BETHEL – The history of Alder River Grange in East Bethel will be the final topic in the 2004 Bethel Historical Society Lecture Series to be held Thursday, Nov. 18, at the Dr. Moses Mason House Meeting Room beginning at 7:30 p.m. Society Director Stanley R. Howe, who serves as the historian of the Maine State Grange, will discuss this local Grange’s centenary, which was celebrated in June 2004. Howe, a former master of Alder River, has served as treasurer of this Grange since 1978. His book on the history of the Grange in Maine, “A Fair Field and No Favor:” A Brief History of the Maine State Grange was published in 1994.

For more information phone (207) 824-2908 or (800) 824-2910 or e-mail: [email protected]

Pantry collection

NEWRY – Sunday River last weekend collected more than 2,500 cans of food and paper products for the Bethel District Exchange, a local pantry that serves families in need.

As part of the Tin Mountain Round Up, a program of the Ski Maine Association, the resort provided $20 lift tickets to all guests who made donations. The lift tickets would have been $35 for an adult. In addition to the 778 guests that advantage of the $20 lift tickets, several dozen more season pass holders made donations, resort officials said.

The pantry is at the Ethel Bisbee school and is open by appointment only through the town office. It is run solely by volunteers and is part of the community’s District Exchange program.