Dear Sun Spots: Your column has helped so many people over the years, and we are hoping your readers will respond to another request now.

Shaw’s Supermarket is running a promotion in which customers can get a free turkey, plus a few extras, (up to a $20 combined value) when they spend $500 between Oct. 5 and Nov. 15, 2007. Since many households are small and may not reach the $500 level, rather than have their points go to waste, we are asking them to join us in donating their unused points to Lewiston’s Trinity Jubilee Center, a nonprofit soup kitchen, emergency food pantry and refugee relation service dedicated to advocacy for those in need in the greater Lewiston-Auburn area.

We have checked with management at the Shaw’s store in Lewiston, and have been assured that it will be permissible for people to combine their points in order to share them with the center. Please mail your points to Kim Wettlaufer, executive director, Trinity Jubilee Center, 247 Bates St., Lewiston, ME 04240. Wettlaufer will be pleased to purchase the turkey and trimmings for those who come to the center.

Please consider this request as you make your holiday plans. Together we can help to feed the hungry in our neighborhood and ensure a happier Thanksgiving for them.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to bring this request to your wide readership. – Friends of Trinity Jubilee Center, Lewiston.

Dear Sun Spots: I need a budgie to finish my set from Red Rose. I have two rabbits and a pony to swap. I have plastic canvas books, some new and old also to swap for some I haven’t. I have 13 sheets of 10 mesh canvas. I have two mother-in-law plants and two Spiderman plants to give way. Please just bring your pots. Please call 782-6953 before 10:30 a.m. and or after 4 p.m. I am also located at 117 Howe St., Apartment 2, Lewiston. – Muriel Sawyer, Lewiston.

Joseph Keelan who is seeking help with locating his mother’s childhood friend, Loretta Hart, formerly of Lynn, Mass., (Sun Spots column Oct. 4) can be contacted via mail at 888 Pownal Road, Auburn, ME 04210 or via phone at 782-5263.

Dear Sun Spots: Please help me. I am 55 years old, disabled and pretty much housebound. I am married but my husband works out of town and is away a lot. My children are grown. I am going through a personal crisis and sit here alone all day thinking about it. I am looking for someone to correspond with, preferably online, just to have friendly chats and exchange ideas and thoughts and wishes and prayers. It does not matter if they are across the world or across the street. I just need a friend or two.

Many years ago, one could visit chat rooms and pick up a friend there. Now it is all foul-mouthed teenagers or men looking to hit on women. How can I just find a source for ‘epals,’ a couple of nice friends to have mail to look forward to every day and exchange a picture or joke or two? I need a purpose in my life, a reason to get out of bed every day.

Can you or your readers help me locate a source?

I can be reached via e-mail at [email protected] .

I need a friend. Thank you. – No Name, Lewiston.

Answer: In addition to responses from readers, have you considered seeing if there are others with a similar disability as yours who might also be seeking companionship? Sun Spots is sure there is likely a chapter here in Maine but, not knowing the details, cannot currently research it for you. In the meantime, Sun Spots did locate the following that might be of interest to you, called Gift from Within, 16 Cobb Hill Road, Camden, ME 04843, 236-8858, e-mail [email protected] or via Web site at www.giftfromwithin.org.

This column is for you, our readers. It is for your questions and comments. There are only two rules: You must write to the column and sign your name (we won’t use it if you ask us not to). Letters will not be returned or answered by mail, and telephone calls will not be accepted. Your letters will appear as quickly as space allows. Address them to Sun Spots, P.O. Box 4400, Lewiston, ME 04243-4400. Inquiries can also be posted at www.sunjournal.com in the Advice section under Opinion on the left-hand corner of your computer screen. In addition, you can e-mail your inquiries to [email protected].