Orono High coffeehouse to benefit diversity event

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Seating is limited to 200 in the Orono High School cafeteria, and only a few tickets will be sold at the door for the Orono High School Diversity Team Coffeehouse, so you should purchase them in advance. The family-friendly event, which will benefit OHS Challenge Day, is at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 19.

“The featured band is Evergreen, an acoustical group of three Maine musicians playing jazz, bluegrass, folk and country. Evergreen, out of Dexter, has quite a following in Maine,” said OHS Diversity Team adviser Margot Dale.

Tickets are $10 each and can be purchased from OHS Diversity Team members Emily Artesani, Sara Cote, Chelsea Castonguay, Ryland Charron-Smith, Justine Dyer, Melissa Krassikoff and Emily Palmer.

You can also purchase tickets from Emily Sypher, Tory Gran, Sam Hallman, Sarah Jason, Cassie Nichols, Mike Perna, Carl White or advisers Dale and Shana Goodall.

“We are gong to have yummy desserts and tea and coffee,” Dale said, “and some of our students will be performing, as well.”

Amanda Morrison will sing an operatic selection, Emmett Harrity will play the piano and Jon Bailey will perform acoustic music.

During intermission, Ryland Charron-Smith will offer a musical interlude.

The money raised will help fund Challenge Day, planned for October.

Dale told me the OHS Diversity program was initiated eight years ago to help “promote activities that support our school values.” The current focus is respect.

The Diversity Team’s goal is to present a Challenge Day that “involves the entire high school student body,” Dale said. “It is a way to look at our own prejudices, and how we view and treat one another.”

The Challenge Day presenters will be the Penobscot Riverkeepers of the Penobscot River and Bay Institute.

Since 1993, according to a Bangor Daily News article, the Penobscot Riverkeepers have traveled by war canoe down the Penobscot River, offering educational programs about the environment, history and culture of the Penobscot River watershed.

The cost of bringing this program to OHS is $2,500.

A full house would be a wonderful way to raise much of that amount.

Spruce Run Association of Bangor, the domestic violence agency serving Penobscot County, is celebrating more than 30 years working for peace at home with its annual Dessert Gala and Spectacular Silent Auction 7-9 p.m. Saturday, March 19, at University College Campus Center on Texas Avenue in Bangor.

Sponsored by Miller Drug, Northeast Reprographics and Pine Tree Waste, the benefit features elegant desserts provided by area restaurateurs and private bakers, jazz for entertainment, and a variety of auction items.

Admission is $15, and tickets will be available at the door. Advance tickets can be obtained by calling 945-5102.

According to information provided by Sue Hamlett of Spruce Run, last year the organization responded to more than 3,400 hot line calls, sheltered 118 women and children, and provided information about healthful relationships to more than 5,000 students in Penobscot County schools.

If you cannot attend the Gala, but want to help Spruce Run continue this valuable work, send donations to Spruce Run Association, P.O. Box 653, Bangor 04402-0653.

Congratulations to Sarah Gamble, 20, of Bethel, a second-year student in the Honors College at the University of Maine in Orono, who is Maine’s Cherry Blossom Princess for the 2005 National Cherry Blossom Festival April 3-9 in Washington, D.C., representing the Maine State Society of Washington, D.C.

Gamble, a Telstar Regional High School valedictorian, is majoring in history with a minor in dance and museum education.

She is a member of the Pride of Maine Black Bear Marching Band dance team; Alpha Lambda Delta and Golden Key honor societies; teaches Sunday school in Orono; and was a volunteer counselor for the American Legion Maine Girls’ State program.

The MSS reports that, in the 58-year history of the festival, Gamble is the first Maine princess from Bethel and the second from Oxford County.

The public is invited to enjoy the music and comedy of the Wicked Good Band at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 19, at Reeds Brook Middle School in Hampden.

Tickets for the concert, which benefits Hampden Academy Dollars for Scholars, are $10 for adults and $5 for children in advance, or $12 for adults and $6 for children at the door.

Tickets are available from Hampden Academy students, at the Grasshopper Shop in Bangor, The Store-Ampersand in Orono and Schachts’ True Value Hardware and Hampden Natural Foods in Hampden.

For more information, call 862-2712.

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