People who were alive during World War II remember a variety of ways in which those of us on the home front were asked to support our troops overseas.

There were food and gas rationing cards; butter was replaced with margarine you colored yourself; women painted lines on the backs of their legs to replicate nylon stockings; and we were all encouraged to buy war bonds.

Today, as our men and women again put their lives on the line, people on the home front are doing what they can to help.

The Curves for Women fitness centers in Bangor and Newport, for example, are attempting to collect 500,000 dimes (totaling $5,000) each to purchase helmet upgrade kits for our troops.

Owner Sandy LaVersa, employees and Curves members are participating in a 12-Week Healthy Lifestyle Challenge, said Curves of Bangor Manager Michelle Spencer.

As part of that challenge, participants have received pledge sheets for the Curves Doing Good Deeds With Dimes program, which began Monday, Feb. 26, at both Curves locations and continues through Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 13.

Each $5,000 will facilitate the purchase “of 70 helmet kits,” Spencer said of the units that will provide “cushioning rebuilding kits for the inside of helmets” for military personnel.

Each Curves location is conducting a food drive, beginning Thursday, March 1. Curves staff, Curves members, and members of the public are encouraged to donate nonperishable food items and other necessities, such as lip balm and sunscreen, which will be sent to the troops overseas.

“We will have shipping boxes at our Newport and Bangor locations for people to bring in things for the troops,” Spencer said.

“And we will have drop-off boxes in each club for letters or postcards for people to write to the troops that we will send out to them.”

Collecting 500,000 dimes at each location is a most ambitious goal. But, Spencer said, “We’ll collect anything,” so any money, in any denomination will help. If you want to donate it in dimes, fine.

And, if you want to roll your dimes, that’s fine, too. If not, “we’ll roll them,” Spencer said.

If you are interested in this program to help our troops, you are welcome to call Spencer at 947-0000 or visit Curves in Bangor on Outer Hammond Street, across from Target Industrial Circle, or visit Curves in the Triangle Plaza in Newport.

For more information about the helmet improvement program, visit http://www.operation-helmet.org/.

The public is invited to a complimentary luncheon to be held by the March of Dimes Bangor-Brewer-Old Town WalkAmerica Leadership Committee 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28, at Oriental Jade Restaurant on Bangor Mall Boulevard.

The luncheon kicks off fundraising for the annual walk, which is Sunday, May 6.

Reservations and more information can be obtained from Trish Hansen at Merrill Bank, 990-4070, or the March of Dimes, 989-3376.

The mission of the March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality.

More information is available at www.marchofdimes.com.

Three high school seniors each will receive a $500 Golf Privilege Card Scholarship granted by the American Lung Association of Maine.

Prospective applicants can obtain scholarship information at www.mainelung.org, click on Golf Card, then Scholarships, or contact Sherene Roberts at (888) 241-6566, ext. 112, or e-mail golf@mainelung.org.

Qualifying applicants must plan to pursue higher education in a field relating to health education, health promotion, medicine or the environment, and be involved with the game of golf either as a player or an employee of a golf-related business.

My deepest sympathies are extended to one of my favorite people and one of Maine’s most popular media personalities, George Hale, and his family, on the death of his wife, Jean.

Margaret Jean McHale was 75 when she died on Feb. 18 of cancer.

I did not know Jean well, but we had met, and spoken often, usually during my sports columnist days when I needed George to confirm a significant fact for me.

But of Jean, this I do know: She was loved, and she loved.

Jean was there for George during some of the most difficult, and most rewarding, times of his life. She was his anchor, and his strength.

In memory, she will continue to be so.

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