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Bangor

Hospice volunteer training

Hospice of Eastern Maine will offer a volunteer training course 5:30-9:30 p.m. Tuesdays, March 16-April 20, at the Eastern Maine Healthcare Mall, 885 Union St.

The course will prepare trainees to provide emotional support, respite care, bereavement support and other comfort services to hospice patients and their families. Call Wayne Melanson, director of volunteer services, at 973-8269 for more information.

Play presentation

Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance will present a literary get-together for playwrights and theater devotees, 2:15-4:30 p.m. March 6, at the Bangor Public Library. Peter S. Lee will present “Inside Out.” The event is open to all genres and is free. Discussion of the performance will follow, as well as a little socializing. A $2 donation is requested to defray the cost of light refreshments.

Those planning to attend should call MWPA at 386-1400 or e-mail director@mainewriters.org.

Lee is a short story writer from Yarmouth, Maine. He has been writing an ending to “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” the unfinished Charles Dickens novel. “Inside Out” is his first play.

MWPA and the Bangor Public Library present the Mad in Maine Theatre Workshop monthly. Subsequent spots will be made available to Maine playwrights, with or without a production history, who wish to workshop their completed scripts. If interested, contact Laura Emack at 567-3437, or e-mail her at lkecpa@prexar.com.

Museum fun

Activities scheduled at the Maine Discovery Museum in March include:

. Creature Feature, 10:30 a.m. Tuesdays, March 9, 16 and 30, will be led by resident natural history educator Tony Sohns. Creature Feature will focus on a different live animal each week. Sohns will lead a short session on the animal, inviting children to see and touch.

. YogaKids, 10:30 a.m. Wednesdays, March 17 and 31, and Tuesday, March 23. Full Circle Yoga studio owner Sandy Cyrus will lead movements to warm-up the body and breath, and teach yoga postures kids may do by themselves or with a partner. For children ages 4 and 5, $2 fee per child.

. L’il Ones Craft Time, 10:30 a.m. Fridays. Children and their parents may try a different simple and fun craft each week. This month: Pudding Paint, March 5; Playdough Sculpture, March 12; Printmaking, March 19; Ice Cube Painting, March 26.

. Fire Engine Tours, 2 p.m. Saturday, March 6.

. Art Program: Tissue Paper Dye Painting, 2 p.m. Sunday, March 7.

. Homeschoolers Workshop: Milk ID for Mammals, 1:30 and 3 p.m.; German Club, 3:30 p.m. Thursday, March 11.

Call the museum at 262-7200 to obtain more information.

Help with tax returns

IRS-trained volunteers are available to crunch the numbers and to assist with preparing a basic income tax return. In addition to free tax return preparation assistance, many some sites offer free electronic filing. All sites offer aid by appointment only and electronic filing unless otherwise indicated.

Penobscot County sites where tax return assistance is available include:

. Glad Tidings Church, 1033 Broadway, Bangor. 942-7948.

. Mishou residence, 110 Lancaster Ave., Bangor. 942-2936.

. Eastern Agency on Aging, 450 Essex St., Bangor. 941-2865.

. Bangor Public Library, 145 Harlow St., Bangor. 942-6677.

. Penquis Community Action Program, 262 Harlow St., Bangor. 973-3500. No electronic filing, no appointment needed.

. Hammond Street Senior Center, 2 Hammond St., Bangor. 990-3549. No electronic filing.

. Edythe Dyer Library, 269 Main Road North, Hampden. 862-3550.

. Susan Poole residence, 65 Whitcomb Road, Holden. No electronic filing. 843-7013 before 9 a.m. or after 6 p.m.

To obtain more information, call the IRS at (800) 829-1040.

Trip to China

As he did in Lafayette, La., and in New London, Conn., Maestro Xiao-Lu Li, director and conductor of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, has worked with a travel agent in China to plan a 10-day trip to China March 18-29. Participants will visit Beijing, Xian and Shanghai and have the opportunity to experience Chinese culture and history. They will stay in the finest hotels and sample the best of Chinese cuisine.

On March 27, after a banquet dinner, trip participants will see Maestro Li conduct the China National Symphony Orchestra, which will be one of many highlights of the trip.

The cost for the trip is $3,000 per person and includes airfare, hotel accommodations, tickets to the China National Symphony, two banquets, admission to tourist attractions and most meals. To reserve space, send a deposit of $500 to the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, PO Box 1441, Bangor ME 04402-1441. Visa, MasterCard and Discover also are accepted. The remaining $2,500 is due by March 1 and may be made payable to Friends of CNSO. A $600 supplement is available. Space is limited.

