AUGUSTA (AP) – Author Stephen King was set to join Gov. John Baldacci at a public spaghetti supper Monday to raise money for the American Red Cross effort to assist Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

The latest in a series of Maine efforts to pitch in for the Gulf Coast relief effort featured a silent auction of more than 100 items, including an autographed University of Maine ice hockey stick, meals at Maine restaurants, golf and ski passes, Maine-made gifts and crafts and a print signed by artist Jamie Wyeth.

Also among the items up for bids were tickets for Boston Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins and New England Patriots games, a baseball autographed by King and Baldacci and a ball signed by the Red Sox’ Trot Nixon.

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, donated a signed copy of “Nine and Counting: The Women of the Senate,” a collection of personal accounts and professional experiences by the nine women sentors serving in 2000.

Guests at the supper were to sample spaghetti sauce from Momma Baldacci’s, the Baldacci family’s restaurant in Bangor.

The suggested donation for the supper was $5, with all of the money going to the Red Cross chapters of Maine to assist the evacuees of the hurricane, the governor’s office said.

Monday’s event at the Augusta Armory was the latest among numerous public and private fund-raising efforts in the state to help those affected by the devastating storm and floods.

The Maine Turnpike Authority has placed orange buckets at every staffed toll lane at each of the highway’s toll plazas from York to Augusta to collect cash donations. The “Road to Recovery” initiative ends Wednesday.

In addition, more than 500 Maine homeowners have signed up to provide housing for people left homeless by the hurricane. The state was prepared to house up to 900 displaced families in private homes or in current and former military installations in the state.

“There has been an outpouring of support across the country for those who have lost so much in this disaster, and Mainers are doing their part to help,” said Snowe.

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