wooden boat: Around the region Want to build a boat?

Then enter Cape Fear Community College's first Build-A-Boat contest.

The contest is part of the seventh annual Wooden Boat Festival downtown from July 29 to 30.

Boat builders will get the chance to construct a 12-foot wooden row boat with the help of expert supervision on July 29. No experience is required.

Teams can consist of two to six people, who will have eight hours to build the boat. The price to register is $400, which covers the cost of materials. Proceeds from the event will benefit CFCC's boat building program.

After they're built, the boats will participate in a rowing regatta on the Cape Fear River.

The deadline to register is July 14. To register, contact CFCC spokesman David Hardin at 362-7020or Ed Verge at 362-7151.

BB&T has donated $60,000 to Cape Fear Community College to start a lecture series.

In return, the auditorium in the McKeithan Center on the college's North Campus will be called BB&T Auditorium, said spokesman David Hardin.

The money donated by BB&T will be placed in an endowment fund to support a public lecture series. The college currently doesn't have funds to bring in well-known public speakers, Hardin said.

The donation was announced at a fund-raising luncheon May 24 held at the North Campus. The event raised $175,000 for CFCC scholarships, the largest amount ever made by the college at a single event, according to a press release.

The Cape Fear Volunteer Center is accepting nominations for the 2006 North Carolina Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service as well as for the New Hanover County Volunteer of the Year Award.

Applications forms are available at the Cape Fear Volunteer Center, 925 South Kerr Ave., Suite K, Room 2, or by e-mail at cfvc@bellsouth.net. The deadline is 5 p.m. June 20.

Anyone can nominate an individual or group, and teenagers are eligible. Special medallions will be presented to the state's Top 20 volunteers for the first time. A statewide panel will select the Top 20 volunteers from local award winners. Only individuals not recognized in the past 10 years are eligible.

For more information, call Annie Anthony, director of the Cape Fear Volunteer Center, at 799-9321 or e-mail cfvc@bellsouth.net.

- From staff reports
  ¶ 1:33 AM