The 17 dedicated volunteer members of the West Frankfort Fire Department symbolize the commitment that residents of small Maine communities make to serve and protect their neighbors’ lives and properties.

Not only do they volunteer for this duty, they also put their efforts into raising money to pay for training and equipment.

One way to say thank you to Fire Chief Roy Stone, Assistant Chief Shawn Stone, EMS Director Adrian Stone and all of the volunteers would be to donate quality items for the department’s annual auction, which is 6 p.m. Sunday, July 17, at the fire station on Swanville Road in Frankfort.

You have one month to consider your donation, which will help the department fund its fire suppression and training activities.

Proceeds from last year’s auction enabled the department to install a well and establish a medical first-response unit.

If you’re wondering what type of items would be appropriate for the auction, take your cue from last year’s auction, which included furniture, gift baskets, antiques, jewelry, tools, paving, earthworks, firewood, gift certificates and much more.

Business owners or individuals who have items to donate, or who need more information about next month’s auction, can call Roy Stone, 223-4427; Shawn Stone, 223-4391; Adrian Stone, 223-5838 or e-mail westfrankfortfd@aol.com.

You can leave your contributions at the fire station or call any of the above numbers to arrange to have your donations picked up.

The annual field day for St. Croix Valley Amateur Radio Club begins with setup at 5 p.m. Friday, June 24, with operations beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 25, and continuing through 2 p.m. Sunday, June 26, at the Alexander School field.

According to Anne Carter of Charlotte, that information is very important to “local amateur radio folks” because this event “has always been held across the border in Canada in previous years.”

She wants our readers to know that “visitors are welcome to come and see amateur radio being put to the test for emergency preparedness communications.”

Carter explained the club consists of members, known as hams, from the United States and Canada and, once they’re set up, they “will be operating around the clock, from a portable station at the Alexander School field using the station call sign WW1SC.”

Other ham operators “can talk in on a frequency of 147.33 MHz,” she added.

Carter wrote that the goal of the event “is for hams to show that they can operate under emergency conditions, using portable equipment and generators for power.”

They will attempt to make “as many contacts as possible, with other hams around the world, using both voice transmission and Morse code.”

Sponsored by the American Radio Relay League, Carter explained that “points are awarded to clubs for a large variety of accomplishments, including how many antenna towers, ham operators, power sources, etc., are in use, as well as the number of contacts made during the exercise.”

For club members, you should be aware that “final preparations” for the event will be made at the club meeting at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, June 19, at the Methodist Home Meeting Room in Calais.

As you know, each spring, on a very regular basis, we receive requests from schoolchildren asking readers to send information about Maine to assist those youngsters with their “state reports.”

An e-mail I received last week in response to a request that appeared in this column in April from fifth-grader Ben Oberg of Mount Vernon, Wash., was such a treat, I couldn’t wait to share it with you.

Ben’s mom, Karen Stolfi-Oberg, extended her thanks for publishing Ben’s request.

“The people from Maine were, are so wonderful, and they were quite generous with Ben,” she wrote. “As a result, he has learned, from them, to do the same for others that might need help in the future. Because of the kindness of the people of Maine and Ben’s love for your state, he did receive an A+ on his report. It was very detailed and quite beautiful. He chose whoopie pies as his recipe to share with the state event visitors last Thursday evening. We made over 100 of them, and they were a hit with many people. May the kindness that was exhibited by those who helped Ben be returned many times, to them. Thank you for helping Ben to be a success.”

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