Friends and co-workers of Michelle Cox Clark of Baileyville are planning a benefit potluck supper and Chinese auction for the 42-year-old whom most know as the receptionist at Down East Credit Union in that Washington County community.

The Woodland High School graduate, who has worked at Down East Credit Union for 19 years, now is undergoing treatment for pancreatic and liver cancer.

She and her husband, Randy Clark, are the proud parents of a daughter and son.

Doors open for the Chinese auction at 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, at Woodland Junior-Senior High School in Baileyville.

Bette Papke of Down East Credit Union reports admission is $6 for adults, $3 for children 12 and under.

While the benefit is a potluck supper, you do not need to bring a dish to share, Papke told me.

However, if you want to bring a dish, “we do have a list,” Papke said.

She added that items still are being collected for the Chinese auction so, if you want to bring a dish or contribute an item to the auction, you can call her at Down East Credit Union, 427-3333.

Additional donations to assist the family during this difficult time will be accepted at the door on the night of the benefit, and at the Credit Union.

Sally Burke reports that members of Penobscot Valley Ski Club will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 8, at Fields Pond Audubon Center, 216 Fields Pond Road in Holden.

The guest speaker will be PVSC board member Dr. Dan Harrison, who is a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Maine.

Harrison will present a slideshow and discussion about wildlife in winter.

Burke wrote that new members are always welcome, and you can obtain more information about this meeting, or other activities of PVSC, by calling 234-2326.

Ellie Bertolaccini is president of the Brewer Community Service Council.

She e-mailed me recently on behalf of the members of BCSC to extend their thanks to Nat Perry, Brewer’s director of health and human services, “for coordinating the annual Christmas food drive in Brewer.”

Bertolaccini reported that “the citizens of Brewer, including the schoolchildren,” church members, the “Brewer Hometown Band and many other organizations … did a wonderful job collecting non-perishable food and money” for that holiday drive.

“The result was overwhelming!” Bertolaccini wrote. “We prepared 105 baskets for needy families in our community.”

The BCSC also thanks members of Brewer’s Public Works Department “for collecting the food from the schools,” and the staff of the “Brewer Recreation Department for storing the food and delivering baskets to homebound recipients.

“The food was shared with the Brewer Christian Food Cupboard whose food supply was low,” Bertolaccini wrote, adding that by their participation in this project, Brewer residents “showed they are truly a Community of Caring.”

Congratulations are extended to the staff of 10 Maine hospitals who participated last fall in the Maine Tobacco-Free Hospital Network in the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout and, for which, those hospitals received Gold Star Awards presented by MTFHN in conjunction with this ACS program.

According to a release from Cynthia Magnuson of the ACS in Topsham, the awards were presented to the hospitals “for demonstrated leadership in, and progress toward adopting exemplary, tobacco-free policies that protect the health of their patients, staff and community.”

Those award-winning hospitals include Charles A. Dean Memorial Hospital in Greenville; Down East Community Hospital in Machias, Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington, MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta-Waterville and Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft.

Also receiving the MTFHN Gold Star Award were Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick, Northern Maine Medical Center in Fort Kent, Penobscot Valley Hospital in Lincoln, Riverview Psychiatric Center in Augusta and Sebasticook Valley Hospital in Pittsfield.

These hospitals, Clifford wrote, “have adopted at last 80 percent of the MTFHN’s Gold Star Standards of Excellence, a “10-step, written policy that encourages the adoption of voluntary, comprehensive, indoor and outdoor tobacco-free policies.”

Clifford reminds you that, according to the ACS, “smoking remains the leading, preventable cause of death in the U.S. for both men and women, with 30 percent of all cancer deaths caused by tobacco use.”

“Secondhand smoke is a major health hazard to non-smoking adults, proven to cause lung cancer, heart disease and emphysema.”

For more information about smoking cessation, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, call the ACS at 800-227-2345.

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