Members of Franklin Street United Methodist Church in Bucksport and East Bucksport United Methodist Church are certainly looking out for their neighbors as they join forces to host an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet “to assist families in the area with winter heating costs,” reports Pastor Peter Remick of the Franklin Street church.

The benefit is 6:30 to 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Franklin Street church, and all proceeds will go to the Community Heating Assistance Fund in partnership with Bucksport Community Concerns.

The church members have set a goal of raising $1,000 to assist area families this winter with their heating needs, and the sponsors hope many people will attend the benefit which features eggs, breakfast meats, hot dishes, baked beans, breads, muffins, fruit salad and beverages.

Admission is $7 for adults and $3 for children, and donations will be gratefully accepted as well.

If you cannot attend but would like to help these churches meet their goal, you can send a donation to the Winter Heating Fund, FSUMC, P.O. Box 1727, Bucksport 04416.

More information is available by calling Pastor Remick at 469-3622 or e-mailing fklnstumc@verizon.net.

Along with the announcement for the event, Bill Robertson included a note that the Franklin Historical Society annual summer breakfast is the major fundraiser for that organization.

Historical society members invite you to their all-you-can-eat blueberry pancake breakfast, 7-10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Franklin Veterans Club on Route 182.

Admission is $5 for adults and $2.50 for children.

Marjorie Longwood e-mailed the Blue Hill Historical Society is holding a barn and yard sale from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, “in the newly refurbished Carriage House behind the Holt House on Water Street” in Blue Hill.

That renovation, Longwood explained, “included the installation of a temperature and humidity-controlled vault for historic papers and documents for the Blue Hill area.”

The barn and yard sale will help “raise funds to complete paying for the renovation and for other projects in the planning.”

Alyssa Hanson of Community Wellness Services of Eastern Maine Medical Center in Brewer e-mailed EMMC is partnering with the Bangor Y to offer two opportunities for free blood pressure screenings.

The first screening is 4:30-5:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 25, at the Bangor Y on Hammond Street.

The other date is 9-10 a.m. Monday, Sept. 29, at the Bangor Y.

If you have questions about the screenings, call Hanson at 973-7089.

Word has been received that registration is now open for the 15th annual Paul Devine Greater Gator Open to benefit the Bob Gagnon Cancer Fund beginning at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, at Rockland Golf Club.

The fee is $100 with prizes ranging from a 2008 Chevy Silverado 4×4 for a hole-in-one to five $100 prizes for closest to the pin.

For information, call the Rockland Golf Club at 594-9322 or visit www.bobgagnoncancerfund.com.

For Pathfinders: Support for Grieving Children, Deb Jacques and Linda Boyle have announced its fall 2008 session will begin at 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 29, and run through Monday, Dec. 1, at Redeemer Lutheran Church, Essex Street in Bangor.

Location directions are available at www.pathfindersmaine.org.

However, volunteer facilitators, specially trained to work with grieving children, their families or caregivers who are experiencing the death of a loved one are needed, the women wrote.

Training sessions for Pathfinders volunteers begins Saturday, Sept. 13.

If you would like to receive more information or attend a session about volunteering for this program of Bangor Area Visiting Nurses and Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems in Bangor, call Boyle at 973-8269.

The 2008 American Folk Festival on the Bangor Waterfront, the greatest free entertainment for people of all ages that you will find anywhere, opens from 6 to 10:30 p.m. today, and runs from noon to 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, and noon to 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 24.

This extraordinary event is made possible with the expert planning by staff and volunteers, and produced with the city of Bangor, Eastern Maine Development Corp., the National Council for the Traditional Arts, Maine Discovery Museum and the Maine Folklife Center at the University of Maine in Orono.

Do attend, and to help support this effort, please be generous with your donations to the Bucket Brigade or send a donation to AFF, 40 Harlow St., Bangor 04401.

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