Everyone is doing all they can to help find one very special person: a truck driver willing to bring playground equipment to Springfield so the youngsters who attend the Edith Lombard School will have a wonderful, new, safe place to play.

Betty Parsons of Lincoln wrote to me on behalf of her daughter, Nancy Burrill of Carroll Plantation, that a “Make a Difference Day” project begun in the fall of 2000 needs some help to be completed.

Burrill and Cheryl Perley of Carroll Plantation are co-chairwomen of the Edith Lombard Playground Committee.

With the help of a $10,000 donation from the town of Springfield, $2,000 in other donations and a matching grant, $24,000 was raised to purchase what Perley describes as a “good-sized playground that includes tubes, slides and ramps.”

The equipment is all shrink-wrapped, she said, and ready for delivery to Springfield except for one minor detail: It is not sitting in New Jersey as the committee thought – it’s in Alabama!

“When we bought the equipment, we though it was coming out of New Jersey,” said Perley of the predicament the committee finds itself in, “and we thought we could just go down there and pick it up.”

Unfortunately, there wasn’t money in the project to have the equipment shipped that far.

So the committee is seeking other means to get the equipment.

One option is locating a willing trucker who is heading home, empty, from Alabama or other points south.

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me every time we are returning home after being out-of-state, there are lots of empty flatbeds and other tractor-trailer trucks (which must be empty, too) passing us along Interstate 95, both on straightaways and on hills.

The Lombard playground committee hopes one of those truckers heading north without a load would be willing to pick up the playground equipment and bring it to Springfield.

The committee does have a second option.

“Nancy has a sister who lives in Alabama,” Perley said, “and her sister is willing to pay for a one-way truck rental, but we need somebody willing to take a bus to Alabama and drive the truck back.”

Funds are available for fuel, tolls and lodging for the individual willing to help out.

Any way it can be done, the goal is to get the playground equipment to Springfield so volunteers can put it together and have it ready for the children to play on by late spring or early summer.

If you can help or have other suggestions, call Burrill at 738-5022 or Perley at work at 738-2992 or at home at 738-4130.

The seventh annual Hospice of Hancock County Benefit Buffet and Silent Auction will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 19, at The White Birches Country Club on Route 1 in Ellsworth.

Appetizers and dessert accompany the buffet dinner, and you’ll have a chance to bid on items ranging from gift certificates for a ski lodge, dining, bed and breakfasts, art, merchandise or tickets for the theatre, concerts, movies or sporting events.

Tickets are $25 each, and $12 of that amount is tax-deductible.

To order your ticket or receive more information about this event or the HHC, call 667-2531.

HHC is an all-volunteer program serving individuals and families in Hancock County who have hospice or bereavement needs.

Bruce and Mildred Jordan of Waltham were involved in a serious car accident Friday, Dec. 21, in Plantation 8.

Having undergone several surgeries already, the couple is facing several months of rehabilitation and more surgery.

In the meantime, those who know and love them are doing all they can to help the couple financially through this difficult time.

A “benefit auction for Bruce and Millie” is planned for 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20, at the Lakeview Auction Gallery in Eddington.

Kim Jordan reports donations for the auction, as well as cash donations to help the couple, are being accepted.

Sponsors are seeking “antiques, anything old, anything new; basically anything that can be auctioned off,” she said.

All proceeds will go toward the purchase of a safe vehicle for the Jordans, and any remaining funds will be used for grocery gift certificates or to help pay expenses incurred by the couple.

For information on how you can help, call Kim Jordan at 584-5581.

From personal experience, I can tell you that a program such as Pathfinders: Support for Grieving Children could be of great value to any young person experiencing the loss of a loved one.

Individuals with a desire to help a child through such a loss are asked to consider becoming a volunteer facilitator for Pathfinders.

The position requires no previous experience, and comprehensive training is provided.

If you are interested in helping in this manner or want more information about becoming a Pathfinders facilitator, call Linda Boyle at Hospice of Eastern Maine, 973-8269.

Volunteer facilitator training begins Tuesday, Jan. 22.

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