Bob Wallin Insurance in Bellingham is collecting nonperishable items and monetary donations for the Bellingham Food Bank’s Milk Money program. The company’s goal is to raise $1,500 to provide fresh milk to almost 4,000 kids for two months. Donations can be dropped off in the lobby of Bob Wallin Insurance’s office 1844 Iron St. Those interested in making larger donations can contact Suzanne Taylor at 360-734-5204, Ext.218, or suzanne@bobwallin.com.

ClearView Eyecare in Bellingham, will be collecting used eyeglasses to donate to the Lions Club, in conjunction with a first anniversary open house. The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7. ClearView Eyecare is located at 410 W. Bakerview Road, Suite 107, in Bakerview Square.

Michael Jay, president of Educational Systemics Inc. in Bellingham, has received the inaugural Lamplighter Ambassador Award, presented by the Association of American Publisher’s PreK-12 Learning Group, which supports content creators that serve the pre-kindergarten through 12th grade education community with quality content for students and educators.

Kristiana Kahakauwila, an assistant professor of English at Western Washington University, was selected last summer to be part of the Barnes and Noble Summer Discover Great New Writers program and the Target Emerging Author program for her literary short story collection, “This is Paradise.” The collection depicts the daily lives of Hawaiian natives, relationships between locals and tourists and the struggle between the traditional Hawaiian culture and the modern world encroaching on its shores.

Benjamin Miner, as associate professor of biology at Western Washington University, has received, along with his colleague Ian Hewson, a geneticist at Cornell University, a one-year research grant from the National Science Foundation to begin to explore the potential reasons for the region’s dramatic loss of sea stars due to what is known as Sea Star Wasting Disease. Miner will be sampling both intertidal areas on foot and near-shore sites by diving in both the Pacific Ocean and inside the Salish Sea, and he will compare the populations he finds there with historical records.

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