There is good news from NAMI, Bangor Affiliate, according to president Nancy Grimes of Winterport.

First, the local chapter of NAMI, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, is offering a 12-week education class for individuals with relatives or friends who have a mental illness.

And, second, NAMI Bangor has received a $5,000 grant “for a new education workshop that will be explicitly for Bangor area families with relatives and children struggling with mental illness,” Grimes announced.

Here’s information on the workshop.

NAMI’s free, 12-week Family Education Class on Mental Illness will be conducted from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays beginning Wednesday, March 5, and running through Wednesday, May 21, in the Leonard Room at Acadia Hospital on Stillwater Avenue in Bangor.

Space is limited, refreshments will be served, and you are asked to preregister since a phone interview is necessary for registration.

Text and handouts on the particular subject covered at each class will be available, and local health care professionals will address specific topics throughout the 12 weeks.

Among the issues covered will be an introduction to NAMI, discussion of specific disorders, a self-care and communication workshop and an update on psychiatric medications.

To register, call Grimes, after 1 p.m., at 223-5696.

Grimes said the organization is “very excited” about receiving a grant from the Maine Community Foundation’s Haskell-Stetson Grant Fund.

“It means we will be contacting many more new families,” she wrote.

The grant will enable NAMI Bangor to “partner with local mental health agencies and hospitals … to provide a workshop for their clients’ families.”

Grimes emphasized that “the best emotional breakthrough we offer families is the realization that they are not alone in their caregiving.

“NAMI teachers have all gone through the [same] tragic experiences every family has gone through,” she said.

Grimes added the grant will enable NAMI Bangor “to expand our educational and advocacy services, and we look forward to partnering with mental health providers here in Bangor.”

If you have questions about the workshop, or want more information about NAMI, call the number listed above.

Teachers Mark Hibben and Miguel Reinoso, with Liberty School students Ari Leach, Trent Quinby and Molly Macleod, are participating in the H.O.M.E. Inc. semiannual trip to Guatemala, Hibben has announced.

For more than 30 years, H.O.M.E., based in Orland, has “served as a cooperative community dedicated to economic and social reconstruction,” Sister Marie Ahern told me some time ago.

During this trip, the teachers and students will work “to build a sister school relationship with a school in Comalapa, Guatemala,” according to Hibben.

“As part of this effort, we need to raise funds for basic school supplies and clothing for our young brothers and sisters in Guatemala.”

One of those fund-raising efforts is a public spaghetti supper from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20, at the Congregational Church in Blue Hill.

Admission is $20 for a family, $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens and children.

If you cannot attend, but would like to make a donation to this effort, send a check to Liberty School in care of Mark Hibben, South Street, Blue Hill 04614.

Cindy Bunker is co-chairwoman of the Ellsworth March of Dimes WalkAmerica committee.

She has announced that group is seeking a local “Ambassador Family” for the 2003 event.

Bunker explained Ambassador Families are asked “to share their story at WalkAmerica events to illustrate the serious problems of premature birth.”

The Ellsworth WalkAmerica begins at 9 a.m. Sunday, April 27, at the Ellsworth Middle School cafeteria.

Any family willing to serve as ambassadors, as well as anyone interested in participating in the event, is asked to call Bunker at the Dwight Brown Agency, 667-2516, or call Melissa Clark at KeyBank, 667-5522.

Julie Gillette of the Ellsworth Public Library invites the public to a “Potting and Propagation Class with the Experts from Surry Gardens” from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 22, in the Riverview Room of the library at 20 State St.

Janice Bellows will offer a hands-on demonstration of how to cut back, propagate and re-pot houseplants to give them a good start in the spring.

For more information, call the library at 667-6363.

I hope I don’t need my hearing checked, but when I spoke with Carol Higgins of Eastern Agency on Aging about the newest Meals for Me site, I was sure she said it is located in Lincoln!

But it is not, and if you noticed the telephone number to call for reservations, 825-4084, you already realized that.

The newest Meals for Me site is actually located in Orrington.

Sorry for the confusion.

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