The committee working to erect a new JUMP playground next to Knowlton School on State Street in Ellsworth has been hard at work raising $50,000 to date for this project, but the committee still is just halfway to its $100,000 goal.

JUMP stands for “Join Us in Making a Playground.”

The original playground was constructed 20 years ago and it has had some updating in recent years.

Your next opportunity to help build a new playground is by attending a Super Social at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 1, at the White Birches in Ellsworth. Tickets are $100 a couple and can be purchased by calling Michelle Beal or Jon Mahon at 667-8245.

From Stephen Fay we learn that the fundraiser offers $4,700 in cash prizes, with drawings starting at 8 p.m.

The top cash prize is $2,000, followed by prizes of $1,000, $500, $200 and $100. Dancing until midnight follows the drawings.

Beal reminds those who purchased tickets for JUMP’s April raffle that their tickets must be returned to one of the four Ellsworth schools by Wednesday, March 29.

More than $4,000 in prizes will be given away through this fundraiser, from savings bonds to restaurant certificates and gift baskets.

Donations to the playground fund will be gratefully accepted. Checks can be made out and mailed to JUMP 2 Playground, c/o Michelle Beal, City of Ellsworth, P.O. Box 586, Ellsworth 04605.

For more information, call Beal at the number above.

Once again it’s time for the Friends of the Calais Free Library Soup & Poetry Evening from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 30, in the CFL Reading Room.

Attendees are invited to bring a poem to read, either one written by another or one’s own work, and enjoy an evening sampling a wide variety of soups accompanied by bread, beverage and cake.

You will also have the opportunity to join the Friends of the Calais Free library, hosts for this event, and other activities that help make this facility a vital part of its community.

On behalf of Eastern Maine Healthcare, Lanie Colson invites you to participate in Sleep Apnea Awareness Day by attending an open house from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursday, March 30, at the Sleep Center of Maine, 290 State St. in Bangor.

At the open house, experts will be available to share the latest treatments, and you can take a tour of the facility while learning about sleep apnea, a medical disorder that causes a person to stop breathing for periods of time during sleep.

Tickets are still available for the First Phillips-Strickland House Dinner and Dance that begins with a social hour at 6 p.m., dinner at 7 p.m., and dancing to Brian Catell’s band, Jump City Jazz, at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 1, at Penobscot Valley Country Club in Orono.

Tickets are $150 a couple for this new fundraiser that benefits the residents of this private, nonmedical facility of which 76 percent of the residents are Medicaid-eligible.

Executive director Nelson Durgin reports the event will also feature a silent auction with “many wonderful items,” including 100 gallons of heating fuel from Webber Oil Co., a tree from Sprague’s Nursery, tickets for the Penobscot Theatre Company, Bangor Symphony Orchestra and Maine Center for the Arts, restaurant gift certificates and a 10-pack of perennials from the private stock of local, well-known gardener Allison Keef.

For tickets or information, call Durgin or Lisa Martin at 941-2820.

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