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Congratulations to Lowell Baier of Potomac, who was awarded the designation of Conservationist of the Year by Outdoor Life magazine for his decades of service to environmental conservation. Baier, who owns Bethesda real estate company Baier Properties Inc., was awarded the title at a Jan. 19 ceremony in Las Vegas.

Baier is president of the Boone and Crockett Club, a conservation organization founded by Teddy Roosevelt, as well as one of the original 20 founders of the Foundation for North American Wild Sheep, the only single-species organization in the world that focuses on the health and propagation of indigenous wild sheep. He was awarded Conservationist of the Year by Outdoor Life after the magazine selected 25 people who have had the greatest positive impact on hunting, fishing and conservation and readers voted on Baier as number one.

"To be recognized was wonderful," Baier said. "It's always nice to have that kind of national recognition from Outdoor Life."

Baier spent his childhood on an Indiana farm and a Montana ranch, experiences he said made conservation "part of my blood, part of my DNA."

"When you're raised on the land as a farm kid or a ranch kid, you get very close to nature. You live with it," Baier said. "You hunt pheasant to put food on the table, you run a trap line to raise money for your high school jersey."

The Boone and Crockett Club is headquartered in Missoula, Mont., but Baier said he travels at least monthly to visit conservation sites, paying for the trips out of his own pocket.

The Outdoor Life award is not the first Conservationist of the Year trophy for Baier. After leading a national campaign to preserve Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch in North Dakota, Baier was named 2008 Conservationist of the Year by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and 2008 Conservationist of the Year by Budweiser.

Thanksgiving in February

Interfaith Works, a nonprofit agency helping to feed Montgomery County needy, is asking residents to help continue a 20-year tradition of raising money for their neighbors in need simply by dining out.

The nonprofit hosts an annual hunger relief fundraiser called Thanksgiving in February to help raise crucial funds for 11 nonprofits that provide food and grocery money to the hungry. More than 60 restaurants in Montgomery have signed on in 2010 to donate a percentage of their sales for one day.

Thanksgiving in February this year is Feb. 23.

Proceeds will go to Bethesda Cares, Bethesda Help, Damascus Help, Gaithersburg Help, Germantown Help, Community Vision, Manna Food Center, Olney Help, Rockville Help, Shepherd's Table and Western Upper Montgomery County Help.

Nearly 40,000 children in Montgomery County Public Schools qualify for free and reduced meals and more than 70,000 residents qualify to receive food from local food banks, according to a statement from Manna Food Center that states the "self-sufficiency" standard in Montgomery County for a family with one adult, one preschooler and one school-age child is $68,086, about four times higher than the $17,300 federal poverty line.

At Manna Food Center, headquartered in Gaithersburg, requests for food are more than 56 percent since the recession began and the nonprofit has distributed more than 3 million pounds of food in 2009.

Visit www.thanksgivingin

february.org to find a complete listing of Montgomery County participating in Thanksgiving in February and dine out to help the hungry. Or send a tax-deductible contribution to Thanksgiving in February, c/o Interfaith Works, 114 W. Montgomery Ave., Rockville, MD 20850. For more information, visit www.iworksmc.org.

Sweet music for all

at Cupcake Idol

The folks at Community Cupcakes are accepting entries for the Cupcake Idol singing competition, which will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 27 at Walter Johnson High School, and will raise money, in partnership with the Stone and Holt Weeks Foundation, for Red Cross relief in Haiti.

All entrants in the competition, which is open to middle school and high school students, will receive a $100 gift certificate to The School of Rock in Bethesda and the grand prize winner will receive free voice lessons.

Community Cupcakes is a Garrett Park charity that was formed in memory of Luke Carter-Schelp, who was killed in an auto-pedestrian collision in Garrett Park in 2006. At every Community Cupcakes event participants get a cupcake, a tasty treat that Luke agreed to do volunteer work for in life; to achieve this, Georgetown Cupcake has donated 100 cupcakes. This year's event is cosponsored by the Stone and Holt Weeks Foundation, which commemorates Stone and Holt Weeks, two North Bethesda brothers who were killed in a car accident in 2009.

