Friends, family and community members are helping two Lamoine middle-schoolers, teammates Karla Butler and Brittany “Gidget” Handy, raise funds to perform before 70,000 fans at the FedEx Orange Bowl, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2009, at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.

The girls earned this outstanding opportunity by achieving All American Cheerleader status when they attended the NCA cheerleading camp in July at Husson College in Bangor.

However, to get to the Orange Bowl, the girls need to raise more than $6,500 to fully cover expenses for themselves and a chaperone.

Angie Butler wrote that her daughter and her teammate have already been working very hard at their fundraising, and have reached the halfway mark of their goal.

As part of that effort, SANKEA, which Butler described as “a local ladies’ group,” is hosting a benefit spaghetti supper and silent auction from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, at the Lamoine Consolidated School.

Admission to the benefit is $7 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under.

The menu features spaghetti with a choice of homemade meat or vegetable sauce, homemade rolls, salads, beverages and homemade desserts.

More than 40 items will be featured in the auction, and a 50-50 raffle and a raffle for six lobsters will be included in the event.

For more information, call Angie Butler at 266-1555.

Amy Allen of St. Joseph Healthcare reports St. Joseph Hospice is seeking “new volunteers to provide nonmedical support to hospice patients and their caregivers.”

Training sessions for new hospice volunteers begin Sept. 13, and advance registration by Friday, Sept. 5, “is appreciated,” Allen wrote.

“Our volunteers are people of all ages, faiths and walks of life,” who volunteer two to four hours each week depending on availability.

Volunteers offer patient companionship, family respite, and grief and bereavement support.

For information about the training session, call Jane Folsom at 262-1810.

With some youngsters already back in school, others headed that way before Labor Day, and still others shortly thereafter, this is a good time to remind the musically talented among them that the Bangor Symphony Youth Orchestra will conduct its 41st annual auditions at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7, at the University of Maine’s Class of 1944 Hall on the Orono campus.

Directed by Rebecca Edmonson, the Youth Orchestra is composed of musicians in grades five through 12 and, the BSO reports, Edmonson “is eager to meet new musicians.”

Auditions will be held for all instruments, but the BSYO is in particular need of brass and percussion players this year.

Rehearsals are usually 1-3:30 p.m. Sundays at UMaine during the school year, with at least two performances in conjunction with the historic BSO.

Those who wish to audition should come with a piece prepared, and more information may be obtained by e-mailing the BSYO at bsyoboard@roadrunner.com.

If you cannot make the Sept. 7 audition, call Edmonson at 244-7193 to make alternative arrangements.

Ginny Brown e-mailed that the Machias Historical Society is sponsoring an area historical bus tour, from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, and that the reservation deadline is Wednesday, Sept. 10.

“The bus will pick us up in the parking lot adjacent to the Burnham Tavern [in Machias] and return us to the same lot,” Brown wrote.

The cost is $15 per person, and seats are limited to 54, so tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.

Checks or money orders can be made out and mailed to The Machias Historical Society, P.O. Box 754, Machias 04654.

“If we have filled our seats by the time we receive your check,” Brown wrote, it will be returned to you.

The tour guide is Machias’ “resident historian” Valdine Atwood, Brown wrote of the MHS member “who is also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, many local historical societies, genealogy groups, and the Margaretta Day Festival.”

Dr. Terri Krass wrote she is “assisting local residents of Portage Lake with a booklet to help celebrate our Centennial, in 2009.”

“The Portage Lake History and Hearsay book committee would appreciate hearing from anyone with photos or stories that could be used in this collection, to reflect the unique past of Portage Lake,” she explained.

All information pertinent to Portage Lake may be e-mailed to Aubrey Cyr at cyrmadaub@aol.com or, you can obtain more information by calling Cyr at 435-3749.

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