Having met with tremendous success the previous two years, sponsors of the third annual Muscular Dystrophy Charity Auction have set their goal even higher this year.

The MDA, Irving Oil Corp. and At Your Service Inc. are hosts of the auction which begins at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 10, at the Ellsworth Elks Club, 240 State St. in Ellsworth. Auction items can be previewed beginning at 10 a.m.

For the third year, licensed auctioneer Michael Hodgkins of Trenton, owner of Pine State Auction Co., is volunteering his services for this event.

Having far surpassed its 2000 goal of $8,000 when more than $9,600 was raised during last year’s auction, planners hope to reach the $15,000 mark this year.

But your help is needed to make that goal a reality, and you can start helping now.

That’s because this auction is of the giant yard-sale variety, according to fund-raiser co-chairwoman Kathy Seavey, manager of the Holden Irving Mainway in East Holden.

The organizers are requesting local businesses, and individuals, to donate any items they wish to the auction.

In other words, if you are ready to do some early spring cleaning, and you’d like to donate unused or unwanted items to a worthy cause, just give these folks a call.

They will even pick up the auction items for you.

“Everything that anyone donates is a tax deduction,” Seavey said.

“We do have receipts and, if they tell us the value, we will give them a receipt with our tax identification number.”

Seavey said “anything anyone might put in a yard sale” would be appropriate for the auction, as would gift certificates for local stores, services, restaurants or entertainment venues.

In addition to the raffle, the fund-raiser will feature “lots of food, a 50-50 raffle and door prizes,” Seavey said. If you have items you would be willing to donate to the MDA Charity Auction, call Seavey, or visit her, at the Irving Mainway, 87 Main Road in East Holden, 989-4065.

You can also reach her at home, 989-1044.

But, if you don’t have auction items to donate and you’d like to support this MDA fund-raiser, just mark your calendar for March 10 and plan to attend!

Skiers at Sugarloaf/USA next weekend can enjoy a tasty lunch and help a worthy cause at the same time.

Hospice of Eastern Maine will hold a Chowder Feed from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, in the Avery Ballroom at Sugarloaf Inn at the ski resort in Carrabassett Valley.

The menu of lobster bisque, corn chowder, cheese, fruit and cracker trays is yours for $10 per adult and $5 for children under the age of 12.

A cash bar will be available, and the door prize is a handmade quilt.

If you plan to attend, you must make your reservations by Monday, Feb. 12, by calling 973-8269.

HOEM serves terminally ill patients and their families in the Greater Bangor area.

For more information about HOEM and its programs, call Deb Jacques at the above number.

Coats for Kids 2000 was a terrific success, according to The Salvation Army of Bangor, with nearly 28,000 coats donated during last year’s holiday campaign.

NBC television affiliates WLBZ in Bangor and WCSH in Portland helped provide publicity and media support; Shaw’s and Shop ‘n Save supermarkets served as drop-off points; Pepsi-Cola provided materials and support; and Gold Star Cleaners and Pratt-Abbott cleaned and freshened the coats.

Churches, civic and school groups, and area businesses also contributed to the project.

Among the schools in our area making major donations to Coats for Kids, were Skowhegan Middle School, the Gardiner elementary schools, George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill; Capital Area Technical Center in Augusta, Atwood-Tapley School in Oakland, Lewis Libby School in Milford and Embden Elementary School.

According to Bangor Salvation Army Captain Debbie Burr, enough coats were left after the holidays so a limited supply will be available for those in need next fall.

If your school, church, civic group or club is interested in participating in Coats for Kids 2001 as a holiday project, call WLBZ-2 Community Relations at (800) 464-1213.

Members of the Bangor High School Class of 1961 are making plans for their 40th reunion on Saturday, July 14, at the Airport Sheraton in Bangor.

With one mailing already sent, “we have revised/updated address changes” which enabled the committee to track down quite a few people, wrote committee member Robert Ruhlin of Kenduskeag.

The committee is still seeking several former classmates, many of whom were “from Dow AFB,” Ruhlin wrote of classmates whose parents were stationed in Bangor with the U.S. Air Force at that time.

Among those listed as “missing/unreachable” are Richard Allen, Judy Baker Morrison, Sharon Beede Hogan, Melba Firth, James Haskell, Linda Havey Reed, Rita Higgins Lord, Francis Hutchinson, Barbara Kearns Decarolis, Claudette Lindsey Gress, Maurice Murray, Pam Perkins, Judy Rich Ashe, Linda Sibley Williams, Barbara Snow Brown and Barbara Williams.

If you have information about any of these individuals, or other members of the BHS Class of ’61 who may not be aware of their 40th reunion next summer, contact Ruhlin by writing him at P.O. Box 18, Kenduskeag 04450.

You can also call him at work, 941-4534, or at home, 285-3002.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402;

990-8288.