Caribou woman to join Breast Cancer 3-Day

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You certainly have to admire the spunk and determination of 31-year-old Bethany Green Courchene of Caribou, who is going to attempt something she never has done before, and do it alone.

Courchene is committed to raising $2,500 and participating in the Breast Cancer 3-Day, a fund-raiser for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund.

Courchene told me she has never undertaken anything like this before, and that she is going it alone with no friend or family member beside her.

She will have made many new friends when she finishes the walk, because she has joined a Boston team to help prepare for the event.

The teams provide coaches who offer support in training and fund raising.

Courchene will walk with thousands of women and men in the Boston event, covering 20 miles a day for three days, beginning Friday, July 8, at Pleasant Lane Mall in Nashua, N.H., and ending Sunday, July 10, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.

Courchene grew up in Auburn and graduated from Edward Little High School in 1991.

She moved from Lyman to Caribou 21/2 years ago with her husband and two children.

This is her first walk, and she “is really excited about the opportunity to make a difference in the fight against breast cancer” and her own “personal well-being” she wrote in an e-mail.

“I decided to take this walk for a few reasons.

“First, I needed some motivation to exercise and lose weight,” she wrote, adding that “a 60-mile walk is great motivation.”

She also has loved ones affected by breast cancer, and she is “tired of feeling helpless. This is my way of helping out.”

She hopes her efforts “will help future generations” and that, maybe, “breast cancer is something my daughter won’t have to worry about.”

To help Courchene raise the $2,500 to participate, you can make a direct donation by going to her donation page online at www.the3day.org.

Click on Boston, click on Donation, then enter the name Bethany Courchene.

You can also call her at (800) 451-5281 or mail donations to her at 559 Sweden St., Caribou 04736.

This year, thousands of walkers at 12 sites from California to Massachusetts will raise millions of dollars to battle breast cancer, as the Web site states, one step at a time.

One dollar at a time, you can help Bethany Courchene take those steps.

Although space is limited to 100 people, Hudson Museum and Maine Center for the Arts in Orono invite you to join university students from Sri Lanka, Indonesia and India in celebrating Aluth Avurudu, the National New Year, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Monday, April 25, in the Bodwell Area of the MCA.

Kathryn Braggins of the Hudson Museum reminds readers Sri Lanka was one of the regions affected by the tsunami, and invites you to “learn about the peoples and their traditions and support tsunami relief efforts.”

According to information provided by the Hudson Museum, in April, the month of Bak, when the sun moves from the Meena Rashiya (House of Pisces) to the Mesha Rashiya (House of Aries) Sri Lankans begin celebrating their National New Year Aluth Avurudu in Sinhala and Puththandu in Tamil.

Traditional refreshments will be served and the event is free and open to the public.

People planning to attend the third annual Brain Injury Association of Maine Country Music Show at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 24, at American Legion Post No. 207 in Trenton might like to know that in listing the names of the individuals and groups that will appear, I inadvertently omitted one of the leading acts, singer-songwriter Danny Harper and Acadia Country.

Admission is by cash donation for this worthy cause.

Fifth-grader Ben Oberg of Conway School in Mount Vernon, Wash., chose Maine for his state report.

“Every summer and winter I visit Maine,” he wrote, asking for our help with this project.

“I need representations of Maine such as emblems, patches, flags, coins, historical relics, old license plates, food, pictures, plants (seeds) and other representations of Maine.”

In advance, he wrote, “thank you for your time and any assistance that you can provide.”

His address is Ben Oberg, 21320 Egret Place, Mount Vernon, Wash., 98274.

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