Late last week, I spoke with Kim McVicar of Calais, who is chairwoman of a benefit for a young single mother of two who is undergoing treatment for terminal liver cancer.

Tanya Pressley is receiving treatments that she hopes will prolong her life, but has been told she has less than a year to live.

“She has been very strong,” McVicar answered when I asked how Pressley was dealing with what life has handed her.

“I hope I could be that strong,” she said.

Tanya Pressley is the daughter of well-known local dance instructor Barbara Lara and Jose Lara of Calais and Joe Pressley of Woodland.

Ann Caswell wrote to me about the Benefit Dinner & Dance for Tanya Pressley, which begins with dinner from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26, at the Calais American Legion Hall.

Calais residents Dan and Becky Lacasse have volunteered to prepare “a spaghetti dinner with all the fixings,” Caswell wrote.

The dance runs from 8 p.m. to midnight, at the same site, and the band, Everyday Strangers, is volunteering its services for this special event.

Tickets are just $10 for adults and $5 for children, and can be purchased in advance from Ace Hardware, Johnson Hardware, Machias Savings Bank, Boston Shoe Store, Rite Aide, Mitchell & Mitchell Law Offices, St. Croix Federal Credit Union and The New Friendly Restaurant.

“Many area people are, no doubt, familiar with Tanya,” Caswell wrote of the local beauty queen who has won many trophies, and with her mother, who “owned and operated Barbara’s School of the Dance for many years, with many students from both sides of the border.”

If you cannot attend the benefit dinner and dance but would like to help Pressley and her children, you can send contributions to Kim McVicar, 16 Poole St., Calais 04619.

If you wish to speak with McVicar to obtain more information, call 454-2400.

Jon Henry of Troop 1776, reports that the Hampden Boy Scout troop is seeking volunteers “to help reconstruct a wooded trail in Hampden, which connects the town office to the Lura Hoit Pool.”

The sponsor of the project is troop member and Eagle Scout candidate Ben Holmes.

Volunteers will begin clearing brush, installing wood chips and constructing a small footbridge over a stream at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 23, through Saturday, Aug. 27, at the town hall.

If you can help on any or all of those days, call Holmes at 862-5864.

I wrote on July 20 about the 58th annual Orono-Old Town Kiwanis Charity Auction and wondered, in print, what was the collective number of years current members of that organization have given to this event that raises funds for its many community services.

I surmised, in that column, “the collective years of service, by this very special group, would be quite an impressive number.”

Before the summer gets away from us, I thank longtime Orono-Old Town Kiwanian George Gonyar and the club’s treasurer, Wayne Hamilton, for providing me with the answer to that question, and an impressive answer it is.

“As best as I can figure,” Hamilton e-mailed Gonyar, “the accumulative years of our Kiwanis members working on the auction this year is 1,049 years.”

Hamilton then wrote, “to put a face on the info” he had provided, he believes “the accumulative 1,049 years is the total from some 78 members who worked on this year’s auction.”

Hamilton credits Herb Cowan, with 46 years of service, with “the longest time, followed by Mark Boyd, with 42 years.”

And then, Hamilton wrote, there is “a group with 30-years-plus” of working the annual auction that includes Gonyar, Stan Borodko, Don Coates, Mike Griffin, Robert Miller and Ken Wood.

For good measure (and this really delighted me) Hamilton added, “on the other end, Randy and Lyn Adkins, John and Claire McDonough, Don Volk [and] Danielle Coombs are working on their second year and, for Alison Corson, Bob Gridley and Bill Butcher, it is their first auction.”

How delightful that Hamilton thought to mention the newcomers, who are stepping into some pretty big shoes, keeping the Orono-Old Town annual Kiwanis Auction spirit and tradition alive.

By the way, Gonyar wrote that this year’s auction was the most successful ever, raising almost $59,000.

To each and all, I salute you for your dedication to club, cause and community.

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