People age 60 or over who welcome an opportunity to get out of the house and enjoy community fellowship may soon be able to do that, at least once a week, through a new initiative of the North Brewer-Eddington United Methodist Church.

“We want to offer our physical plant as a dining room site for Meals for Me,” explained its pastor, Rev. Joan DeSanctis.

Located on Route 9, “just over the Eddington line, the church is on the bend just before the salmon club,” DeSanctis said of the 155-year-old institution.

DeSanctis met recently with Gail Ward, nutrition coordinator for Eastern Agency on Aging in Bangor, which oversees Meals for Me.

“There is a need,” DeSanctis said of this service that provides hot meals to the homebound but also makes those same hot meals available to people able to get out and about on their own.

With the recent closing of a neighboring Meals for Me site, and none available in Brewer, DeSanctis believes her church offers an excellent opportunity not only for those wishing to partake of Meals for Me, but for people who would like to help their neighbors.

“We’re looking for volunteers,” she said simply. “We really need only three or four people who are willing to help out once a week. We would need someone to register the people; someone to drive in [to Bangor] to get the meals, and that person gets gas money; someone to wait on tables and maybe someone to act as host.”

Meals for Me suggests a donation of $2.50 per meal “but it is not a matter of the money,” DeSanctis said, indicating that no one should feel he or she could not come.

You are just asked to contribute what you can.

DeSanctis said the “key position” among the prospective volunteers “is the person who registers the people.

“That person has to be willing to be the one people call to register for a meal so the program knows how many people it will be feeding on that day,” DeSanctis said. “And then the wheels turn.”

DeSanctis pointed out that not only would the program offer nutritious food, but a welcoming fellowship as you share time with members of your community.

The location is excellent, right on the main road, and has ample parking.

“We hope to start with once a week,” DeSanctis said, “but if it works well, we could certainly grow.”

DeSanctis is “inviting anyone who wants to be part” of this new Meals for Me program to call her at the church, 989-5715, or at the parsonage, 989-2726.

On behalf of the Maine Music Educators Association, Lanissa Nadeau of Brewer Middle School and Brady Harris of Brewer High School invite the public to attend the District VI Middle School Honors Festival at 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, at Brewer High School.

Selected band and chorus students from area schools will rehearse during the day with guest conductors in preparation for the concert.

Conducting the band will be Fort Fairfield High School band director Jonathan Goodine.

Rob Westerberg of York High School, accompanied by Clayton Smith, will conduct the chorus.

Admission is $3 for adults and $2 for students and children.

Information may be obtained by calling Nadeau at 989-8640 or Harris at 989-4140.

Congratulations are extended the Rev. William and Zilpha Booth of Bar Harbor who were named the first recipients of the newly established David Gregory Community Inclusion Award presented by the Maine Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services.

Commissioner Lynn Dubay presented the award to the Booths during the annual BDS Community Inclusion Conference last month in Bangor.

The BDS recognized the couple for their “many individual and joint actions that have exhibited vision, leadership, commitment and support for persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities.”

Their lifelong commitment to advocating for services and support for their son, a former Pineland resident, has enabled them to play “critical roles in the development of person-centered opportunities for people with mental retardation throughout the state of Maine.”

The award is named for the late University of Maine School of Law professor who was widely recognized in the legal community as an exceptional and inspirational teacher.

Gregory served as the special court master for the Pineland Consent Decree, and worked with the Federal Court and the then Bureau of Mental Retardation to outline the major tenets of the consent decree.

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From the March of Dimes office in Falmouth comes word that anyone who raises $10,000 or more in this year’s WalkAmerica event will have a chance to win a trip to the Puerto Rico WalkAmerica, which is scheduled for Sunday, April 7.

However, in order to be eligible for this contest, you must have 75 percent of your goal collected by Tuesday, March 5.

The winning package includes airfare to, and hotel accommodations in, Puerto Rico, but walkers will be responsible for additional expenses such as food and transportation to nonrelated March of Dimes locations.

Winners will be recognized as VIPs at the Puerto Rico event, receive a commemorative T-shirt, and be guests of honor at a dinner with the National WalkAmerica director.

For information about this incentive plan, call state director Jere Hoover at (800) 668-5678.

An official commitment form must be filled out before participating in this incentive. You must contact the March of Dimes with your inquiry no later than Thursday, Jan. 31.

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