Dear Sun Spots: Androscoggin Home Care & Hospice is seeking individuals interested in becoming hospice volunteers to support terminally ill patients and their families. A hospice training class will be held on Thursdays, beginning Jan. 27. The 27-hour course will meet weekly from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. at our office, 15 Strawberry Ave., Lewiston.

Being a hospice volunteer is an opportunity to truly make a difference to families in our community. Volunteers visit their patients regularly, sometimes staying for several hours so that a caregiver can get some time out of the house. In addition, volunteers may be asked to do errands or meet other appropriate needs. We ask for a time commitment of two to four hours per week.

Hospice volunteers are matched with patients at home and in long-term care facilities. In addition, volunteers will play a vital part at our hospice home, which is to open next fall on Stetson Road in Auburn.

For more information, please contact me at (207) 777-7740 or (800) 482-7412. I would like to talk with prospective volunteers before the classes begin. Thanks very much. – Nancy Greene, Lewiston.

Dear Sun Spots: I would like to request an address for the corporate office of NASCAR. – Marilyn Burgess, Leeds.

Answer: Contact the corporate headquarters at: 5624 West 73rd Street, Indianapolis, IN 46278-1738, (317)-295-3500.

Dear Sun Spots: You are the greatest thing that has happened.

I’m looking for a magazine called Workbasket. It’s about crafts, needlework and recipes. I saw it when I was a little girl and haven’t seen it since. I don’t even know if they are still around. If you or any of your readers can help me, please contact me at (207) 375-6292 and ask for Lorette. Thanks a lot. – Lorette, Sabattus.

Answer: Sun Spots has learned that the first issue was published October 1935. A husband and wife team, John and Clara Tillotson, dreamed up a small, eight-page needlework service bulletin in their home on the kitchen table. Each issue described step-by-step directions for making lovely needlework. When the Tillotson first began looking for subscribers, they turned to a list of 5,000 names they had used for another selling idea. Each woman was sent a postcard invitation to join “Aunt Ellen’s Needlework Club.” This was the beginning of a direct-mail business for subscriptions, which grew in to the largest operation of its kind at that time. From 1935 to 1947, the Workbasket paid its own way and made a profit too, charging $1 for 12 issues per year before its pages were opened to advertisers.

It soon outgrew the house where it originated. The young company, Modern Handcraft, moved into larger business quarters. Several more moves were made. In 1966, the publication moved to 4251 Pennsylvania, Kansas City, Missouri, a more modern building that encompassed the editorial, circulation and fulfillment departments serving the more than 2 million readers of the three publications Modern Handcraft published: The Workbasket, Workbench, and Flower and Garden. Workbasket spanned 61 years. The last issue was published in 1996.

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].