Thanks to folks from home and away, the recent “Stuff the Bus” campaign, sponsored by WVII-TV Channel 7, WFVX, Z107.3 and Wal-Mart was a tremendous success, according to reports I’ve received from WVII-TV news director Jan Smith and Penquis CAP director of child development Jean Bridges.

“It was bigger and better than we had dreamed,” Smith wrote of the campaign to fill a bus with school supplies for Penquis Community Action Program to deliver to Head Start sites in five Maine counties.

From Florida to Maine they came, to stuff the bus “so full,” Smith said, that Cyr Bus driver Colette Lowe “had to move a bunch of bags of school supplies around so she could see out the window!”

Nearly 400 individuals and businesses donated to the campaign, but what touched Smith the most was when two school buses, with 75 Hermon Elementary School fifth-graders, “came by to drop off supplies they’d been collecting.”

Bridges considers the campaign a “wonderful gift to our regional Head Start children” who live in Penobscot, Piscataquis, Washington, Hancock and Waldo counties.

She thanks all the businesses involved, and those who contributed to help supply needy youngsters with “backpacks, pencils, paper, markers, activity books, craft supplies, scissors, glue sticks and much more.”

“Of course,” Smith wrote, “the event wouldn’t have been possible without the big hearts and generosity of the people of Maine. I’ve always known Mainers are great people, and this event has proven that once again.”

If you have not done so already, you have until the end of the day to register for a full-day Grant Proposal Writing Workshop recommended for people with little or no grant-writing experience.

The workshop, hosted by Maine Philanthropy Center and sponsored by Bangor Savings Bank, is 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15, at the G. Clifton Eames Learning Center in Bangor.

The fee, including lunch, is $70 for members of the Maine Association of Nonprofits, and $100 for nonmembers.

The presenter is David Steven Rappoport, founder and principal of Development Solutions. As a consultant, has been responsible for raising more than $10 million in grant funds for Maine nonprofits.

Reservations can be made by calling MANP, today, at 871-1885.

The Coastal AIDS Network third annual CARE Pledge Bicycle Ride and Walk begins with registration at 8 a.m. and the event at 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, at Belfast Harbor and Heritage Park.

The ride offers a 15-mile and 30-mile route, and a 3-mile walk.

A picnic, ceremony and musical entertainment follows the ride and walk.

The registration fee is $25 for bikers and $15 for walkers, and there is no minimum pledge amount.

Those under the age of 16 do not have to pay the registration fee, but are encouraged to gather pledges.

Registration forms are available at www.coastalaidsnetwork.org.

More information can be obtained by calling Coastal AIDS network, 338-6330, or e-mailing can@coastalaidsnetwork.org.

Don’t forget Maine’s Youth Fish and Game Association will hold an evening of fun and entertainment featuring local entertainers Clyde Folsom and Joe Bennett along with WLBZ TV Channel 2 news anchorman Ric Tyler.

The event begins at 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, at the Old Town Elks Club on North Fourth Street in Old Town.

Admission for the evening, which includes dinner, a silent auction, regular auction, entertainment and door prizes, is $5 for adults, $3 for young people ages 6-15, and free for children age 5 and under.

For tickets, call Jim Redding, 827-5107.

The ever-popular Y Players of the YWCA Bangor-Brewer will delight and entertain you during their Gay Nineties Revue at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14, at the Old Town Museum, 343 Main St. in Old Town.

No admission will be charged, but donations are most welcome to benefit the work of the Old Town Museum.

If you have not seen these wonderful people perform before, now is the perfect time.

I promise you, you will enjoy every single minute of it.

Kathy Harmon of Cityside Yarn Co. called to report that the group Hearts, Hands and Hats, who make “Chemo Caps” for cancer patients, will have a workshop session 1-5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 14, at Cityside, 81 Main St. in Bangor.

If you can attend, please do so.

If you have questions, call Harmon at 990-1455.

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