Community members are being asked to donate items for the annual Harvest Auction sponsored by The Salvation Army that is planned for the first weekend of October. It is one of the major fund-raisers for the organization.

Mary MacKay, the army’s program director, reports the organization is “looking for donations of gently used items and gift certificates,” as well as any items that would make the auction “an interesting one.”

If you wish, a receipt will be issued for tax purposes when you make your donation.

The 2003 annual Harvest Auction begins with a pre-sale from 5 to 6 p.m. and doors opening for browsing at 5:30 p.m.

The regular auction will be from 6 to 10 p.m. at the army’s 65 South Park St. location in Bangor.

The kitchen will be open for refreshments, and Maj. Doug Burr thanks you in advance for any assistance you provide to support the work of The Salvation Army in this area.

You can deliver your donations to The Salvation Army between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at 65 South Park St.

If business owners prefer, they can call the army at 941-2990 to request that a representative pick up their contributions.

Bangor Museum and Center for History and the Bangor Public Library, with support from the Maine Humanities Council’s “Let’s Talk About It” program, is offering a book discussion group to be held at 7 p.m. the following Tuesdays: Sept. 23, Oct. 7, Oct. 21, Nov. 4 and Nov. 18, at the museum, 6 State St. in Bangor.

Registration is required and can be done by calling the museum at 941-1900.

The books are free and can be picked up at the museum from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday or from noon to 4 p.m. Saturdays.

The group discussion is titled “Making a Life, Shaping an Identity: Ethnic Americans in Maine.”

Former, present and prospective members are invited to join members of the Hancock Woman’s Club in celebrating its 75th anniversary at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Community Center in Hancock.

Club Vice President Pat Hodgkins reports that “there will be a short program, and refreshments will be served.

“We are also working on the history of the Hancock Woman’s Club,” she wrote, “and if anyone has any pictures or memorabilia that they would like to share with the club, it would be most appreciated.

“We would be willing to duplicate pictures or other items, if possible.”

If you want to attend, please RSVP by calling the club’s president, Lo-An Flettrich, at 422-6531.

If you would like more information about the club or can help with its history project, call Flettrich or Hodgkins at 422-6238.

With the announcement by producing director Mark Torres that Penobscot Theatre Company’s Extraordinary Friends Campaign raised $241,000 of its projected $250,000 goal, congratulations are extended to all who worked on the campaign and those who contributed to it.

Torres reported that community support, in addition to several belt-tightening efforts, will make it possible for PTC to open its doors for another season.

Lynne Croman of Alexander thanks the unknown good Samaritan who found her purse at the Springfield Fair on Aug. 30 and turned it in to an attendant.

The purse contained much more than what one would expect, she explained of the medicine she must take for a disease of the spine.

“I would have been in trouble” without it, she wrote.

Although she was unable to learn the gentleman’s name, she thanks him and prays “that, someday, your kindness will be returned to you tenfold!”

Diana Saucier of Fort Fairfield is seeking her old medical records.

Saucier was born Nov. 18, 1947.

At the age of 9 months, she was diagnosed with a birth defect.

Saucier remembers a tuberculosis sanitarium was located on Reach Road in Presque Isle that housed “an orthopedic clinic,” she wrote, and where “doctors used to come up, from down state, to see me.”

Saucier wants to know if any of those doctors are still living, or if any of their relatives could tell her where she might find those records.

If you can help, write Saucier at P.O Box 442, Fort Fairfield, 04742, or e-mail dsaucier@maine.rr.com.

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