Caribou Pet Rescue desperately needs your help, reports its president, Norma Milton.

“We are working so hard to create a safety net for the animals, but we have no financial safety net for the organization because we are new and have no savings to fall back on,” she wrote recently.

Last Friday, Milton received a call from shelter manager Liz Dionne, “urgently telling me to find help,” Milton wrote.

“In one day, with CPR already having a full house” of more than 40 animals, and more than “20 others in foster care, nine more new stray cats came in.”

One was an all-white, young female “who was wrapped in a towel and tossed in a snowbank. People dug her out and brought her to CPR,” Milton said.

And a short-haired, pregnant tiger cat was eating the carcass of another, just to stay alive, when she was found in an abandoned shed, Milton continued.

Although members of CPR work hard applying for funds to support their work, last year the organization received only $5,000 in grant money.

With monthly expenses of $6,800 to run the organization, and $3,000 needed for monthly medical spay and neutering expenses, it is easy to see why these folks are seeking your support.

Milton reminds readers “a male cat can impregnate over 100 females per year,” and “a female cat can have three to four litters per year.”

“We struggle each week,” Milton wrote. “Any donation, large or small, would be a big blessing to us.

“We collect returnable bottles to help pay our bills,” so even bottle donations would be welcome.

Donors can sponsor an animal’s cage for $20 a month; or sponsor a spay-neuter procedure once a month for $50.

If you can help, or if you would like more information about this organization, call Milton at 896-5650; Dionne at 498-3800; or visit www.petfinder.com/shelters/ME67.html.

“All of our pets are featured there,” Milton wrote.

Financial donations to help this organization can be mailed to CPR, 6 Richards Road, Caribou 04736.

Iris Simon reports it is time for participants to celebrate the successful conclusion of their 10-week Lose and Win program at two gatherings.

One is today in Deer Isle with guests Cheryl Wixon, Heather Barton-Lindloff and Meredith Gray.

The other is Thursday, March 7, in Ellsworth and features “the Hula Ladies, Na Haumana Hula O Hawai’i,” from Frankfort, providing the entertainment, Simon wrote.

Awards will be presented to winning teams that helped accumulate a loss of more than 2,600 pounds, she wrote, adding, “individuals will also be recognized for their accomplishment.”

Simon will provide us with a final report at a later date but, in the meantime, congratulations and a hearty well done are in order for members of the 45 teams who made this major commitment to improve their lives.

The dates for this year’s Bangor Garden Show are Thursday, March 22 through Sunday, March 25, at the Bangor Auditorium and Civic Center, reports Jan Cox of Brewer.

Cox wrote that “flower show chairman Sally Mowbray, would like to invite gardeners from the area to bring examples of horticulture to the flower show.

“When we have generous amounts of horticulture,” Cox continued, “our show is more in tune with what the judges want to see.”

Traditionally, she wrote, “this category has been the least represented.”

With your welcomed response to a request by Cox to help improve that category, she describes last year’s horticulture entries as “particularly splendid!”

Examples of classes or horticulture (from last year) include forced branches, evergreen branches, container-grown plants, combination planting and mother/daughter plants.

If you have questions about classes or examples of horticulture that qualify for the show, call horticulture chairman Carol Smith at 989-1083.

Cox reports that “anyone who buys a tickets to the Bangor Garden Show will be admitted free to the Standard Flower Show,” which is hosted by the Penobscot District Garden Clubs.

“This year’s theme is Fairy Tales and promises to be a spectacular event,” she wrote.

Team captains, or people who would like to serve as a team captain, for the Bangor-Brewer-Old Town 2007 March of Dimes WalkAmerica on Sunday, May 6, are invited to a complimentary kick-off breakfast from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Thursday, March 8, at The Heritage, 15 Colonial Circle in Brewer.

Reservations and more information can be obtained by calling Trish Hansen at Merrill Bank, 990-4070.

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