When people from eastern and central Maine “trek to Bangor to do their holiday shopping,” one area woman hopes they will bring more than their wallets with them, and leave behind some very special items.

Jo Swanson-Brown of Trenton was one of the coordinators of the first Senior League World Series held this summer at Mansfield Stadium in Bangor.

Swanson-Brown believes the success of the event was a result of “a super effort,” put forth by everyone who helped.

She reserves special praise for the dedication of director Mike Brooker, who was working on the tournament “before the first committee meeting last fall,” and continued working on it “until after the last bus left … at midnight, and the dorms at Husson were all cleaned up.”

During that special week last summer, Swanson-Brown wrote, she learned more about youth baseball in other parts of the world than she ever expected.

It was during “a Saturday bus tour to Mount Desert Island,” she explained, that she learned from members of Team Russia about the “relatively young history of baseball” in that country, where the game is “only about 10 years old,” she was told.

She learned from the coaches, for example, that they are coaching the game “with little or no equipment,” and that they began teaching the sport using hockey sticks as bats.

When she heard that, and a comment from one better-equipped player, who said, “Gee, I have a glove I don’t use,” and another who said, “I have a pair of spikes that don’t fit me anymore,” Swanson-Brown got an idea.

She decided to appeal to the people of Maine “to collect any kind of usable, used baseball equipment” to send to the Team Russia coaches.

“They coach three different levels of baseball in Moscow,” she wrote, “so shoes, bats, gloves, chest protectors of any size can be used.”

Swanson-Brown also noted that when she learned Mike Bordick Sr. had “donated five dozen used baseballs to Team Russia, and the Anah Temple Shriners gave them a monetary donation,” it increased her motivation to go ahead with this project.

“I bet if each baseball player looked twice in his closet or equipment bag, he could find an item to donate to young boys in a country where it would be well appreciated,” she wrote.

And she has found great support for her effort.

Andy Nickerson, owner of Wight’s Sporting Goods, 930 Stillwater Ave. in Bangor, “has agreed to accept these donations on Fridays and Saturdays during November and December,” Swanson-Brown wrote.

The collected equipment will be sent to Russia next spring.

Swanson-Brown is hoping that “some sports-minded business” will assist with the expenses of shipping and handling.

The collectors “reserve the right to reject any donation” that they consider not clean or usable, “and also to cut off donations” once there has been “a sufficient response,” Swanson-Brown added.

However, she is “confident that, in the spirit of giving, and in the American way, this effort will be a huge success.”

Swanson-Brown suggests donors write their names and addresses on the gloves or bats with permanent markers so that “they can make each donation a personal one.”

Tickets for the fourth annual Bangor YMCA Benefit Auction are available at the YMCA, 127 Hammond St. in Bangor, or by calling 941-2815.

A donation of $18 per person admits you to the fund-raiser, during which an Old Town Canoe Kayak Package will be raffled.

“The auction is the largest promotional event of the year for the Bangor YMCA,” reported Carrie Anderson-Paquette, YMCA director of marketing and development.

Last year’s auction raised more than $21,000 that assisted the YMCA in developing “programs that benefit Bangor-area youth, and provide scholarships to those who are otherwise unable to participate,” she explained.

This year’s YMCA Benefit Auction begins at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Bangor Inn and Conference Center on Hogan Road in Bangor.

The silent auction begins at the same time and includes two round-trip passes for the Downeaster train from Portland to Boston, autographed sports memorabilia, Stephen King items (such as a signed, author’s proof of his latest book) restaurant gift certificates, pamper packages and more, Anderson-Paquette wrote.

The buffet dinner, catered by Paul’s Restaurant, begins at 6:30 p.m., and auctioneer Dick Cattelle bangs the gavel to begin the live auction at 7:30 p.m.

In recognition of October as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Maine Sen. Susan Collins was one of the individuals asked to make an appearance on Yahoo.com’s “Raise your Voice in the Fight Against Breast Cancer” Web page.

Collins is featured along with celebrities such as Barbra Streisand, Peggy Fleming, Rue McClanahan, Marlee Matlin and Suzanne Somers.

Their comments, and those of others, can be seen at http://health.yahoo.com/centers/breastcancer/44.html.

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