Literacy Volunteers of Bangor executive director Mary Marin Lyon asks you to consider this problem: “Living in a community where you do not understand the language, and cannot read the written word.”

Then Lyon asks you to imagine yourself as part of the solution to that problem.

You can do so by becoming a literacy volunteer and teaching someone to speak and read English, Lyon wrote.

You do not need to know the other’s language, she explained, you merely “have to have the patience and desire to teach the language, life skills and cultural differences” that can help change the life of another.

LV-Bangor is offering a 20-hour training course to introduce “second language acquisition, culture, teaching strategies, approaches and drills” with classes beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 15, at United Technologies Center, 200 Hogan Road in Bangor.

If you would like to become an LV-Bangor literacy volunteer, call 947-8451 or visit www.lvbangor

.org.

Jennifer Therrien of Challenger Learning Center of Maine invites the public to view the Academy Award-winning film “October Sky” from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 9, at the center, 30 Venture Way in Bangor.

The showing is “in celebration of International Space Week,” Therrien wrote.

A $3 donation is suggested, and preregistration would be appreciated.

Call Therrien, 990-2900, ext. 3, for information or to register.

The Rev. Suzie Gowie e-mailed that the First Congregational Church of Brooks will hold a public supper “to benefit restoration of the church” from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, at the church.

The cost of the meal of baked beans, casseroles, salads and desserts is $7 for adults, $3 for children up to 8, and includes a 50-50 raffle.

Breanna Pinkham of Schoodic Arts for All reports the “final installation of our Jazz and Classical Concert Series” will be at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10, at Hammond Hall on Main Street in Winter Harbor.

Admission is $15 for adults, $7 for students, free for children under 12.

The featured artist is U.N. Peace Award-winning pianist Masanobu Ikemiya, offering “Classics to Ragtime.”

For information, call Schoodic Arts for All at 963-2569 or visit www.schoodicarts.org.

Events for the Lincoln Library Learn! At Your Library program include a presentation about energy options for homeowners offered by Steve Crawford.

The environmental director of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point will discuss this subject at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10, at the library in Dennysville, reports Ann Carter.

Next you will hear from professional renovator Ed Moore with a “show-and-tell program on Weatherstripping: What to Use and How to Use It,” at 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, at the library.

The final October program features storytellers Jody and Lee Rose, known as Tales Told, entertaining all ages with Haunting Tales: Ghost Stories of Downeast Maine at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24, at the library.

There is no admission fee for any of these events, and you can obtain information by calling 726-4263.

Librarian Lyn Smith reminds residents that Friends of the Pittsfield Public Library “maintain a paperback exchange rack in the rear lobby of Merrill Bank on Main Street.”

You can take a book from the rack for 50 cents or in exchange for any book in good condition.

While Merrill Bank is providing the space, Smith wrote, “the Friends offer this as a service to the community to both recycle books and to raise money” for the library.

The good news from Iris Simon is that, in four years, “Lose and Win teams around Hancock County have shed 10,063 pounds,” and that wonderfully healthful activity is going to be “less expensive and easier than ever” for everyone who makes the wise and healthful commitment to take part this year.

The entry fee for each team is just $10, Simon wrote, and there is no fee for team captains.

The program begins Jan. 8, 2009, with “satellite meeting locations” in Deer Isle-Stonington, Mount Desert Island, Bucksport and Ellsworth.

Simon encourages you to “form a team of fellow workers, friends, neighbors or adult family members.”

Team registration is due by Saturday, Nov. 15, and you can call Maine Coast Memorial Hospital HealthLink, 667-2474, or visit www.mainehospital.org for information.

Simon reminds you that “Lose and Win is sponsored by a coalition dedicated to improving the health of Hancock County residents.”

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