this week. On Wednesday, she stopped by the Ada Jenkins Center in Davidson to drop off a donation. The note says: “From my ice cream stand. Carolina.” The upside-down bill is a twenty.

Caroline lives in Huntersville and attends to McKinney Academy in Davidson. She stopped by with her mother, Karin.

Ada Jenkins center is a regional community services center on Gamble Street in Davidson. The center offers a variety of social services to area families, including a food pantry, counseling, free medical and dental clinics and the Learn Works after school program. Info: www.adajenkins.org.

Davidson-Cornelius Child Development Center has begun renovations on its Gamble Street building that will allow it to begin offering day care for infants and toddlers in 2013. The center also is in the midst of raising $50,000 to pay for work on the 40-year-old building, on Davidson’s West Side.

Davidson-Cornelius Child Development Center’s annual open house is Thursday, Dec. 13, 6-8pm. It’s at Davidson College Presbyterian Church Congregation House, because of the construction project.

Once completed in early 2013, the expansion will house infants and toddlers, from birth to 12 months. Read the full story

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

Davidson Housing Coalition volunteers prepared more than a thousand sets of eight luminaria – white paper bags with candles – for Saturday night’s 12th annual “Noel for Neighbors” fundraiser. In the end, they ran out. Hundreds of neighbors across town joined in, lining yards and sidewalks with the flickering holiday lights, making it the biggest night in the event’s history. Read the full story

Mayor John Woods was serving drinks and passing the tip jar Thursday night as guest bartender at Flatiron Kitchen + Taphouse. All tips for the evening went to support the Ada Jenkins Center, the regional community services center on Gamble Street.

The mayor was a good sport, donning an elf costume for the task. That had guests snapping photos like crazy on their smart phones.

Find out more about Ada Jenkins Center at www.adajenkins.org

For a second year, visitors Christmas in Davidson will have an important role to play in a fundraiser organized by Davidson Rotary Club: We’re being asked to pick our favorites from among more than a dozen trees decorated by local businesses and organizations. The trees are decorated and waiting on the north side of the Village Green, and votes will be taken nightly during the downtown holiday festival Thursday to Saturday. Read the full story

North Mecklenburg Woman’s Club will host its December dinner meeting, a “Red, White and Green” fundraiser for Ada Jenkins Center in Davidson, on Tuesday, Dec. 4, in Huntersville. The meeting begins at 5:30pm at Northstone Country Club. Items donated by members will be auctioned. Read the full story