People with young children need to understand that a new state law, which takes effect in January 2003, requires that all children between ages 4 and 8 use a booster seat.

To help families who receive some form of assistance, such as food stamps or Medicaid, United Way of Eastern Maine is holding a booster seat giveaway and a seat-fitting-safety check from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, April 27, at the U Wash It carwash on the corner of Union Street and Griffin Road in Bangor.

In partnership with Ford Motor Co., United Way is participating in BoostAmerica! a nationwide booster seat giveaway and education program to help keep children safe when traveling in a vehicle.

Although you don’t need to call ahead to get your voucher and your booster seat, it certainly would speed things up, said UWEM vice president Nancy Roberts.

“People don’t have to bring any paperwork or anything to show that they qualify,” she said. “Just as long as they self-declare that they are receiving some type of assistance, that is all we need to know. But what we really do need, and would be good to know ahead of time, is what kind of car they have so we have the right booster seat available. Part of this program is to make sure the seat is fitted properly. We have certified fitters, people who go through a two-day training, who will make sure these booster seats are fitted properly to the car and to the child.”

You can just show up the day of the event. But if you are able, you should call Marilyn Marsh at UWEM in Bangor at 941-2800 or (877) 374-8396, or visit www.unitedwayem.org.

According to the Maine Bureau of Health, UWEM reports, “an average of two children die and dozens are injured annually while wearing an adult seat belt.”

And while nearly 300 vouchers have been requested already, Roberts said, many more are available.

In fact, the goal of UWEM is to give away 1,000 booster seats.

John Bapst Memorial High School music director Julie Ewing and the musicians of John Bapst cordially extend an invitation to the public – especially veterans and senior citizens – to attend their spring concert, “Celebrating Freedom.”

The performance will include the 120-piece concert band performing “The Armed Forces Salute.”

The 110-member John Bapst Chorale will invite you to sing along when it performs “It’s a Grand Old Flag.”

The jazz band, the chamber ensemble and the concert choir also will entertain with music celebrating freedom and our country.

There are three opportunities for attending this event.

The first is a free preview performance, which is offered to veterans and senior citizens, at 11:45 p.m. Friday, April 26, at the John Bapst Auditorium, 100 Broadway in Bangor.

To reserve seats for this free performance for individuals or groups, you are asked to call Carol Robb of the John Bapst fine arts department at 947-0313.

Veterans and senior citizens, individuals or groups, also will be welcome at the door, as seating permits.

The opening concert of “Celebrating Freedom” is 1 p.m. Sunday, April 28, and the closing concert is 6 p.m. that same day at the school, 100 Broadway in Bangor.

Tickets for the Sunday performances are $3 for adults, $2 for students and senior citizens, $6 for families. They can be purchased 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m. now through Friday, April 26, at the John Bapst fine arts department office. Be sure to pick them up early!

A few tickets will be available at the door one hour before the concert.

Pastor Jim Lufkin will offer attendees an opportunity to learn what he knows of the history of Brooklin’s Baptist Church when the Brooklin Keeping Society meets at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 25, at the Baptist church.

Lufkin is researching the church’s history, and will present the information he has obtained to date.

Refreshments will be offered; everyone is invited to attend; and if you need a ride to and from the meeting, you are welcome to call BKS secretary Joyce Barr at 359-2753.

As Anne Hathaway of Orono correctly points out, “Many women’s organizations are doing things a bit differently than when they were first active.”

She is referring, particularly, to Thursday Club of the University of Maine, which was organized in 1911 “for the benefit of new faculty wives,” and which “now meets only once a year,” she wrote.

That meeting, a Springtime Luncheon, is planned for noon Saturday, May 4, at the Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono, but to attend you must make your reservations by tomorrow, Friday, April 25, by calling Sally Irons at 866-3501.

A representative from the planning committee for the National Folk Festival, to be held in Bangor Aug. 23-25, will be on hand to provide members “with a glimpse of that coming event,” Hathaway wrote.

Thursday Club was originally a social organization, but later expanded its membership to include all professional women associated with the university, as well as faculty wives.

The group now supports a scholarship fund for nontraditional students, and donations to that fund can be made to the University of Maine Foundation, specifying the donation is in the name of Thursday Club.

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