Local organizations thank community for help

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Through this column, individuals and organizations regularly ask for help for a variety of causes and reasons.

How you respond can make a tremendous difference for individuals, families and communities and the services a nonprofit organization can provide those in need.

Today, we offer an indication of the depth of your response.

Mike Staggs and Marla O’Byrne of Friends of Acadia thank more than 300 volunteers who participated in its sixth Earth Day Roadside Clean Up.

Volunteers collected more than 8 tons of trash from 150 miles of road in the Mount Desert Island, Trenton and Schoodic areas.

They thank businesses that recruited volunteers and sponsored the event and the state Department of Transportation for picking up the bagged trash.

Pat Saunders, director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Eastern Maine, thanks more than 800 volunteers who raised more than $67,000 during Bowl for Kids’ Sake.

He also appreciates the business support and the volunteer emcees who helped make the four-day event a striking success.

Angel Quick of the Skowhegan Savings Bank Pittsfield branch presented LifeFlight Foundation Chairman John May with $361.

The donation was raised during Employee Dress Down Days at local Skowhegan Savings Bank branches.

With a three-year, $10 million campaign to replace medical helicopters at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston in progress, every penny counts.

Judy Markowsky of Fields Pond Audubon Center in Orrington thanks the Audubon and BACORD volunteers who cleaned up the banks of Bangor’s Penjajawoc Stream, which flows into the Penobscot River.

Among the “finds” were money “that blew away from mall shoppers,” plastic bags and 250 recyclable bottles and cans.

Bangor’s Department of Public Works picked up 40 trash bags at the end of this Earth Day project.

Ilze Petersons, Sandra Tardiff, Stephen Soucy and Mike Howard of the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine in Bangor extend thanks for the success of the HOPE Festival in Orono, which attracted more than 80 groups and more than 1,000 people.

They are grateful “to the organizations that participated, the folks who attended, the performers, sponsors” and volunteers who helped demonstrate “that a better world is possible and that we can enjoy and support each other as we work for a peaceful and sustainable future.”

Michael Conley Jr. of Bangor wrote about a Brewer Middle School concert that raised money for Children’s Miracle Network “and a little girl named Lexie Conley.”

“Lexie is my daughter, and I just wanted to express my gratitude to all involved,” he wrote.

He appreciates the efforts of those who arranged the event, the network for “attaching its name to it,” donor businesses, corporate sponsors, performers, people behind the scenes and all who “showed up or donated.”

Conley didn’t want to leave anyone out and wants you to know “Lexie’s family thanks you from the bottom of our hearts” for your donations, kind words, thoughts and prayers.

Ken Buckley reported the Veterans Helping Veterans SOS Breakfast after the Memorial Day parade in Bangor raised more than $3,000 for the family of Sgt. Harold Gray of Penobscot, a member of the Maine Army National Guard who was injured in Iraq.

The group thanks area merchants for donations and 112th Medical Company chef Jeff Pelotti of Fairfield for overseeing the meal.

Phil Eckert of Orrington thanks everyone who bought carnations to benefit the Korean War Memorial at Bangor’s Mount Hope Cemetery. The $2,800 will help maintain the memorial.

Many people walked by, “threw in a couple of bucks, and didn’t even buy a flower,” he said. “And some little kids would give us 15 or 20 cents.”

He appreciates those gestures of remembrance and support.

Gerry Kearns-Makhlouf of Bangor and of the Bangor Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Friends of the Facility wrote with gratitude that its first auction raised more than $3,000. The money will help buy a van for the facility and support the activity program.

People who contributed to and participated in the 12th annual American Cancer Society Relay for Life in May at Old Town High School raised more than $175,300 for cancer research and services for Penobscot County cancer patients.

The top individual fund-raiser was Estelle Levesque with $3,225, bringing her team total to $13,505.

The top team fund-raiser was MJ’s Caps Connection.

Through its Flamingo Flocking project and other events during the year, the team raised $19,235.

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