The Make-A-Wish Foundation of Maine so needs volunteers known as Wish Granters that the organization has hired a person specifically to work on that effort.

Eileen Chretien is the new director of volunteers for Make-A-Wish Foundation of Maine, which is based in Camden.

The organization grants wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses, and is the largest wish-granting charity in the world.

The Maine chapter has granted wishes of children in all 16 Maine counties, and recently completed its 300th wish since its founding in 1992.

“We are just growing in leaps and bounds with referrals for kids,” Chretien said of her effort to recruit volunteers statewide.

“Bangor and Portland are our big areas right now, and we have some volunteers doing multiple wish tasks, which is very hard to do.

“We’re afraid to burn out those present volunteers, so we just need to reach out and tell people about our need.”

Chretien explained that Wish Granters “are the folks who go out, in teams of two, to the home, and sit around the kitchen table with the family and child and talk about what he or she would most like to do.

“Our effort is to give joy, strength and hope to that child so he or she can fight that illness.”

Wish Granters may have to visit the family two or three times so the child has an opportunity to “really think about” what he or she wants, Chretien said.

She said some children who have a hard time verbally expressing what they want draw pictures.

“It may be a visit to Grandma in Arizona, going to Disney World or meeting a celebrity.

“Whatever those wishes are, the Wish Granters help us by making phone calls and caring for the child” and even helping to get the child to the airport when the wish is granted, she said.

Wish Granters may have to travel if the wish child does not live in the same community, “but we try not to have a lot of travel, which is why the more volunteers the better,” Chretien said. “It depends, too, on how far the Wish Granters will go.”

Volunteers, however, incur no expenses in the process.

“Make-A-Wish Foundation of Maine takes care of all the costs involved,” Chretien said of expenses such as traveling to visit the wish child.

For this volunteer opportunity, Make-A-Wish is seeking friendly, caring, organized, proactive people who have an interest in working with children, who support the foundation’s philosophy, and who are comfortable with issues related to its work.

The time commitment is an average of 10-20 hours during a four-month period, and training, support and “magic wands” are provided.

For more information about becoming a Wish Granter for Make-A-Wish Foundation of Maine, call Chretien at (800) 491-3171, Ext. 306, or e-mail her at eileenc@mint.net.

You are invited to attend the Blueberry Fest and Cabaret at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 15, in the vestry of the Church of Universal Fellowship in Orono.

Anne Hathaway writes that you will find “delicious desserts served cabaret style with entertainment following.”

Program co-chairwomen Connie Carter and Jean Carville, who will serve as mistress of ceremonies, have lined up quite an evening that includes performers of all ages.

Among those participating will be choir members Phyllis Borns, Dot Turner, Paul and Joyce Harris, Ron Noyes, Ted Curtis and 11-year-old trumpeter Ryan Gilman.

Tickets are $5 each. For more information, or to purchase tickets in advance, call Mary Ryan at 866-2624.

A Mini-Golf Day, to benefit Spruce Run, is planned for noon-10 p.m. Friday, Aug 17, at Blackbeard’s, 339 Odlin Road in Bangor.

The event is the first of what is hoped will become an annual fund-raiser for Spruce Run, the domestic violence project serving Penobscot County.

Spruce Run, one of the oldest service organizations for battered women in the United States, was established 27 years ago. Throughout the Mini-Golf Day, Blackbeard’s will be donating a portion of the proceeds from the admission price to Spruce Run.

For more information about this fund-raiser, or Spruce Run services, call 945-5102.

The young people who have been enjoying the Maine Shakespeare Festival Creative Arts Program Teen Camp in downtown Bangor will be showing you what they’ve learned, and hope you will like it.

The MSF Teen Camp members will present “Romeo & Juliet” at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 14, at the Bangor Public Library, 145 Harlow St. in Bangor.

And while the BPL Children’s Room Summer Reading Program has ended, the librarians hope children of all ages will want to attend continuing summer events at the library, especially exciting ones such as this.

For more information about this and other activities, call the BPL Children’s Department at 947-8336, Ext. 111.

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