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Community Corner

Dec. 2: Five Things You Need to Know This Thursday in Alameda

A speaker whose life story reminds us how good we have it, and a new business networking group meets.

Need to Know appears every weekday on Alameda Patch. Send tips for future Five Things to janonpatch@gmail.com.

  1. Alameda's Social Service Human Relations Commission will meet tonight at 7:30 p.m. (ignore the online agenda that says it's Sunday), at City Hall conference room 360. The agenda includes block grants and discussion of a possible anti-bullying workshop in 2011.
  2. The , which works with the Navy on Alameda Point issues, meets tonight at 6:30 p.m., then has a potluck dinner. The agenda includes a year-end Environmental Protection Agency report.
  3. The  (the charter school that replaced Chipman Middle School this year) will host a  tonight at 6:30 p.m. Mawi Asgedom fled civil war in Ethiopia and spent time in a Sudanese refugee camp, but eventually made it to Harvard University. He tells his story in a book for teens that Academy students are reading. The public is welcome to Asgedom's talk, which is in the school gymnasium.
  4. Rain is in the forecast, but that's OK because all you'll be doing is shopping all the great local shops and home-made gift events in town. Check out our article from several days ago, and this weekend's events in the Patch listings.
  5. The growing Alameda Business Network is hosting a tonight at . Catered food buffet, no-host bar, raffle and Taiko Drum demonstration. Fundraising supports Operation MOM, which sends packages to service members overseas. Plus the mixer gives local business folks a chance to network. 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., tickets are $10.

Plan ahead: If your gift shopping takes you to at Alameda Towne Centre, they've got a special deal this weekend, reports Janet Levaux in the Alameda Journal blog: Make a purchase and receive a $15 gift card to donate to a local school through the group Donors Choose.

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