Got Books? Or DVDs, CDs and audio books, suitable for all ages you no longer use, want or need?

That’s the question being asked by Ro LeGasse, director of Caring Connections at the Bangor Y.

LeGasse, other staff members and volunteers are busily working on one of this area’s most popular early spring activities, and a major fundraiser for the Bangor Y, the 33rd annual Spring Fair March 27-29 at the Bangor Civic Center and Auditorium.

Caring Connections is a support program of the Bangor Y and Eastern Maine Medical Center, funded through the philanthropic efforts of Healthcare Charities, which provides breast and cervical health services for underserved women in local communities.

LeGasse e-mailed that Caring Connections needs people to donate these items for its book sale booth at the Y fair and asks you to call Caring Connections at the Bangor Y, 941-2808, or e-mail careconn@bangory.org, to make arrangements for dropping them off or having them picked up.

She also wants donors to know that “we can only accept books that are in very good, and excellent, condition,” and ones that are “no older than the year 2001.”

You also are requested not to include in your donation textbooks, instruction manuals, magazines or encyclopedias.

For more information, call or e-mail Caring Connections.

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Professor Steven Colburn and University of Maine Business School accounting students are offering free income tax filing assistance from 1 to 3 p.m. Mondays, except during spring break, March 2 and 9, in Room 312 of the Donald P. Corbett Business Building on the Orono Campus, according to a university release.

If you want free tax assistance, you must call Colburn at 581-1982 or e-mail steve.colburn@umit.Maine.edu to make an appointment or receive additional information.

You should bring Forms W-2 from all employers, Forms 1099 for dividends and interest, if applicable, and any other forms or information regarding income, deductions or credits, and the volunteers can download tax forms from the IRS Web site, if necessary.

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Fran Trefts, president of Downeast Senior College, reports City Manager Michelle Beal will explain some coming events to take place in the city of Ellsworth at the next DSC Sandwich Seminar at noon Tuesday, Feb. 17, at Ellsworth City Hall.

The event is free and open to the public, and you are invited to bring a sandwich and enjoy the beverages that will be served.

A question-and-answer period follows the presentation, and more information is available by calling Trefts at 422-2259.

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As part of the celebration of the International Year of Astronomy, marking the 400th birthday of Galileo’s first celestial observations, Challenger Learning Center of Maine invites you to a reception at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17, at the center, 30 Venture Way in Bangor.

Jennifer Therrien invites you to participate in a viewing with tours of the center’s Mission Control and Space Lab.

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Two women, both Bangor natives who shared the same first name, died recently, and I would be remiss if I did not say that it was my great honor and pleasure to have known both of them for more than four decades, and to have shared many experiences with them, in community activities and local organizations, to which we all belonged.

To the family and friends of Barbara Van de Bogert, who was 94 when she died in California where her daughter, and my sorority “grandmother,” Ann Livesay resides, I extend my sincerest sympathies on the passing of this woman whose life was, surprisingly, very intertwined with mine.

I first met Barbara when Ann and I were in college, and what a delight it was, when I remarried 10 years ago, to learn that Barbara and my husband’s mother had grown up on Union Street as next-door friends and neighbors.

Sometimes the world is very small, and circles are completed in wonderful ways.

To the family and friends of Barbara Cassidy, who was 78 when she died earlier this month in southern Maine where she most recently resided to be nearer her family, I also extend my sincerest sympathies.

Barbara was a lovely, caring, charming, committed woman who dedicated herself to family, church, work and community, and those of us who shared many of those commitments with her always held her in the highest regard and were most appreciative of her generosity and hospitality.

Both women will be missed and well remembered.

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