Bangor youth raising money for children’s library books

BANGOR – Service by and to young women was the theme during a recent meeting of Frances Dighton Williams Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.

Samantha Duranko of Bangor, state president of the Children of the American Revolution for the past year, reported on her state project, collecting children’s history books for Bangor Public Library. Her state theme is “Follow in the Footsteps with Children’s Literature.”

Daughters of the American Revolution chapters and individuals, as well as other CAR members have contributed money and books to the project.

Duranko, 14, is an eighth-grader at William S. Cohen School and member of Moses Greenleaf Society, CAR. She is the daughter of Hilary Duranko Simmons and the granddaughter of DAR member Sonia Mallar of Bangor.

Duranko will attend the National CAR Convention April 21-24 in Washington, D.C., where she will run for New England vice president.

Her successor, Kyle Holland, will be installed as the new state president of Maine CAR. He is also a member of Moses Greenleaf Society and is the grandson of DAR member Suzan Rudnicki.

The featured speaker at the DAR meeting was Judy Lambert, co-director with husband Rick of King’s Daughters Home in Bangor.

For more than a century, King’s Daughters has provided safe, supervised housing for young women coming to Bangor. These days, Lambert explained, many of the residents are students who attend colleges that don’t offer housing, or have a shortage of it. Moreover, she said, room and board at the home is considerably less expensive than at colleges.

Donations help defray the cost of providing the housing, Lambert said.

For information about King’s Daughters Home, call 945-3844.