Bates college senior Erin Bougie of New Sweden turns 21 next week, and you can help make this an extra-special birthday with a donation in her name to the Habitat for Humanity Bicycle Challenge.

Erin’s mom, Judy Bougie, told me that her daughter will be one of 90 college students cycling coast to coast to raise $430,000 to underwrite the construction of eight Habitat for Humanity homes.

Erin Bougie is part of a group of riders who will leave on June 2 from New Haven, Conn., cycling what is known as the challenge’s “central route.”

After covering approximately 4,000 miles, participants are expected to arrive at Portland, Ore. in early August.

For four days of their nine-week trek, the cyclists will stop and help build houses for Habitat. On nightly stops in communities across the country, they will make presentations about their trip and its purpose.

Each rider is required to raise $4,000 by the end of May to participate. To date, Erin Bougie has raised approximately $2,400 on her own.

“But she still has about $1,600 to go,” her mother said.

If she doesn’t raise the whole $4,000 by the deadline, “she will still be able to go, but the remaining amount will be charged to her credit card account,” her mother said, so it would certainly be most helpful if she is able to raise the full amount.

Judy Bougie said her daughter, a Caribou High School graduate, “is in pretty good shape” for the journey.

A skier and track athlete, she rode her bike daily last summer on the 30-mile round trip to and from work for the Caribou Recreation Department.

I wish Erin Bougie a happy 21st birthday, and hope readers will help her reach her $4,000 goal she needs to participate in the Habitat Bicycle Challenge.

You can mail a check to Habitat Bicycle Challenge, 37 Union St., New Haven, Conn. 06511.

To ensure that Bougie gets credit for the contribution, be sure her name is written on the memo line, and also be sure the contribution includes your name and mailing address.

You also can go to the Habitat Bicycle Challenge Web site and make a donation there.

Visit http://www.habitatbike.org/ and scroll down the left to Donate.

Sandra Gordon of Waldo County Healthcare Inc. e-mailed recently that plans are under way for the 11th annual WCHI Dessert Cabaret, which begins at 7 p.m. Friday, March 16, at Belfast Area High School.

Admission is by donation, and desserts and other foods will be for sale when doors open at 5:30 p.m. and also during intermission.

Already in rehearsal for the fundraiser are WCHI staff members Heidi Peterson “telling a potato-picking story, and a new twist on the popular makeover segment which features staff members Michael Barnes Lopez and Rob Fowler, who have learned a dance in a few sessions,” Gordon wrote.

Also prepping for the show is Roger Rowlands, “a returning favorite,” who will perform a medley of Irish songs.

A new band is scheduled to appear but, Gordon added, “more acts are needed to complete the evening program, which, generally, includes 12 family friendly acts, each about two to three minutes in length.”

Members of the community are invited to perform.

Organizers are looking for people who can “sing, perform a skit or magic trick, juggle, play an instrument, read a poem or lip sync,” Gordon wrote.

If you would like to go onstage for a good cause, call Lois Dutch at Waldo County General Hospital, 338-2500, ext. 4154, to obtain an entry form or to receive more information.

June Ranta Wilcox of Winterport and Steve Gifford of Brewer have written to let readers know they are helping prepare “an exhibit and program on saunas, music and handicrafts of Finnish-Americans in midcoast Maine,” which includes Lincoln, Knox and Waldo counties.

“If you have any information on any of these Finnish-American activities, and would be willing to contribute to this project,” they wrote, “please contact one of us. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.”

The exhibit will be displayed throughout the summer at the Finnish Heritage House on River Road, Route 131, in South Thomaston.

If you can help with this project, contact Wilcox at 25 Old County Road, Winterport 04496; call her at 223-4677 or e-mail kessa1@aol.com; or write Gifford at 4 Park Ave. West, Brewer 04412; call him at 989-1971 or e-mail naskali@hotmail.com.

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