For more than 25 years, Hospice of Hancock County has provided volunteer support for residents and their families in Downeast Maine who are facing end-of-life issues, reports HHC Executive Director Judy Wolford-Tucker and board Chairman Charles Tarr.

That work needs your continued financial support, which is why they hope you will participate in the 2007 Hospice Regatta of Maine or High Card for Hospice Power Boat Rally on Friday, July 13, through Sunday, July 15, in Southwest Harbor.

You can participate as a sailor in the races, as a High Card for Hospice poker rally player, by attending the Celebration of Hospice Lobster bake, or as a financial sponsor.

Several races are planned for each day, and the Lobster Bake Dinner (offering chicken as well) is at 6 p.m. Saturday, July 14, at Dysart’s Marina in Southwest Harbor.

This is the 11th year for this event, which is intended to “provide fun, community involvement, awareness-raising and financial support for HHC,” Wolford-Tucker and Tarr wrote.

You can register for the events by calling 667-2531 or visiting www.hospiceofhancock.org.

Curator Trudy Wyman reports that the Millinocket Historical Society Museum will be open from 1 to 3 p.m. Thursday, June 28.

Wyman wrote that “the museum is located on the top floor” of the Millinocket Municipal Building at 197 Penobscot Ave., “and can be reached by stairs or elevator. Follow the signs.”

She also wants readers and visitors to know “the museum is planning several other open dates this summer,” which are to be announced.

“Many interesting artifacts may be viewed” at the museum, Wyman wrote, “such as Great Northern Paper Company’s first steam whistle, items from various schools, early businesses and more.”

Helen Willey of Hampden wrote that Grace United Methodist Church will hold a big yard sale from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, June 29, and Saturday, June 30, at the church at 193 Union St. in Bangor.

She wrote that hot dogs, drinks and baked goods also will be available, and that proceeds from the event will benefit “urban and global missions” of the church.

For more information, call GUMC at 942-8320.

Nancy Wasson reports the Orland Historical Society is holding a home and garden tour on Saturday, July 7.

Tickets are $25 each and are being offered by reservation only. The reservation deadline is Saturday, June 30.

Tickets can be purchased by calling Wasson at 469-6817 or writing her at 8 Cross Road, Orland 04472.

“The seven homes on the tour range from the very old to the ultra modern,” Wasson wrote.

The Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Association, Northern New England Chapter, reports it has partnered with Minor League Baseball to celebrate ALS Awareness Day at 1 p.m. Sunday, July 1, at Hadlock Field in Portland in conjunction with the game between the Portland Sea Dogs and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

Representatives of the chapter will be available to answer questions and ALS patients and their families will be special guests of the Sea Dogs.

ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, affects more than 30,000 Americans. For more information, visit www.alsanne.org.

Marlene Doucette wrote to “personally and publicly thank” the restaurant owners “who participated in the Orono Historical Society’s Annual Tasting Bee, last month, to benefit the OHS. They all provided the attendees with excellent food.”

She also thanks everyone who attended, all of whom she is sure “went home well fed!”

Marie Murphy of Bangor e-mailed that she has a 91-year-old friend who “loves to read romances.”

Murphy’s friend does not drive, and “she lives in the country on a small retirement,” Murphy explained.

To help keep her friend entertained, Murphy is wondering if any of our readers have any books they would “like to get rid of” that her elderly friend would enjoy reading.

“I am willing to pick up [the books] within a 25-mile radius of Bangor,” Murphy wrote.

You can call or e-mail her if you can help.

Murphy’s telephone number is 990-0124 and her e-mail is marie04401@aol.com.

Sarah Menkin of Plymouth wrote to the BDN that she recently was transported “by ambulance from St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor” to Maine Medical Center in Portland by members of the Bangor Fire Department.

She wrote to thank them for their service, which “made the trip a much more pleasant experience than it might otherwise have been.”

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