Sign your children up for free sports program

Now is the time to register your children for one of the great opportunities of the summer: attending the 11th annual National Youth Sports Program for six weeks, beginning Monday, June 23, on the campus of the University of Maine in Orono.

Kay Hyatt said the free camp is open to youngsters ages 10-16 whose families meet Department of Health and Human Services income guidelines.

She added that some openings for youngsters of families above the income guidelines are usually available, also at no cost, and those names are placed on a waiting list.

A partnership between the U.S. government and participating universities and communities, with oversight by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the program includes six weeks of athletic, educational and recreational activities.

The camp runs 7:45 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, and transportation is provided from designated sites.

Registration can be made by calling the UMaine NYSP office, 581-2466, or e-mailing diane.legrande@umit.Maine.edu.

“Wearing another hat,” Jan Cox of Brewer reports that the “Bangor, Brewer, Hampden, Milo, Orrington, Sebasticook and Veazie clubs of the Garden Club Federation of Maine” are hosts for a Standard Flower Show during the Bangor Garden Show, which runs Thursday, April 11, through Sunday, April 13, at the Bangor Civic Center and Auditorium.

Judged by an accredited panel of GCFM flower show judges, “Faerie Fancies” is the theme of the show, which depicts “the whimsical life of garden faeries” through entries in the educational, horticultural and design classes of the show.

“Please join us,” Cox writes. “Reach into your innermost self, and pretend, if only for a little while, that garden faeries really do exist.”

Cox also said that the Penobscot District of the GCFM “has life-size Wizard of Oz stand-ups, used at least year’s flower show, that we would love to donate to any school or theater group that would like to have them.”

For more information about how you can take advantage of this offer, call Linda Hansen, chairwoman of the flower show, at 989-3674.

Not only is the Maine National Guard getting calls inquiring how to send packages and letters to our troops overseas, so are we at the Bangor Daily News.

So it was helpful to receive information from Maj. Peter Rogers, director of public affairs for the Maine National Guard, explaining your options.

He said that “security concerns” have caused the suspension of the “Any Servicemember Program” and that all mail not addressed to a specific individual will not be transported for delivery.

Additionally, service personnel are cautioned “not to open any mail with an unfamiliar return address,” Rogers said.

Instead, he suggests, financial donations can be made to the Maine National Guard Family Program to help “support families of deployed Maine National Guard Soldiers and Airmen.”

Some of those funds might be used as emergency loans, for dependent-youth activities or for morale-boosting activities of Maine National Guard families.

You can help support our local troops by sending a check made out to “Family Programs,” Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management, Attention Family Program, State House Station #33, Augusta 04333-0033.

Other options are available by visiting several Web sites.

You can donate a calling card to help keep families in touch through Operation Uplink by visiting www.operationuplink.org.

You can sign a virtual thank-you card at the Defend America Web site, www.defendamerica.mil/nmam, or you can donate to one of the military relief societies. Information about Army Emergency Relief is available at www.aerhq.org.

The Navy/Marine Relief Society can be found at www.nmcrs.org.

The Air Force Aid Society is at afas.org, and the Coast Guard Mutual Assistance site is www.cgmahq.org. To make a donation through “Operation USO Care Package,” visit www.usometrodc.org/care.html.

Today is the final day you can contribute phone cards or cash for the Maine Credit Union League’s “Operation Phone Home” program to help families and troops keep in touch with each other during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

To donate or receive information on how you can support our troops and the families they left behind, visit your local credit union or contact the MCUL at (800) 442-6715, Ext. 273, or visit www.mainecul.org.

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