Offices closed for holiday

Government and public service offices in Lawrence and surrounding towns will be closed today for the Thanksgiving holiday.

All Lawrence-area city halls, county, state and district court offices will be closed today. Federal offices and courts will be open today.

Banks will be open today.

There are no classes at Kansas University today, and KU offices will be closed.

Residential trash collections scheduled for Thursday in Lawrence will be made today. Today and Saturday’s commercial trash collection will be completed on the usual schedule.

The Lawrence Transit System and T-Lift will run their usual schedules today. Lawrence Bus Co. buses will not operate today.

Mail delivery will resume today, and post offices will be open.

UPS will complete only air shipments today. Normal pickup and delivery will resume Saturday.

To report a water line break in Lawrence on the holiday or during the weekend, call 843-2685.

USA Today will be published today.

Charity: Tree auction to raise funds for The Shelter Inc.

More than 50 decorated trees will be on display Monday through Thursday at Liberty Hall as part of the annual Festival of Trees. Lawrence-area businesses, community organizations and individuals decorated and donated the trees.

The trees can be viewed from 10 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday, except Tuesday, when viewing will close at 5 p.m. A tree auction will begin at 8 p.m. that day. There is a $25 charge to attend the auction, and a donation of $2 is recommended to view the trees. All money raised from the auction and viewings will benefit The Shelter Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides emergency services to youth in the Lawrence community.

For more on the festival, see Sunday’s Arts & Living section of the Journal-World.

The Shelter also would like to recognize the recipient of the “Unsung Hero Award,” Milton Scott of the Lawrence Housing Authority, for providing a variety of needed services to the organization in the past few years.

Community outreach: Holiday party planned with ‘Today’ show gifts

The NBC “Today” show and the Kansas University Center for Community Outreach will team again this year for their sixth annual children’s holiday party.

This year’s party will be from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 11 at the Kansas Union Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public, and each child in attendance will receive a holiday gift.

The “Today” show receives toy donations from businesses and distributes them each year throughout the United States. The Center for Community Outreach receives 1,000 of the toys annually.

Children will be able to make greeting cards for Lawrence Memorial Hospital patients and area nursing home residents. Santa Claus and Baby Jay will be available for photos.

Organizers expect more than 600 children to attend and more than 1,000 KU students to help organize the event.