Group to launch Mental Illness Awareness Week

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The phrase “brain disorder” is what my Bangor Daily NEWS colleague, Lori Ireland, prefers to use when discussing her work with the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill-Bangor, or NAMI as it is commonly known.

Lori is an active NAMI-Bangor member, serving as an educator-advocate.

She will be one of the featured speakers during NAMI-Bangor’s candlelight vigil that will help launch NAMI Mental Illness Awareness Week, which is Oct. 7-11.

The candlelight vigil, which the group hopes will become an annual event, begins with a gathering led by the Rev. Robert Carlson of Orrington at 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 7, at West Market Square in Bangor. Rep. John Baldacci is expected to participate.

With Carlson and members of the choral group, Women With Wings, leading the way, participants will walk up Park Street Hill to the Universalist-Unitarian Church where a program in recognition of Mental Illness Awareness Week begins at 7:30 p.m.

Lori said the purpose of the evening will be “to educate and advocate” on behalf of those with “brain disorders.”

She hopes part of that education and advocacy will be her effort to help eliminate the stigma attached to the phrase “mentally ill.”

“It’s not really a mental illness,” she said of the condition many people live with. “It’s just a disorder of the brain.”

NAMI’s motto is “United by Hope; Working for Change,” and its Bangor members pledge to work to raise new awareness of mental health issues within the Bangor Community.

Sunday’s program will also honor the courage and perseverance of individuals with brain disorders, their families and friends.

Rev. Elaine Peresluha, UU church pastor, will present the opening remarks, and NAMI-Bangor president Nancy Grimes will welcome participants to the gathering.

The evening’s speakers, in addition to Lori, will be Dr. Judy Burk and NAMI member Debbie Lawson of the MIGHT program: Mental Illness Group Helping Themselves.

Refreshments and fellowship follow the program, which also includes music by Heidi Whitehouse and Karen Whitmore. The evening closes with a Candlelight Ceremony led by Grimes and Women with Wings.

Tickets for the auction and appointments for appraisals are still available for the Grand Auditorium’s Annual Benefit Auction that begins at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 7, at The Grand Auditorium of Hancock County on Main Street in Ellsworth.

Appraisals will be conducted by well-known and highly respected area appraisers and auctioneers, and that portion of the event runs from 1 to 6 p.m.

The Silent Auction and Auction Preview is 3-7:30 p.m., with hors d’oeuvres and wine from Maidee’s International Restaurant in Ellsworth being served at 6 p.m.

The live auction begins at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $10 for the auction only, $20 for the auction and one appraisal and $30 for the auction and the maximum of two appraisals.

Tickets can be purchased at The Grand Box Office, 165 Main St., Ellsworth, by calling the box office at 667-9500, or they can be purchased at the door.

However, those wishing an appraisal should call ahead to make an appointment.

Proceeds help fund a multitude of community services offered by The Grand.

A reader who tried to e-mail Glenburn Elementary School pupil Tristan Hersey, who is recovering from a bone marrow transplant in Wisconsin, called to say she was unable to contact him with the e-mail I provided.

A call to GES special education director Kathleen Kazmierczak solved the problem.

Kazmierczak told me she had forgotten to include one letter in the e-mail address: An “s.”

“It should be caringbridges” she said of that portion of the e-mail address, “not caringbridge.”

To e-mail Tristan Hersey, who would love to hear from folks back home, write www.caringbridges.com/me/tristan2/. And do not include the period after the backslash at the end of the previous sentence!

If you want to send Tristan cards or letters, his mailing address is 8948 Watertown Plank Road, Wauwatosa, WS. 53226-4802.

Another of my colleagues, Bangor Daily NEWS staff editorial cartoonist George Danby, is exhibiting “Deadline Drawings” now through Tuesday, Oct. 30, in the Lecture Hall and Stairwell Gallery of the Bangor Public Library, 145 Harlow St.

This is George’s first such exhibit, and it features some of his daily editorial cartoons and Style page color caricatures as well.

His work is terrific, in my “unbiased” opinion, and you shouldn’t miss this opportunity to see it.

The Bangor Public Library is open 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Caring Connections is a breast and cervical health program of Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and the YWCA Bangor-Brewer.

The Caring Connections Bone Health Support Group is hosting a presentation of “Self-Massage for Relaxation and Stress Reduction,” presented by massage therapist Tracy Crawford from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 10, at the YWCA’s Isaac Farrar Mansion located on the corner of Union and Second streets.

The presentation is free and open to the public.

Anyone wishing more information about the presentation or this organization, call Robin Long at 941-2808.

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