Funds are needed to help make up a “sizable deficit” in the budget for Meals on Wheels in Waldo County, reports former Bangor Daily News colleague and state Rep. Joe Brooks of Winterport.

Brooks wrote to invite you to attend the first celebrity dinner from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15, at the Blue Goose Pavilion on Route 1 in Northport.

The fund-raiser, which Brooks hopes will help supplement a budget that is “several thousand dollars short,” is sponsored by Senior Spectrum, “an organization that provides seniors with an array of options for vital and independent living,” according to Brooks.

Headlining the event is its “celebrity chef,” U.S. Rep. John Baldacci, who will be serving up his family’s famous meat sauce and spaghetti, garlic bread, salad and dessert.

Other servers will include “a number of local and statewide dignitaries,” Brooks wrote.

Tickets are $6 each, which is approximately how much it costs to provide a meal to a homebound resident of Waldo County through the Meals on Wheels program.

Because seating is limited, only 400 tickets will be sold.

You can purchase them at the Waldo Community Center of Senior Spectrum at 18 Merriam Road in Belfast.

Among those who already have agreed to serve the dinner are Waldo County Sheriff Scott Story, Chief Deputy John Ford and state Reps. Brooks, Walter Ash and Carol Weston.

Also signed up to participate are WABI-TV Channel 5 news director Jim Morris, Belfast City Manager Terry St. Peter, Waldo County Commissioner John Hyk, Jim Patterson of the University of Maine Hutchinson Center, Belfast fire Chief Jim Richards and Martha Ames of the National Workshop for the Handicapped.

For more information about the dinner or how you can help reduce the budget shortfall in the Meals on Wheels program in Waldo County, call Senior Spectrum at 338-1190.

On behalf of all Mainers, I thank Morrill Worcester, president of Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington, and members of The Maine State Society of Washington, D.C., who are placing 4,000 Maine balsam fir wreaths on the graves of the nation’s honored dead in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va.

This is the ninth consecutive year Worcester has donated his company’s wreaths for this most meaningful project, which begins at 9 a.m. today at the cemetery.

Coordinated by Hugh Dwelley of Cranberry Isles, the MSS Arlington Wreath Project is expected to take about 21/2 hours to complete.

With the tragic events of Sept. 11 and the military action necessitated by those terrorist attacks foremost in our minds this holiday season, this particular project lets others know that all Mainers take pride in the dedication of those citizens, from every state and territory, who faithfully served their country in time of war as well as times of peace.

Tired from all that shopping and in need of a lift?

Julie Gillette of the Ellsworth Public Library invites you to relax to the sounds of the Acadia Bell Choir, which will be playing all your favorite Christmas music at 6 tonight on the main floor of the library at 20 State St. in Ellsworth.

If you’ve not heard a bell choir perform, this is an opportunity you don’t want to miss!

Brewer residents interested in learning about this year’s activities of the Brewer Public Library Association are invited by association secretary Mildred Goodness to attend the BPLA annual meeting at 7 tonight at the library on Union Street in Brewer.

The meeting is open to the public, Goodness said.

The public is invited not only to celebrate the joy of the season, but also to celebrate the joy of having the Bangor Area Children’s Choir and Youth Chorale in our midst for 10 years.

From a program that began a decade ago with 14 young singers, the BACC is now a two-choir program with more than 50 participants.

The BACC 10th anniversary celebration and annual winter concert begins at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 14, at All Souls Congregational Church on Broadway in Bangor.

With music encompassing four centuries, the BACC will perform Vecchi’s Renaissance madrigal “So Ben Mi Ch’ha Bon Tempo,” as well as Miller and Jackson’s “Let There Be Peace on Earth.”

An English sea chantey, a traditional black spiritual, a Chassidic round and the debut of a composition by an 11-year-old member of the BACC also are featured in the program.

The 18 members of the youth chorale, which is directed by Jean Sigler, range in age from 12-18.

Michele Hall directs the 33-voice choir, which features singers ages 6 through 16.

Alison Moore accompanies both ensembles, which represent 11 communities, 19 educational environments and 48 households.

And while the concert is free and open to the public, your donations are gratefully accepted to help support this program that brings joy to all throughout the year.

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