Last spring, when the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter board of directors and executive director Dennis Marble were “considering the state of the shelter’s finances,” Marble wrote, they were facing a $21,000 deficit and knew, in discussing the 2007 budget, they just “couldn’t cut many more costs.”

And while everyone was reluctant to ask for more community support, the group decided to “roll up our sleeves and embark on a three-pronged strategy” to erase that deficit, he wrote.

Together, they would “bring the issue of homelessness and the role of the shelter to every place we could think of as a matter of public policy; engage in advocacy work toward securing a more equitable level of government funding; and, hopefully only as a short-term continuing bandage, work to secure more local, private support.”

The results of that three-pronged effort were truly remarkable, especially in securing more local, private support, thanks to you.

The annual appeal, Marble announced, raised $17,000 more than expected. In addition, he wrote, the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation gave $5,000 in excess of its annual contribution.

On behalf of the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, Marble thanks “the kind, perceptive and generous donors” whom he believes “truly provide the opportunities for the folks who come to our doors to try and change their difficult lives.”

Cynthia Magnuson of the American Cancer Society in Topsham has announced the ACS Reach to Recovery program is offering a training class for breast cancer survivors who are interested in becoming Reach to Recovery visitors.

That class will be taught from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, at Waldo County General Hospital on Northport Avenue in Belfast.

A light lunch will be provided.

This particular ACS program matches breast cancer survivors with women who are dealing with the disease.

This year in Maine alone, Magnuson wrote, more than 1,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.

“For a woman facing breast cancer,” she explained, “talking the experience over with a breast cancer survivor, who has gone through treatment, not only helps answer questions” but also provides that individual with “a role model for recovery.”

To register for the visitor training program or to learn more about Reach to Recovery and the services it offers, call the ACS at (800) ACS-2345.

Orchard Trails is a “new student-oriented apartment community” located near the University of Maine in Orono, wrote Jimmy Goodson, area manager of GMH-College Park Communities, owner of Orchard Trails Apartments.

The community, he said, is the designated housing for Pi Beta Phi sorority.

Orchard Trails and Pi Beta Phi are co-sponsoring an American Red Cross blood drive from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29, in the media room-pool room of the Community Building at Orchard Trails, 4 Empire Drive in Orono.

The theme of the drive is “A Great Place to Give. And a Great Place to Live.”

For more information, call 866-2200, or visit www.collegeparkweb.com.

A spaghetti supper and silent auction to benefit Bruce Dowling and family is planned for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2, at Holden Elementary School.

Admission is by donation.

The silent auction begins at 5:30 p.m. with bids closing at 7:30 p.m. and winners announced at 8 p.m.

To donate auction items, call Trish Anderson, 843-5208. To donate food items, call Delores Landry, 989-4059.

Dowling, 49, a longtime Holden town employee, suffered a brain aneurysm and heart attack on Jan. 4, Tracy Ashe told me.

He is undergoing surgery and treatment in Boston.

On Jan. 1, I wrote about the Cancer Community Center Maine Buddy Program that matches people newly diagnosed with cancer with others who have had similar experiences.

Buddies meet often by phone, although some meet in person.

Hoping to increase the number of program participants, CCCM volunteer services manager Jani Druck announced a new date for its one-day, free training program for this one-on-one, peer-matching network of cancer survivors.

The training is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 28, in Rangeley Hall at Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor.

To register or for more information, call Druck, (877) 774-2200, or e-mail jdruck@Maine.rr.com.

Just when we get fresh snow and think about skiing, it’s time for my husband and me to pack our golf clubs and head for California to visit the kids and grandkids.

My column returns to this section Thursday, Feb. 1.

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