To obtain more information about the trip, call tour organizer Christine Szal at 945-3329, or visit bangorsymphony.com.

Brewer

Lenten mini-retreat

Sister Catherine Green will lead a mini-retreat for area women from 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 13, at St. Teresa’s parish center, 436 South Main St. Registration is 9-9:30 a.m.

The retreat is a morning of reflection, “Walking with God,” in preparation for Easter. to learn more, call Ginny Bouchard, 825-4950, or Janet Tourigny, 989-7158.

Hermon

Preschool Screening

Child Development Services-Penobscot County, together with the Hermon School Department, will hold a free developmental screening, 9 a.m.-noon Thursday, March 11 at the Hermon Elementary School, Billings Road. The screening is for all area three and four-year-old children, as well as five-year-olds not yet eligible for kindergarten.

Snow day make-up will be Thursday March 18.

To schedule an appointment, call 947-8493, Ext. 10 or 17.

Old Town

Benefit supper and dance

A supper to benefit the Fowler family, who recently lost the Yankee Shoe Repair shop to fire, will be held 5-7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 6, at the Old Town elks Lodge. After the supper, Idle Hands and Rivers Edge will play for dancing from 8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. The cost is $5, $3 for children.

Child care training

The Penquis Community Action Program Resource Development Center is offering the six-hour training session “Weaving Diversity into Our Work with Children and Families” for child care professionals. The workshop will be held 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday, March 6, at the Old Town-Orono YMCA. Lunch will not be provided.

Participants will explore personal memories, be introduced to concepts of the cultural lens and anti-bias approach and practice responses using child care work-based scenarios. The session is a recommended prerequisite for the “Many Eyes, Many Voices: Talking About Diversity With Children Through Literature” training session to be offered Saturday March 27 and Saturday April 3.

A $10 registration fee is charged for the training session. Current child care providers may apply to the Penquis Resource Development Center’s Scholarship Fund for reimbursement of the fee. To obtain more information or to register, call 941-2840.

Orono

Women of the World

Iran will be the country featured at the Women of the World luncheon at noon Monday, March 8, at the Church of Universal Fellowship, 82 Main St. Women from Iran will prepare a traditional meal and explain the cultural heritage of their country.

Women of the World welcomes American and International community women of all ages to make friends and learn from one another’s cultures. Meetings are usually the second Monday of each month, September to May.

A different country with its several cultures is featured each month. The cost for the luncheon is $4, but there is no charge for small children who are welcome to attend with their mothers. To learn more, call Mirielle Le Gal at the Office of International Programs, University of Maine, 581-3423.

Republican women

Penobscot County Republican women will hold an organizing meeting at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 6, at the Keith Anderson Community House, 19 Bennoch Road. Conversation will be accompanied by coffee and New York bagels.

Orrington

Ventriloquism ministry

Dale Gallagher will teach the truth through his ventriloquism ministry Sunday March 14 at the Orrington Center Church, 486 Dow Road.

His schedule is:

. Church service, 9:30 a.m.

. Sunday school, 11 a.m.

. Fellowship lunch, noon.

. Pioneer Club, 3 p.m.

His program will appeal to children and adults.

Winterport

Development hearing

A special hearing will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, March 18, at the Victoria Grant Civic Center, 40 Park Drive, to discuss the Winterport Commercial Development District.

The Board of Selectmen will present plans, hear comments and consider what action the town should take to accommodate and encourage business development and growth.

Statewide

Percent for Art

The art selection committee for the University of Maine Oxford Hills site announced a competition for artists to design, execute and install artwork. The site is a large barn refitted for classroom and office space.

The sites considered for art application are a large atrium wall above the 12-by-18-foot stair landing with a 4-foot handrail up the wall, and an exterior piece at the entry area to be constructed from 20 or more 3-by-8-feet granite foundation slabs retrieved from the building.

Approximately $11,000 is available for the purchase of artwork through Maine’s Percent for Art law, which reserves one percent of the construction funds for state-funded building projects to provide artwork for the public areas of these buildings.

The work should speak to the history of the building as the site of the former Oxford County Exposition Building on the site of the former Oxford County Fairgrounds.

All professional artists may apply for consideration for the project. For a prospectus, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope postmarked by April 9 to: Percent for Art Competition, Donna McNeil, Maine Arts Commission, 193 State Street, 25 SHS, Augusta 04333.