Brothers Don and Kenneth of Friars Bakehouse on Center Street in Bangor will be coming face-to-face with the heartbreaking realities of life in Haiti today.

Two weeks after Hurricane Jeanne, which swept over the island, an estimated 2,000 people are dead and 300,000 homeless, according to information on the Internet.

Additionally, people have died from sickness or injury caused by floods that have devastated the country that occupies the western part of the island of Hispaniola in the West Indies.

“We’re headed to Haiti November 1,” Brother Don said.

They will be living and working with Episcopal Church of Haiti Archdeacon Noe Bernier, whom they met when he visited Brewer earlier this year.

The locale is Gros Marne, “which is roughly 50 kilometers from Gonaives, where the worst of the flooding was,” Brother Don said. “We’ll be taking school and medical supplies, and that all-purpose mission gift that folds flat and packs light and goes a long way: money!”

To help them on their way, “A Magical Evening” is planned for 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 16, at All Souls Congregational Church on Broadway in Bangor.

Admission for the show, which stars local magicians Bruce McKenzie Johnson and Baxter, is $8 for adults, $5 for children under 12 and $20 for two adults and two children.

“All proceeds benefit 2004 Haiti outreach,” Brother Don said.

If you cannot attend, and you would like to help with contributions of any type, “you can drop off all those things at the Friars Bakehouse,” Brother Don added.

A blood drive is being conducted at Sunbury Village Retirement Residence from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13, at the 922 Ohio St. facility.

“We’re encouraging seniors and others to come and help make this a successful drive,” wrote activity director Bonnie Whitney.

Refreshments will be provided. For more information, call Whitney at 942-0802.

Norway is the featured country for the next meeting of Women of the World at noon Monday, Oct. 11, at Church of Universal Fellowship in Orono.

Admission is $4 per person, with children welcome free of charge.

WOW is a support group for international women living in our area.

For more information about this organization, call Mireille Le Gal, 581-3423.

Donations of old, used books and newly baked goods are requested for the annual Down East Community Hospital Auxiliary Book Sale, which is 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 15, and 9 a.m.-noon Saturday, Oct. 16, at Centre Street Congregational Church in Machias.

Books – other than Reader’s Digest Condensed Books, magazines or books without covers – will be accepted at the church while the sale is being set up on Thursday, Oct. 14. Baked goods can be left at the church on Friday.

Ruth Leubecker writes that “because our members and friends are so spread out,” several women have offered to accept your contributions and take them to the church for you.

If you live in the Cutler area, contact Betty Duzen; in Marshfield, Joyce Tarbell; in Northfield, Janet O’Neal; in East Machias, Dorothy Gaddis; in Machiasport, Barbara Johnson and in the Cooper-Meddybemps area, Mary Campbell.

Raffle drawings are planned for noon Saturday, and those tickets can be purchased only at the sale.

Jill Reynolds of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems reports that volunteers are needed to help set up the Enchanted Forest, which is 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, at Sprague’s Nursery on Union Street in Bangor.

Those volunteers are needed to work Friday afternoon, Oct. 22.

Reynolds added that volunteers are also needed the day of the event, in three shifts: 9 a.m. to noon, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m., and 2-4 p.m.

Proceeds from the Enchanted Forest benefit Children’s Miracle Network of EMHS.

If you can help, call Reynolds or Debbie Tara at 973-5055.

Maine Adoption Placement Service in Bangor encourages you to “explore the adoption option” through a free, informational workshop from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, at Bangor High School on Broadway.

The placement service will provide information about both domestic and international adoption programs.

To register, call BAE at 941-6310. To obtain more information about MAPS and the services it provides, call Melissa Huston at 941-9500.

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