The charities will be raising money for Haiti relief with the $10 cover at the door for the event, as well as through sales of pizza at the event, which was donated by Flippin' Pizza. T-Shirts designed by a Walter Johnson student will also be available from T-shirt company Crookey Monkey for $20.

Pancake supper

for the Big Easy

Warner Memorial Presbyterian Church in Kensington will host an all-you-can eat pancake supper Tuesday, partnering with United Campus Ministry at the University of Maryland, College Park to help fund transportation for University students who will spend their spring break rebuilding homes in New Orleans.

Seatings for the supper will be at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Warner, 10123 Connecticut Ave. in Kensington. Tickets are $5 each. Gift certificates for restaurants will also be raffled. All proceeds will help fund transportation costs for the students.

Hungry folks can register for the event at http://neworleansbenefit

pancakesupper.eventbrite.com. For further information go to the link above, or call Warner at 301-949-2900.

Popular author to visit Bethesda Library

Popular teen fiction writer Ally Carter will stop by the Bethesda Library on Feb. 16 for a book signing and discussion. Carter, who penned "I'd Tell You I Love You but Then I'd Have to Kill You," part of the "Gallagher Girl" series, will talk about the work along with her new book, "The Heist."

Books will be on sale, and Carter will also sign books for her fans. The event is free to the public and will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Bethesda Library, 7400 Arlington Road in Bethesda. For more information, contact Kathie Weinberg at kathie.weinberg@montgomerycountymd.gov.

Lunar New Year celebrations

Looking for New Lunar Year 4708 celebrations in the county? Montgomery County Public Libraries have several programs planned to mark the Year of the Tiger.

Students and staff from the Gaithersburg Chinese School will bring in the Year of the Tiger with traditional Chinese dances, stories, and crafts on Feb. 13. Festivities get underway at 1 p.m. at the Quince Orchard Library, 15831 Quince Orchard Road, in Gaithersburg.

Activities will be going on at the Potomac and Bethesda libraries on Feb. 20. At 10 a.m., Madison Chinese Dance will teach people all about Chinese dance, painting and paper cutting at the Potomac Library, 10101 Glenolden Drive. Learn calligraphy, martial arts and how to Chinese yo-yo from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. from the Li-Ming Chinese School and Amy Chen at the Bethesda Library, 7400 Arlington Road.

The Washington, D.C. based Chinese Youth Club will perform the traditional lion dance to chase away evil and bring in the new year with good luck at the Germantown Library, 19840 Century Boulevard, at 1 p.m. on Feb. 27.

The group will also be performing at the Gaithersburg Library, 18330 Montgomery Village Avenue, at 2 p.m. on March 13. Their last two performances will be on March 27 at the Chevy Chase Library, 8005 Connecticut Avenue, at 11 a.m. and the Bethesda Library, 7400 Arlington Road, at 3 p.m.

On March 2, join in on a discussion in Chinese on the book "The Moaning Wind," by Yu Xu, at the Potomac Library from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. or listen to listen to Asian folklore stories from Li Min Mo at the Quince Orchard Library, also starting at 7 p.m.

Li Min Mo will also be at the Rockville Memorial Library, 21 Maryland Avenue, at 4 p.m. and the Potomac Library at 7 p.m. on March 3.

A life remembered

A memorial will be held noon Sunday at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Auditorium, 4301 East-West Highway in Bethesda, to celebrate the life of Adam Lockard, a former B-CC student and captain of the hockey team who died Jan. 30 in a Colorado fire.

Lockard, 21, was a senior at Western State College in Gunnison, Colo., and was studying psychology. He loved the outdoors, and volunteered at the Adaptive Sports Center in Crested Butte, Colo., where he helped people with severe injuries and disabilities learn to do winter sports using specialized equipment.

His mother, B-CC Principal Karen Lockard, has asked that donations be made to the Adaptive Sports Center. To make a donation, call Adaptive Sports Center at 886-349-2296.

This column is for you! Share your good news! Contact Erin Donaghue at edonaghue@ gazette.net or 301-280-3007. Send information by fax at 301-670-7183, or snail mail at 9030 Comprint Court, Gaithersburg, MD 20877.