Spruce Run offers domestic abuse education

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Spruce Run Association, the organization that “works for peace at home,” is offering what it calls education groups this fall.

The Basics about Power and Control is a new group that will meet three consecutive Tuesday evenings, starting this week.

This group serves as an introductory or refresher session to prepare women to join the newest group, Beyond Surviving: Domestic Abuse Education II. That group meets Tuesday evenings weekly, starting Oct. 8 and running through Dec. 10.

It provides an in-depth look at the issues affecting survivors of domestic abuse, including healthy relationships, effective communication, dealing with anger, parenting and economic concerns.

If you are unable to begin the first group immediately, groups coordinator Lyn Carter has an alternative: “On Oct. 8, when Beyond Surviving starts, anyone who has just taken an education group with us in the past could start then,” she said.

“The Basics about Power and Control group is just an introductory session,” Carter said. “In the education group, there is a curriculum where we bring in a topic and talk about those things. People can also share their experience around that, so you do get some of both,” she said.

The support group is about “telling your stories to each other, and getting support from each other.”

To participate in the education groups, a person must register by having an initial conversation with a group leader, and members make a commitment to try to attend all the sessions.

Children’s activity groups will be available at the same time the adults meet – or individual arrangements can be made for child care.

You are reminded, however, that at the education groups you do not have to share your experiences if you so choose.

After a person speaks with a group leader, the education groups are open to any woman affected by domestic abuse in her life, whether past or present.

Support and education groups are free and confidential. You can register or receive more information by calling Spruce Run at 945-5102 or (800) 863-9909.

Participants are gearing up for Memory Walk 2002, sponsored by the Maine Alzheimer’s Association at 15 sites throughout Maine.

First lady Mary Herman and WGME-TV 13 anchorwoman Kim Block are serving as honorary chairwomen for this event.

The Bangor event begins with registration at 8 a.m., and the walk at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 5, at Westgate Manor, 750 Union St.

The local sponsors for the event, which feature either a three-mile or 1.5-mile route, are Maine Veterans’ Home, Neurology Associates of Eastern Maine, Independent Medical Associates, Ross Manor, Miller Drug, Brewer Rehab and Living Center, Stillwater Health Care and Westgate Manor.

Walkers who turn in $25 by walk day earn a Memory Walk pin.

Those who turn in $100 receive a T-shirt, and those who raise $300 receive a sweatshirt.

Anyone raising and turning in $500 on walk day earns an official Memory Walk portfolio.

This is the sixth walk for the Bangor area. You can register by calling Westgate at 942-7336, the Maine Alzheimer’s Association, (800) 660-2871, or online at www.alz.org/memorywalk.

Other eastern Maine sites and contact telephone numbers are Augusta, 626-1770; Bar Harbor, 288-5833; Fort Kent, 834-3915; Lincoln, 794-6534; Rockland, 594-6808; and Skowhegan, 474-9686.

Members of Epsilon Tau Epsilon, a community-oriented sorority founded in 1933 at Husson College in Bangor, plan to offer basket bingo to members of the community. But they are unable to sponsor the event on their own.

Sorority members are seeking help in the form of donations of gift-filled baskets that range in price from $30 to $100.

Money raised will enable the sorority to serve the community through a variety of events it has planned for the coming year.

You will find members of Epsilon Tau Epsilon window painting in the children’s unit at Eastern Maine Medical Center and decorating a Christmas tree there; hosting an Easter egg hunt for children at the Bangor YMCA; making canvas reindeer to be given with the meals served during the Meals for Me Christmas season; as well as providing weekly assistance at local nursing homes.

If you are unable to sponsor a basket, the organization would appreciate your contribution of a gift certificate or something else to put in the baskets.

Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated and, if your organization needs volunteers for an upcoming event, Epsilon Tau Epsilon members would be happy to assist you.

For information about how you can help with the ETE basket bingo project or if you need volunteers for an event, call ETE president Dawn Nickerson, 478-5395, or write Epsilon Tau Epsilon, Husson College, One College Circle, Bangor 04401.

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