Agency works to support nontraditional families

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The old saying “as Maine goes, so goes the nation” might well be reversed for Family Connections, a program of Bangor’s Families and Children Together.

The agency provides services to families and children through several programs ranging from adoptions to foster care and supervised visitation programs.

Family Connections serves grandparents, aunts and uncles who are raising grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

“Nationally, the numbers have been increasing” for this group, said program director Barbara Kates.

And while no current statistics are available for those individuals in Maine, Kates believes the numbers are increasing here, just as they are nationally.

For more than five years, grandparents, aunts and uncles raising children have been able to attend a support group meeting at 6:30 p.m. the first and third Tuesday of each month at the agency, 304 Hancock St., Bangor.

Kates wants to “get the word out” about this free support group that offers on-site child care and limited reimbursement for mileage “for those coming from a distance, to help reduce barriers to their attending” the meetings, she explained.

“It’s always been an open group, and we’re always welcoming new people.”

Those who wish to attend “don’t have to sign up,” she added. “They can come one time and check it out.”

Usually, eight to 15 people attend.

“It’s a wonderful group of people who are very sensitive and helpful to each other and provide a wealth of information to help each other,” she explained, adding that the group is particularly helpful when members experience a change in their situation.

Refreshments are served, and you can receive more information by calling Kates at 941-2347 or (866) 298-0896.

Besides the support group, Family Connections offers legal, education and financial decision information; resource support to help manage challenges; training for people working with kinship families; a library of books and videos and family activities.

For additional information, visit www.kinship

connections.org.

The public is invited to the Schoodic Audubon Society chapter of the Maine Audubon Society annual meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 21, at the Whiting Community Center.

Barbecue chicken will be provided, but you are asked to bring a casserole, salad or dessert for the potluck supper. Admission is $5 per person.

Reservations may be made by calling President Pete Edwards at 726-9664. If necessary, leave a message.

Dr. Harold Borns of the University of Maine will discuss the glacial ice sheet of 10,000 years ago and how it affected landforms in Washington and Hancock counties.

His presentation includes the Downeast Ice Age Trail and map that describes landforms at 31 sites in the two counties, a project supported by UMaine, Downeast-Acadia Regional Tourism and the Downeast Resource Conservation and Development Council.

Art teacher Sarah Tabor wrote that each year, the Bangor School Department adopts a fine arts theme. This year, it’s Africa.

She wants to hear from anyone with artifacts or souvenirs from their travels in that part of the world that they are willing to donate for placement in “a treasure box to inspire the students.”

Tabor also is interested in “getting leads” about “local artists who might be able to support the theme.”

If you can help, call Tabor at 941-6200.

The Bangor Daily News received e-mail from former Mainer and U.S. Air Force retiree Harold Carson, who volunteers with many organizations in the Tampa, Fla., area.

After Hurricane Charley, volunteers were asked to help unload trucks, sort goods and repackage them for shipment to the disaster zones, he wrote.

When he arrived at the distribution site, Carson “was surprised and happy” to find cartons with labels indicating they came “from the good folks in Maine,” and happier still to read they were “sent by the people of Penobscot County, collected by the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office, Bangor, Maine.”

He believes the stickers are “a great idea,” because they enable families receiving the goods to know where they came from, and properly thank the senders.

I misheard Michael Reisman, executive director of the Beth C. Wright Center, when he told the me date of the open house for the new facility that serves people and families in that area who are coping with cancer.

The open house is 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 21, at the Wright Center, 3 High St., Ellsworth.

The public is invited to attend.

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