Briefs for July 19, 2012

Livingston chamber sets event deadline

The deadline to apply for the Livingston Parish Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Livingston is Thursday.

Leadership Livingston is program based on a national model used by chambers across the country to develop individuals as leaders within their communities, chamber officials said.

While the program is new to Livingston Parish, it has a long history of building successful leaders in the nation, state and neighboring parishes.

Sessions will include a retreat, team building, leadership information and personality differences. The graduation ceremony is in June 2013.

For more information and to fill out an application, call [phone] or visit http://www.livingstonparishchamber.org/pages/AboutUs.

Forum to focus on patents, property

The Louisiana Small Business Development Center at Southeastern Louisiana University, along with the Hammond Chamber of Commerce, will host a special workshop titled “Intellectual Property and Patents: Turning Ideas into Assets -- A Practical Guide to Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks” from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Wednesday.

The free program will be held at the Southeast Louisiana Business Center in Hammond.

There is no cost to attend, but pre-registration is preferred.

For more information or to register, please contact LSBDC Southeastern at [phone] or [e-mail].

The direct link to register is https://www2.lsbdc.org/workshop.aspx?ekey=6320048.

Needy students focus of donations

Livingston Parish Assessor Jeff Taylor, in conjunction with several business donors and community volunteers, will sponsor the 12th annual “ASSESS the NEED” Campaign this summer in an effort to provide school supplies for needy children in public schools for the 2012-2013 school year.

Taylor said the program has received monetary donations from several local businesses.

For the first time, volunteers will be at three Wal-Mart stores from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Denham Springs, Walker and Watson on Aug. 3 and Aug. 4 and Aug. 11 and Aug. 12, collecting monetary donations and donated supplies for the campaign.

Taylor said more than 250 volunteers from across the parish will assist with this year’s collection and distribution efforts — the most ever in the campaign’s history.

Donations also can be dropped off during regular work hours, Monday through Thursday, at the Livingston Parish Assessor’s Office in Livingston.

Taylor said “ASSESS the NEED” volunteers have been working with local principals, counselors and teachers to determine the need for each individual school.

Taylor said there is no application process for assistance from the “ASSESS the NEED” campaign. Persons needing help should contact their principals or school counselors.