You may not even be thinking about Valentine’s Day right now, but others are.

Jan Currier reports the Bangor Board of Realtors’ 10th annual valentine’s party is from 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday, Feb. 11, at Jeff’s Catering in Brewer.

Tickets are now available for $15 each or $150 for a table of 10 and can be obtained through your local realtor, at Patrick’s Hallmark in the Broadway Shopping Center and the Grasshopper Shop in downtown Bangor.

The event features a live band and “lots of chocolate,” Currier wrote.

The party benefits Habitat for Humanity of Greater Bangor.

All funds are eligible for matching grants from the Maine Association of Realtors Affordable Housing Foundation.

Currier reports that since 1995, this event has raised nearly $80,000 for the Greater Bangor Habitat for Humanity chapter.

The chapter has built 10 homes since its inception in 1988 – eight in Bangor and two in Brewer.

Seven of the homes were built on land donated by the city of Bangor.

Construction is executed by an all-volunteer crew with the help of partnering families who, to qualify, must demonstrate need, an ability to repay an interest-free loan and provide “sweat equity” or in-kind labor.

The repaid money is recycled into another home, with no profit being made by Habitat for Humanity.

If you want more information about partnering or volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, call 942-8977 and ask to have a volunteer call you.

On Saturday, Jan. 7, John and Delores Torrance of Winterport closed the doors of Bayside Video Variety for the final time.

They sincerely thank their many friends and neighbors “who patronized our place of business” over the years.

“It was with heavy hearts that we had to close our business,” they said, but their health would not allow them to continue.

“Many of you have expressed your sorrow in seeing us go,” they wrote. “We want you to know it is just as sad for us. Once again, thank you for allowing us to be the old-fashioned general store in our town. Goodbye and God bless.”

Competition for the 34th annual Skowhegan-Madison Elks Hoop Shoot, the first round in a national free-throw contest for youngsters 8-13, is 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15, at Madison Memorial High School.

Each contestant gets 25 shots at the basket, and the boy and girl in each age group with the best score advances to the Maine Elks Central District competition Sunday, Jan. 22, at Cony High School in Augusta.

Those making it through four tiers of competition qualify for the national finals at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

This Hoop Shoot is open to youngsters from SAD 54, Skowhegan area; SAD 59, Madison area; SAD 74, North Anson-Solon area; SAD 13, Bingham area; and SAD 12, Jackman area.

For information, call Roy Bolton after 5 p.m. at 696-9230.

I’ll have more information about this event as the date nears, but right now, friends and neighbors of Carl Oliver of Monroe want you to know they are planning a benefit turkey pie dinner for Oliver, who has cancer and is facing immediate difficulties, from 12:30 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29, at Monroe Elementary School.

Debbie Moody e-mailed me about the longtime Monroe resident and self-employed electrician who “canceled his insurance a while back because of the high costs.”

That is why, she explained, “we desperately need to try and help him by raising donations.”

If you cannot attend but would like to help Oliver with mounting expenses, make a check out to Monroe Lions Club, write Carl Oliver in the memo line and mail it to Monroe Lions Club, Monroe 04951.

For more information about the benefit, call Dave Doak at 525-4431.

Honored recently with the Public Broadcasting Service award for the best public television auction in the country, the Maine Public Broadcasting Network Great TV Auction is celebrating its 35th year, and your donations are needed to help make this fundraiser another success.

In April, the auction will be broadcast live from MPBN’s studio in Lewiston.

Margie Oxman reports donated items “can come in all shapes and sizes, from Maine-made goods and products” to artwork, handcrafted items, lawn and garden equipment “and even new cars.”

This year, buyers can preview and pre-bid on auction items online at www.mpbn.net.

To be a part of the MPBN Great TV Auction, call Oxman at (800) 884-1717, ext. 5167 or e-mail moxman@mpbn.net.

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