Countless individuals throughout our area can benefit from this two-session workshop: Cooking for a Crowd: A Food Safety Program.

Directed by University of Maine Cooperative Extension educator Louise Kirkland of the Penobscot County office, the workshop is “for volunteers who cook for fundraising events,” Kirkland said.

For people who do not cook for a living, she said, there is much to learn “about safe food preparation and handling.” Kirkland recognizes many people “may not be aware of all the special techniques of cooking for a large group.”

The first workshop is 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25 (with a snow date of Feb. 26) and the second session is the same time, Monday, March 3 (snow date March 4) at the Penobscot County Extension Office, 307 Maine Ave., Bangor.

The registration fee is $25 per person or $60 for an organization of up to three people.

Preregistration is necessary, the class is limited to 35 people, participants must attend both sessions and a resource packet will be provided.

To register, or receive more information, call the extension office at 800-287-1485 or 942-7396.

The workshop will offer safety concerns for planning and purchasing, storing food supplies, preparing and cooking food, transporting, storing and serving cooked food, and handling leftovers.

Kirkland reminds you “foodborne illness is recognized as a significant public health problem” in this country, and that volunteer cooks need to “learn to protect yourself and the people you feed” to ensure the fundraiser they are catering is successful in every respect.

Librarian Lyn Smith of the Pittsfield Public Library e-mailed that “adult volunteers are needed to supervise after-school programs for tweens and teens” at the library.

“We are currently offering the active video game, ‘Dance Dance Revolution,’ on Friday afternoons,” Smith wrote.

“Other activities will be offered as interested adults come forward.

“The young people are already at the library, and we would like to keep them occupied in a variety of ways.”

On another note, Smith wants you to know “the fledgling Friends of the Pittsfield Public Library are collecting returnable bottles and cans,” which can “be brought to the library or the Pittsfield Redemption Center.”

Proceeds from that collection will help support library programs.

River City Cinema Society offers two movies for you this school vacation weekend.

First is “The Namesake,” at 7:30 tonight, and the second is “Once,” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, at the Bangor Opera House, 131 Main St., home of Penobscot Theatre Company.

Admission is $5 and refreshments will be available.

“The Namesake” is rated PG-13, and “Once” is rated R.

Both films are about the immigrant experience, according to the RCCS release, and “Once” has received an Oscar nomination for Best Song.

The public is invited to attend a benefit spaghetti supper for John and Ruth York and their two children who lost their Orrington home to fire last month.

The supper begins at 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, at St. Vincent De Paul Parish House on Franklin Street in Bucksport.

Admission donations are $5 for adults and $3 for children, and all proceeds will benefit the family.

Here is a reminder from Mike Hart of the American Cancer Society that Saturday, March 1, is the deadline for you to order fresh daffodils to be delivered on March 20.

The minimum order for deliveries is $50; however, other orders are available, including bouquets of 10 daffodils for $10; Bear and a Bunch $25; Potted daffodil bulbs, $15; Gifts of Hope, $20; and boxes of 50 bouquets for $500.

To place your order, visit www.cancer.org/daffodilsonlilne; write ACS, Penobscot Unit, P.O. Box 1896, Bangor 04402-1896; call or fax 989-0332.

When Richard K. “Dick” Warren died last week at 87, his immediate family not only lost its patriarch, but his Bangor Daily News family lost its patriarch as well.

Those of us who had the good fortune to be Bangor Daily News employees while Dick was the publisher will forever be appreciative not only of his care and concern for the life and future of this family newspaper, but for his care and concern for the lives, and futures, of its employees and their families.

He was a kind and gentle man, quick to smile when he greeted you, who will be greatly missed by both families to whom he gave so much.

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