Inspired by stories of others who gave up vacation time to help those in need, and to honor their late mother, two Eastport sisters are spending their summer vacation working on HIV-AIDS education in Ukraine.

Danae Kesel, 25, a staff member at Shead High School in Eastport, and Cara Kesel, 20, a student at the University of Maine in Orono, have been accepted by a Volunteers for Peace program for a two-week July journey in which they will help educate young people about HIV-AIDS through drama, performing in a play prepared by a professional director.

Volunteers for Peace is a Vermont-based nonprofit organization that has been coordinating International Voluntary Service since 1982. It does not have any religious or political affiliation, and works in cooperation with other national and international service and voluntary and youth organizations.

The women need to raise $4,000 to cover transportation costs, and their friends, neighbors and community members are pitching in to help.

An open house for their Ukraine volunteer trip will be held 4-6 p.m. Sunday, June 4, at the home of Dovie Gaither, 18 Shackford St. in Eastport. The public is invited.

The suggested donation is $20, but any contribution is welcome.

Ann Cornelison of Eastport said the fundraiser is planned as an afternoon of music and food, featuring violinist Alice St. Clair; the young people’s string band, Pieces of String; and the choir group, the Balkanistas.

Local business owners and individuals have contributed items for door prizes, and a DVD will be available to learn more about the work of Volunteers for Peace.

The two women are also making the trip in memory of their late mother, Catherine Kesel, whose family they believe came from near Kiev, Ukraine, which is the sisters’ primary destination.

The sisters have raised slightly more than $1,200 to date, and your support would be appreciated.

If you cannot attend the open house but would like to help, donations can be sent to Danae and Cara Kesel, 209 Water St., Apt. 1, Eastport 04631.

For more information, call them at 853-4288.

Members of the public are invited to join the St. Croix Historical Society at 7 p.m. Monday, June 5, at The Homestead in Calais to hear Tony Reader discuss “What Cemeteries Can Teach Us.”

Refreshments will be served, Joni Miller wrote, and copies of “Nellie’s Diary” will be on sale.

Miller explained the author was the daughter of Dr. Job Holmes and his wife, Vesta Hamlin Holmes, the sister of Abraham Lincoln’s first vice president, Hannibal Hamlin.

Nellie Holmes “was 11 years of age when her journal of a year, 1851-1852, was written, disclosing life in and about Calais at that time,” Miller explained.

To reserve a copy of the diary, call Fred Becker, 454-3695, or e-mail fbecker04619@yahoo.com.

Apparently the new 911 addresses are causing problems for lots of high school reunion planners.

Debbie Brown Daigle of Hampden wrote that members of the Brewer High School Class of 1981 who are planning their 25th high school reunion for Saturday, July 15, at the Black Bear Inn in Orono, have run into some difficulties.

The committee mailed more than 300 invitations, she wrote, “but too many were returned because of changed addresses mostly, I think, due to the 911-address change.”

“We have managed to track down a few, but still have many unknowns.”

So the Brewer High ’81 reunion committee is asking any classmate, or anyone who knows of a class member who has not received an invitation, to call Daigle at 862-2696, or e-mail her at daigled@gwi.net, or call Michelle McHale Bush, 989-5071, or e-mail Mitchy1215@aol.com “so that we may send them an invitation.”

Daigle added that even if classmates cannot attend, “we would love to get their current address, telephone number and e-mail for our class directory and for future reunions.”

Carla Bommarito, volunteer chair for the American Cancer Society’s 2006 Old Town Relay for Life, should be proud of the results of this year’s event which surpassed its $190,000 goal by raising more than $197,000 with some funds still coming in.

Congratulations are extended to honorary chair Estelle Levesque, who was the top individual fundraiser with more than $2,200, and to members of MJ Cap’s Connection for taking top team fundraising honors with its $25,000 contribution, the most raised by a team in the 13-year history of this Relay for Life event.

The money raised will assist with ACS research, education, advocacy and patient services.

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