People interested in end-of-life planning should take advantage of a series of free educational presentations offered by Caring Connections, a women’s health program of the Bangor Y and Eastern Maine Medical Center supported by fund-raising efforts of Eastern Maine Charities.

“Getting Your Stuff Together or Preparing for End of Life” is hosted by Caring Connections with a grant from International Paper Co. Foundation.

The series consists of four free luncheon sessions.

“People are invited to attend one luncheon presentation, more than one, or all four,” wrote Robin Long of Caring Connections.

Each session begins at 12:15 p.m. and will be held at the Bangor Y on Second Street.

The first session, “Wills and Estate Planning,” is Thursday, March 24.

The second session, “Advanced Health Care Directives,” is Tuesday, March 29.

The presenter for these sessions is Rudman and Winchell lawyer Leigh McCarthy.

The third session, “Hospice and Home Health Care,” is Wednesday, April 6, and features Wayne Melanson, director of volunteer services at Hospice of Eastern Maine.

“Palliative Care,” the fourth session, will be offered by Jan Pilotte of the Palliative Care Program at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. That session is Monday, April 11.

Long wrote that the Bangor Y is “pleased International Paper recognized the critical need, in our communities, relative to the topics being covered.”

“It’s never too early to prepare for end of life,” she continued. “We often mean to take care of personal business, but we put these tasks aside.”

These sessions, Long said, “will help prepare us, and help us feel knowledgeable and ready, for any emergency.”

Because space is limited and reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis, Long asks people to register 48 hours before each scheduled session.

To preregister for any of these helpful presentations, call 941-2808.

Executive director Bill Rae of Manna Inc. in Bangor reports supplies to feed the needy are low and “we need your help to fill the shelves again.”

Requested items include ramen noodles, soup, tuna, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, peanut butter and Jell-O.

Financial donations would be graciously accepted as well.

Contributions can be delivered between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, or mailed to: Manna, 629 Main St., Bangor 04401.

Buck Memorial Library librarian Geraldine Spooner invites the public to attend “a celebration of the building and launching” of Adm. Robert E. Peary’s steamship Roosevelt at noon Wednesday, March 23, at the library on Main Street in Bucksport.

Old copies of the Bangor Daily News report the steamship was launched 100 years ago at 12:35 p.m. Thursday, March 23, 1905, on Verona Island.

Spooner reported George Sawyer, “historian and grandson of Albina Sawyer, who worked on the ship, and Earland Morrill, model shipwright and historian,” will share their research about this historic event.

For information, call the library at 469-2650.

Here’s a delightful opportunity for gardeners who are also digital photographers.

The Ellsworth Garden Club is hosting a seed exchange beginning at 7 p.m. Monday, March 21, at the Hancock County Cooperative Extension, 66 Boggy Brook Way, Ellsworth.

And, Elaine Fernald reports, Chris Crockett of the Ellsworth American will speak on digital photography for gardeners and others.

Refreshments follow the meeting, which is open to the public.

For information about activities of the club, call Fernald at 244-3085.

Attention, Orono residents.

You can celebrate your town’s 1806 founding by planting a Bicentennial Garden or by adding specially selected perennials to your existing garden as part of the Orono Bicentennial Garden Project.

Chris Dorion and Alma Otto have researched the region’s horticultural history and produced a list of 10 varieties of hardy perennials that will be sold at a substantial discount.

The plants include the Raspberry Sundae peony, the Alma Potschke New England aster, Moonbeam coreopsis, lemon lilies, Caesar’s Brother Siberian iris, Alaska shasta daisies, David phlox, Jacob Cline bee balm, Magnus echinacea and fringed-leaf bleeding heart, all of which grew in the area between 1800 and 1850.

Order forms for residents of Orono are available at the Orono municipal offices, Orono Public Library, The Store-Ampersand, Park’s Hardware, Art Etcetera, DeGrasse Jewelers and Orono Pharmacy.

You also can obtain forms at The Pretty Woman, Judy’s Scrappin’ and Stampin’, Birmingham’s Florist, Burby & Bates, Rose Bicycle and online at www.Orono2006.com.

For special recommendations for these plants for your yard, call Dorion at 866-7806 or Lisa Colburn at 866-3861.

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