Although the weather report is for sunshine and patchy clouds, it doesn’t make a whit of difference to sponsors of Help Organize Peace Earthwide, the HOPE Festival, which will be held 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, April 21, inside the Field House at the University of Maine in Orono.

Getting there, however, will be much more delightful since you won’t have to slog through the rain and slush to celebrate Earth Day with the help of more than 70 organizations that work for peace, justice and a sustainable environment.

Ilze Petersons of the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine in Bangor is the program coordinator, and she promises an “exciting lineup of performers” that features “local talent as well as nationally acclaimed performers.”

Petersons wants readers to know that “there is something for everyone at the HOPE Festival.”

She commends “the efforts of many volunteers and sponsors, coordinated by Sandy Tardiff,” who “help make this special event free and open to the public.”

And, Petersons added, although the Peace and Justice Center coordinates the festival, its sponsors include the University of Maine’s Peace Studies Program, its Women’s Studies-Women in the Curriculum program and the Maine Peace Action Committee.

Penobscot Nation Elder Arnold Neptune will lead the opening ceremony at 10 a.m., and a 5K Fun Run, organized by Judd Esty-Kendall, begins at 11 a.m.

Katie Greenman and Anne Hayes Grillo have “once again pulled together fun and educational activities for children,” Petersons wrote of events planned throughout the day that range from crafts to activities tables coordinated by Maine Discovery Museum, Hudson Museum, Windover Arts Center, Tree Heckler and the Clay School.

Tammy Olson, June Burke and Maria Girouard have planned an array of outstanding and delicious food, which will be “on sale to satisfy every appetite,” Petersons said.

Bill Giordano and Friends perform folk and electronic music at 11 a.m.; juggler Zachary Field appears at noon; the folk, gospel and jazz of Kim and Reggie Harris will be heard at 1 p.m.; and the entertainment closes with blues and folk singer Doug Crate at 3 p.m.

April is Grange Month, and Valley Grange 144 of Guilford invites you to its open house and award ceremony 7-8:30 p.m. Friday, April 20, at Valley Grange Hall on the corner of Butter Street and Guilford Center Road in Guilford.

Free and open to the public, the event is preceded by a potluck supper at 6 p.m.

If you plan to attend the supper, please bring a dish to share.

Valley Grange president Jim Annis reminds readers “for 140 years, the Grange has worked to advance the interests of rural Americans by providing a legislative voice for their political concerns and by showing them how to strengthen their neighborhoods through community service.”

At its award ceremony, Valley Grange “will acknowledge the good works of two citizens” with the Grange Community Citizen Award, Grange member Walter Boomsma wrote.

The Grange is a nonpartisan organization participating in activities from public television pledge campaigns to collecting stuffed animals for the local sheriff’s department.

You can learn more about the Grange by attending this event or by calling Boomsma at 876-4131.

Here is a wonderful opportunity for cancer survivors to help those newly diagnosed with the disease.

Jani Druck, manager of volunteer services of the Cancer Community Center invites cancer survivors to a Maine Buddy Program training session 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, April 28, at Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor.

Lunch will be provided. You can register at www.cancercommunitycenter.org, or by calling Druck at 774-2200 or (877) 774-2200.

Buddies must be six months out of their own or a family member’s cancer experience or loss.

The statewide program connects trained peer support Buddies with those who have cancer, have a loved one with cancer, or lost a loved one to cancer.

Often, Buddies “meet” in person, but quite often “meetings” take the form of “phone conversations once or twice a week,” Druck reports.

For example, a colon cancer survivor in Kennebunk can talk with someone in Fort Kent newly diagnosed with this disease.

“The common thread that makes the match can be the type of cancer, type of treatment, age or family situation,” Druck said. “Geography is irrelevant,” and free phone cards are provided “so long-distance charges are not an issue.”

If you feel comfortable helping someone through a situation similar to yours, make the Maine Buddy connection.

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