Looking for the perfect holiday gift for friends who love to visit Jim Thorpe or have moved away? According to Bart Springer of the Jim Thorpe Rotary Club, it recently arrived-in the form of the Rotary Club of Jim Thorpe 2010 Calendar.

It's sure to be Springer's stocking stuffer, after all that's how the idea for the fundraiser first came to be. "Every year, my wife and I would receive a calendar from our nefarious friends around the country and overseas," Springer said in a half-joking manner. "We never had a Jim Thorpe calendar with local scenes to reciprocate.""We thought, wouldn't it be great to have a calendar of Jim Thorpe," Springer continued. "It would be a great souvenir for people to take home from the town, or a great item for residents of the town to mail to people who used to live here."Springer proposed the idea to the Jim Thorpe Rotary Club. They liked the idea and formed a committee with Springer, Susan Sterling, Akantha Susko, Bob Stevenson, and president Bill Allison.They put out a request for photographs.They culled through the submissions and selected 12 images of the borough of Jim Thorpe and the surrounding environs from local photographers: Dan Hugos, Jerry Hoare, Hugh Gillespie, Victor Izzo, D. L. Merone, Tom Loughery, and Bill Allison. Jerry Hoare of the Gandy Dancer designed the calendar. The Rotary Club printed 3,000 copies by Pelican Printing out of Florida.The calendar which is guaranteed to have all the days of 2010 with a listing of the public holidays, is most recognizable for its photographs, most of iconic Jim Thorpe attractions taken from new vantage points. There are photos of the Lehigh Canal in springtime, from the porch of the Asa Packer Mansion in summer, the excursion railroad in the Lehigh Gorge during the autumn, and the Jim Thorpe Train Station during a winter snowfall."There are beautiful pictures in it," Springer said. "It's a nice souvenir of the area.""It is a really great product that a lot of people from out of the area are going to take home," noted Akantha Susko. "Many people would like it as a holiday present.""I think they are gorgeous," said Susan Sterling, who serves as the director of the Dimmick Memorial Library in Jim Thorpe. "I was selling them at the Josiah White Park this weekend and the reaction was a big 'Wow' factor."The calendar is available at Jim Thorpe area banks, selected shops ,and through local nonprofits-like the Dimmick Library."If you buy it from the Dimmick, then you are also supporting the library," said Starling. "When you buy one from a nonprofit, the organization splits it with the Rotary. This is especially important this year with our state funding cut by $8,200. Every little bit helps."Sales of the calendars will go towards the Christmas Present Project of the Jim Thorpe Rotary Club to provide clothing to disadvantaged children, and college scholarships for two students from Jim Thorpe," said Bob Stevenson.