People throughout Maine continue to do all they can to help victims of the terrorist attacks that struck our nation on Tuesday, Sept. 11.

All Mainers can take great comfort, and special pride, in the knowledge that a Bar Harbor company has made what may well be one of the most essential contributions to the recovery effort, by helping protect the lives and property of not only the people working at ground zero, but all people in or near that area of New York City.

Rainwise of Bar Harbor makes weather stations and, a few years ago, added consumer weather stations to its inventory.

As Rainwise executive vice president Bill Ward explains it, the solar-powered, wireless instrument measures wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure and rainfall.

“It’s meant to be placed on a rooftop, and stands about 3 feet tall” which is why experts believed it would be the right piece of equipment for this particular situation. It was small enough to be located right where it is needed.

The instrument transmits essential weather information, wirelessly, “to a display center from which you can read all the information, or to a computer interface,” Ward said.

New Jersey weather consultant Nick Stefano, who has worked, in the past, with the New York City mayor’s Office of Emergency Management, apparently was contacted by that office and asked if he could provide weather stations at ground zero, Ward explained.

“He [Stefano] had used some of our equipment in the past and, because we’re so easy to install, he called, asked us to donate it, and we did,” Ward said.

So, last month, the $1,500 piece of equipment was delivered to Stefano, who installed it at ground zero.

There the instrument protects not only people, but equipment as well, Ward said.

“It measures the wind speed and wind direction, which are important safety issues, particularly, with cranes,” he said, “as well as monitoring the particulate matter in the air that affects the safety of people” who are downwind from ground zero.

Interestingly, Rainwise used to be located much closer to ground zero than it is today.

Since its founding in 1974, “we have been in Bar Harbor most of the time,” Ward said of the company “that was moved up here, from New Jersey, by Mr. John Baer,” the head of Rainwise.

Today, Rainwise employs 23 people at its Bar Harbor site, shipping a variety of weather instruments for consumer, industrial, military and governmental use to 39 countries.

And, today, too, Rainwise, proudly made in Maine, is protecting New Yorkers from the lingering aftereffects of the tragic events of Sept. 11.

How about those kids at Tremont Consolidated School?

They’re pretty amazing, I’d say.

Last month, during a teachers’ meeting, various ways in which the 190 pupils in kindergarten through grade eight could help with the relief efforts after the Sept. 11 attacks were discussed, and the idea of a local beach cleanup effort, spearheaded by fourth-grade teacher Crystal Dow, was agreed upon.

According to principal Nadine Dede, the youngsters were asked to seek sponsors for the cleanup, which they did, and soon youngsters in grades one through eight were cleaning up the local beaches, while their kindergarten counterparts were cleaning up the school’s playground.

When all the sponsor pledges were in, much to everyone’s surprise, Dede said, the finally tally was a staggering $6,000!

Recently, Virginia Reed, director of emergency services for the American Red Cross in Eastern Maine, with offices in Ellsworth, Belfast and Rockland, visited Tremont Consolidated where, during a school assembly, she was presented with a $6,000 check for American Red Cross disaster relief efforts after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

To everyone in the Tremont area who helped make this effort such a success, especially the kids, I extend a heartfelt “well done!”

Carrols Corp. of Syracuse, N.Y., owns several Burger King restaurants, including the two in Bangor and those in Brewer and Palmyra.

The organization conducted a companywide benefit on Friday, Sept. 28, which raised more than $37,000 to help victims, their families and the continuing relief efforts after the Sept. 11 attacks.

In addition, Burger King restaurants across the country have been selling American flag decals for $1 each, and that effort raised more than $178,000 for a total $216,000 donation to the American Red Cross National Disaster Relief Fund from Carrols Corp.

Carrols operates 531 restaurants in 17 states.

Company president Daniel Accordino was pleased with the efforts by the company’s employees and local residents who he said “were very supportive of our efforts to aid our fellow Americans.”

Matt Swett of Lincoln wrote the Bangor Daily News recently to publicly thank the individuals and businesses “who helped with the mountain bike race in Lincoln that benefited the American Red Cross.”

Swett reports that nearly $150 was raised for the Liberty Disaster Relief Fund and the Pine Tree Chapter of the ARC.

Several area business owners and managers, as well as several of Swett’s friends and neighbors, “were extra helpful” in putting together this fund-raiser for victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The Dunlap Corp., with offices in Maine and New Hampshire, participated through its parent company, Hib, Rogal & Hamilton Co., in pledging $1 million to help with relief efforts for victims of the terrorist attacks.

Through the HRH Charitable Foundation, the donation will benefit mostly victims and families of its business partners, associates and industry competitors, and will include contributions from employees and associates.

The Dunlap Corp. is one of northern New England’s largest insurance services and risk management agencies and, as an HRH company, part of a network of more than 80 offices throughout the country.

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