The all-you-can-eat pancake supper menu includes sausage, coffee, strawberries, juice and creamed chicken and, according to Elizabeth Schwenk of Machias, it’s an event that has been around “for more years than anyone seems able to remember.”

The annual Shrove Tuesday Benefit for Sunrise Opportunities takes place 4:30-6:30 p.m. today at the Kay Parker Building, 66 Hadley Lake Road in Machias.

Tickets are $4 for adults, $2 for children and are available at Sunrise Workshop, the Kay Parker Building, Woodwind Gallery or at the door.

“Here in Machias,” Schwenk wrote, for many years now “the congregation of Saint Aidan’s Church, with the help of volunteers from the staff of Sunrise Opportunities,” has been holding this supper “to benefit the clients of Sunrise.”

She explained that the organization operates several facilities throughout Washington County to help the physically and mentally challenged by assisting them with, among other things, housing and job opportunities.

She said that since clients’ income comes primarily from state agencies that often designate it for specific purposes, the money raised by this benefit would be used to provide some frills for the clients.

“This can mean a warm coat for someone who has never before had a new coat, or a birthday or Christmas gift for a needy client,” she said.

This is why the event has a long and proud history.

The sausage, by the way, was graciously supplied by Joe Parisi of Machias, and you might even win a door prize!

For those unfamiliar with the location of the supper, Schwenk said Hadley Lake Road is “off Route 1 in Machias,” and that you can look for “a sign on Route 1 where you turn.”

For more information, call the Parker Building at 255-8596, or Sunrise Workshop at 255-8858.

It’s that time of year when requests come from schoolchildren throughout the United States who are working on “state” projects.

This one is a corker because the young lady lives in a community quite similar to Greater Bangor.

Kaylynn Shaw attends Kennedy Elementary School in Medford, Ore., where her teams are known, appropriately, as The Patriots.

She wrote because she believes we “live in a town, not a large city,” she explained, adding, “our population is around 60,000.”

Of course, Bangor’s population is in the 32,000 range, and, in Maine, we are considered a city.

But, if we included Brewer, Old Town, Orono and Veazie in “our community,” we would just about match Kaylynn’s “town” in population.

With “lots of rivers, lakes and parks nearby,” Kaylynn informs us, Medford’s “main industry used to be timber, but now we are mainly a service industry town.”

Also, Southern Oregon University is in “nearby Ashland, home of the Shakespearean Festival.”

Rivers, lakes, parks, timber, Shakespearean Festival, service industry and a nearby university.

Sound familiar?

Kaylynn also wants to know whether you have visited Oregon or even been to Medford.

“I think you’d like it here,” she wrote.

Kaylynn hopes you will send her a postcard or write her with information about our community and our state.

Her address is Kaylynn Shaw, c/o Kennedy Elementary, 2860 N. Keeneway Drive, Medford, OR 97504.

For those who want to order an Operation: Mug A Troop mug from Glenn Jordan of Impressing Memories in Charleston, I incorrectly typed one of the numbers in his phone number. The correct number is 285-3476.

You also can order at www.appreciateourtroops.org or by mailing a check for $11.55 to Impressing Memories, 253 Main Road, Charleston 04422.

Last Saturday, family and friends gathered to bid farewell to one of Presque Isle’s most entertaining and colorful residents, Ruth Washburn, the mother of my dear friend Pam Coffey-Paine of Bangor. Ruth was 86 when she died Feb. 17.

A lifelong resident of that area until recent health problems caused her to move to Bangor to be near family, even in her final months, Ruth’s unique sense of humor kept people around her entertained and laughing.

This has been a difficult year for Pam and her family with Ruth’s death just six months after the death of Ruth’s sister, Kathleen Morin of Bangor and Auburn.

Difficult times are no stranger to Pam, her son Brad Coffey of Bangor and her daughter, Cara Coffey-Roope of Brewer, and their families.

Knowing them as I do, however, and the great deal of loving support they receive from those near and dear to them, I am confident they all will be fine.

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