Letter carriers across the country will collect non-perishable food donations Saturday as part of the annual Stamp Out Hunger Drive sponsored by the National Association of Letter Carriers.

The organization is asking residents to leave non-perishable food donations by their mail boxes Saturday. Letter carriers will pick up the donations during the regularly scheduled mail delivery.

Donations collected in Bucks County will be distributed to area food pantries, including the Bucks County Housing Group Penndel Community Food Pantry, which serves about 20,000 people annually.

For more information, call 215-757-6778.

Edward M. Mayer honored for service to the arts

Edward M. Mayer of Churchville has won the Business on Board Member of the Year Award from the Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia.

Mayer, a lawyer, is being honored for his service on the board of the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, a tuition-free arts school in Philadelphia.

Mayer is scheduled to receive his award at a luncheon Friday at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. For more information, call 215-790-3620.

Auction will help rebuild blacksmith's studio

Friends of metal artist and blacksmith Ray Mathis and his wife, Rosemary Tottoroto, of Newtown, will hold a silent auction today in New Hope to raise money to help rebuild Mathis' studio, which was destroyed by fire April 13.

Mathis' tools, equipment and materials and most of the inventory was lost when his studio, Tutto Metal Design, burned to the ground. Proceeds from the auction will be used to help rebuild the studio.

The auction will be from 2 to 5 p.m. at Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio, 30 W. Bridge St., New Hope. For more information, call 215-862-4300.

Other events are being planned to help fund the reconstruction, including a music and auction event from 4 to 7 p.m. May 18 at Puck, Printers Alley, Doylestown. To learn more, call 215-348-9000.

Donations can be sent to the Rebuild Ray Fund, c/o First National Bank of Newtown, 40 S. State St., Newtown, Pa. 18940.

Square-dance tour to visit South Perkasie Bridge

A Mystery Bus Tour of square dancers will visit the South Perkasie Bridge at 4:30 p.m. Saturday to dance and earn a square-dance "dangle."

The tour is an annual event hosted by the Glen Rock Belles and Beaux, a square-dancing group from New Jersey. The tour group spends the day sight-seeing through Bucks County and then ends its day with a square dance. A dangle is the equivalent of a merit badge, which is earned for participating in a square dance.

The dance will be on the South Perkasie Bridge in Lenape Park, along Walnut Street, at 4:30 p.m.. After the dance, the group will visit the Melody Lakes Recreation Center in Quakertown, where it will participate in the center's regular square-dancing event at 7:30 p.m.

The center is at 1045 West End Blvd. For more information, call 610-570-2508.

Motorcycle ride to benefit addiction recovery

The Livengrin Foundation in Bensalem will host its annual Ride for Recovery motorcycle tour May 18 to raise funds and awareness about addiction recovery.

The motorcycle ride will be a tour of Bucks County's country roads, covered bridges and scenery. The tour will begin and end at the Livengrin Foundation campus at 4833 Hulmeville Rd.

After the tour will be a family-style picnic that includes live music, vendors, games, children's activities, and a raffle of a Harley Davidson motorcycle and other prizes.

Tickets are $20; $10 for the picnic only. Registration will be from 9 to 11 a.m., and the picnic will be from noon to 5 p.m.

For registration and more information, call 215-638-5200, Ext. 310 or visit www.livengrin.org (click on "Calendar" and "Events").

Libertae halfway house

wins $50,000 grant

Libertae, a Bensalem halfway house for women and children, has received a $50,000 grant, which will be used to increased the house's services to dually diagnosed clients.

The grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in Princeton, N.J., will fund expanded services for women who are chemically dependent and have a psychiatric disorder.

For more information about Libertae, call 215-639-8681 or visit www.libertae.org.

Hepatitis B Foundation honors Lok with an award

The Hepatitis B Foundation in Doylestown presented Anna Lok with the "Distinguished Scientist Award 2008" at the organization's annual Crystal Ball Gala on April 12 at the Doylestown Country Club.

Lok, a professor and director of clinical hepatology at the University of Michigan Medical Center, is a leader in hepatitis B research. She received the award from Timothy Block, foundation president, and Nobel Laureate Baruch S. Blumberg, distinguished scholar and scientific advisory board member for the foundation.

The Hepatitis B Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding a cure and improving the quality of life of people with hepatitis B. For more details, call 215-489-4900 or visit www.hepb.org.

Groups to share proceeds

of gay pride festival

The Delaware Valley Legacy Fund and New Hope Celebrates have selected four organizations to benefit from proceeds raised during New Hope's annual gay pride festival, scheduled for May 16 to 18.

Funds from "New Hope Celebrates Pride 2008" will be donated to Fighting AIDS Continuously Together (FACT) Bucks County; Philadelphia FIGHT, an AIDS service organization; Trevor Project, which offers suicide prevention services to gay and questioning youth; and the William Way Community Center, which supports and advocates for the acceptance of sexual and gender minorities.

The Delaware Valley Legacy Fund, a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community foundation, is a sponsor of the New Hope Celebrates organization. New Hope Celebrates, a nonprofit LGBT tourism marketing organization, sponsors the annual festival. To learn more, visit www.newhopecelebrates.com.

Autism group to hold

an open house in Newtown

Potential Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides services to youngsters with autism and other developmental disorders, will hold an open house Wednesday in Newtown.

The event will highlight the organization's new music program, offer tours of the clinic, and provide information about other organization programs. Refreshments will be served, and families are encouraged to bring children.

The open house will be from 4 to 7 p.m. The clinic is at Commons West, Suite 1F, 638 Newtown Yardley Rd. To learn more, call 215-579-0670 or visit www.potentialinc.org.

Delaware Canal group

wins recognition

Friends of the Delaware Canal in New Hope have been honored by the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation.

The Friends won the 2008 Friends Improvement Award for their efforts to restore, maintain and improve the Delaware Canal and its surroundings.

The Friends will receive their award Tuesday at a gala dinner at the Harrisburg Country Club. For more information, call Friends of the Delaware Canal at 215-862-2021. or visit www.fodc.org.

BCCC Women's Center seeks

oral-history volunteers

The Women's Center of Bucks County Community College is seeking men and women volunteers to share their stories during Women's History Month 2009.

The center will celebrate with an "Eye-Witness to History" theme, and organizers seek women and men who can share their experiences and involvement in World War II, the Holocaust, the gulf or Iraq Wars, the "Women's Health Care Revolution" (involving birth control, etc), Vietnam, Women's Lib, the 1960s anti-war movement, Woodstock, or Hurricane Katrina.

For more information, call 215-968-8015 or e-mail kayen@bucks.edu.

Owners give sculpture

to Michener Museum

A sculpture that has been outside the James A. Michener Art Museum since 1989 has been donated to the Doylestown museum by the artwork's owners.

Waif's Anchors, a nine-foot bronze piece by renowned artist Isaac Witkin, was donated in the spring in memory of Robert V. Nesi by Nesi's family, longtime members and supporters of the museum.

Waif's Anchors is the latest acquisition of the museum. For more about the museum, call 215-340-9800 or visit www.michenerartmuseum.org.

- Kristin E. Holmes