Twins Logan and Destiny Hanson of Charleston are members of the freshman class at Foxcroft Academy in Dover-Foxcroft.

As their friends well know, this has been a very difficult year for the 15-year-olds and their family.

Logan Hanson, who has cancer, is recuperating in a New York hospital after having received a stem cell transplant from Destiny.

The twin daughters of Donnie Hanson of Hudson live with their mother, Narda (Huntley) Hanson and Wes Stinson, in Charleston, and their older brother and sister, Justin and Mariah Hanson.

To help the family during this trying time, Logan’s Luncheon is planned from noon to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, March 11, at the Charleston school.

The benefit is being hosted by “Santa Cause,” a nonprofit organization that for 10 years has conducted Christmas parties for needy children and their families living in the area as well as the young residents of Mountain View Youth Development Center in Charleston.

Terri-Lynn Hall of Santa Cause told me “all the ladies in town are cooking” for Logan’s Luncheon, as are “some of the high school kids.”

Other fellow students of the twins will be serving the pot-luck dinner, for which donations will be graciously accepted.

If you have questions about the benefit, or other ways in which you can help Logan and her family at this time, call Nancy Coleman at 285-7310.

For a minimum donation of $5 to the Bangor Humane Society Shed and Emily Fund, you can attend a Pet Nutrition Seminar at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, March 11, at Green Acres Kennel Shop, 1653 Union Street in Bangor.

If the first session is filled, a second will be offered at 1 p.m. that day.

According to Don Hanson, the focus of the seminar will be nutrition as the foundation of good health for your dog or cat.

Seating is limited, so you should register by calling Green Acres at 945-6841.

Liz O’Donnell of the Abnaki Girl Scout Council in Brewer reports several troops from the Bangor area will host a Girl Scout Cookie Booth Sale 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, March 11, in front of the AC Moore store in Bangor Parkade on Stillwater Avenue.

O’Donnell wrote the sale helps kick off Girl Scout Week, “which begins with the observance of Girl Scout Sunday, March 12, and is the actual Girl Scout birthday this year.”

Proceeds will help “with troop activities and community service projects,” she explained.

And while “orders were taken for Girl Scout Cookies in January, we have lots of extra cookies for customers who didn’t have a chance to order” at that time, O’Donnell added.

To learn more about booth sales, visit www.abnakigsc.org or call 989-7474 or (800) 464-3858.

Contributions are being accepted for Hampden Public Safety’s annual MDA Yard Sale in April.

Clean items in good working order are requested, but no clothing.

Items can be dropped off at the Hampden Public Safety Building, 106 Western Avenue, Hampden.

For more information call Lt. Frank Coombs or Kandy McCullough at 862-4000 or 862-4586 or e-mail hampdenpolice@hotmail.com.

Former Bangor businesswoman Joan Beach of Fairfax, Va., is president of the Maine State Society of Washington, D.C.

MSS, an organization of Mainers living and working in the Washington area, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1994.

As MSS president, Beach is also a board member of the Maine State Society Foundation.

The foundation was established in 1991 by MSS members, she explained, and, since that time, “has made awards to Mainers from communities such as Sherman Mills, Patten, Winterport, East Machias, East Brownfield, West Gardiner, West Enfield, Kennebunk, Brunswick, Hollis, Canton and Fairfield.

“Maine college students, who were born in, or are legal residents of Maine, are eligible to apply for scholarships offered by the Maine State Society Foundation of Washington, D.C.,” Beach wrote.

“Applicants must have completed at least one year at a Maine college or university,” and have a grade point average of at least 3.0.

The scholarship awards are at least $1,000 each, and applications are available at the Financial Aid Offices at Maine colleges, or by sending a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the MSS Foundation, 3508 Wilson St., Fairfax, Va. 22030.

Applications can also be downloaded from its Web site, mainestatesociety.org.

Applications must be postmarked no later than Saturday, April 15.

For more information, call Hugh Dwelley, (703) 352-0846, or e-mail hldwelley@aol.com.

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