The 16th Great Chefs Dinner & Auction begins with a social hour at 5:30 p.m. Monday, April 23, at Jeff’s Banquet and Convention Center in Brewer.

A fund-raiser for the National Kidney Foundation of Maine, tickets are $30 each and may be obtained by calling Great Chefs Dinner & Auction chairman Joe Philippon of Bangor at 942-7024, or the NKFM at (800)-639-7220 or 772-7270.

A labor of love for Philippon, the event raises money not only for the 950 dialysis patients served by 14 dialysis centers from Biddeford to Presque Isle, but helps provide services for another 3,500 Maine residents who are kidney disease patients.

In addition to direct financial assistance for dialysis patients, the NKFM offers nutrition grants and scholarships.

According to NKFM Executive Director Steve Mayberry, this event helps raise funds particularly to support the needs of people with kidney disease living in our area who receive treatment at dialysis sites in Bangor, Presque isle, Ellsworth and Belfast.

Mayberry said approximately 20 area chefs “are asked to make either an appetizer, an entree or a dessert,” which is served buffet style to those in attendance.

Generally, the fund-raiser attracts more than 200 people.

“It’s nice,” Mayberry said of the event and the delicious food that is served. “People can go back up as many times as they want.”

The event is not only a marvelous fund-raiser, it’s also a great way for local chefs to showcase their specialties, Mayberry said.

Guests receive a program book that includes descriptions of the restaurants and their offerings.

For the auction, local business owners and individuals donate items or gift certificates for meals or services.

This year’s dinner and auction will be of great significance to those associated with the fund-raiser since it honors the memory of the event’s long-time auctioneer, Benjamin “Jock” Tilton III.

Tilton, a well-known local auctioneer, succumbed to kidney disease last September at age 58.

On a related front, the NKFM is adding three new programs to serve residents of the Greater Bangor area.

In May, the organization will sponsor a Gift of Life 5K Walk-Run to promote organ donation.

In September, the NKFM will hold a bed-wetting seminar. In October, the NKFM will offer the Kidney Early Evaluation Program.

KEEP is a free screening program in which family history, weight, blood pressure, urinalysis, a blood test and a physician consultation will be given each participant.

For more information about activities of the National Kidney Foundation of Maine, call the NKFM office in Portland at the numbers listed above.

Guilford area residents are invited to take part in a 2-mile walk beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 14, at Hardwood Products’ medical building in Guilford.

The walk recognizes the halfway mark for more than 165 Hardwood Products employees who are participating in this year’s Move & Improve Program, which is sponsored by Hardwood Products, Vitality and Charles A. Dean Memorial Hospital and Nursing Home.

Throughout the walk, participants may collect Easter eggs, answer fitness trivia questions and qualify for prizes.

Food and refreshments will be provided at the end of the walk at Vitality in Guilford.

For more information, call Kathy Cobb, director of education and community outreach at the hospital, at 695-5238.

Folks in Aroostook County, especially those looking for bargains, should attend the Fort Kent Rotary Auction beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 14, at Fort Kent Community High School.

The annual event features more than 300 items on the auction block, with everything from leather jackets to custom framing to dental cleanings going to the highest bidders.

To preview the auction items, plan to arrive an hour before the auction or tune into WFKT-TV Channel 4 now through Saturday afternoon.

Proceeds benefit Fort Kent Rotary Club special projects.

Here is a free public forum that should be of interest to all.

The public is invited by the Maine Veterans Home to attend a forum that will provide answers to questions concerning long-term care.

The long-term care forum will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 17, at the MVH, 44 Hogan Road in Bangor.

Robin Pare, MVH admissions coordinator, emphasizes that this forum is for everyone, and you need not be associated with the military to attend.

Pare said the forum is “for all the public,” to provide a chance to “look at your assets, how to pay for long-term care if you need it, and how to protect yourself beforehand.”

The forum will feature a presentation by Maine Department of Human Services case manager Beth Hamm, who will discuss nursing home Medicaid.

William Bell and James Blakeman of the David M. Blakeman Agency in Bangor will provide information on long-term care insurance.

Lawyer Jane Skelton of the Bangor law firm Rudman and Winchell will discuss elder finances and the law.

Reservations are not required. However, it is suggested that you make reservations by calling 942-2333.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288.