Get ready for another fantastic evening at the BICA hall on Nov. 19 -- this is a night you won’t want to miss! The men are taking charge, and the excitement kicks off at 5:30. Bring your favorite main dish, side, salad, or dessert to share, and let’s make it a true feast! Coffee and water will be provided, but feel free to bring your beverage of choice to keep the good times rolling!

We’re also thrilled to announce BICA’s annual collection for the Boothbay Region Food Pantry during the potluck. With so many in our community facing food insecurity, now is the perfect time to lend a helping hand. Donations may be cash or nonperishable food items. Even better -- BICA will match every dollar collected! Let’s come together and make a real difference!

Edie, Pete, Judy, Laura, Jayne and Rich did an outstanding job hosting the Halloween party. The kitchen made a great call on pizza. The hall and tables had great scary and not so scary decorations. Around 40 people showed up, sharing laughter, great company, and cheering on the lively costume parade.

You can ask both Brenda and Dorinda if being a judge of Halloween costumes is an easy job. It can’t be when you have crabs, fishermen, Luigi, bees, pirates and even Willie Nelson asking you to vote for them. They did an excellent job picking the winners: Prettiest costume was Princess Peach (Gloria), most original was Pirate Ryan, and the saddest costume was evicted Giselaine (Patti). The Hippies were awarded funniest, while Jeff won for scariest, and the best costume award went to Bob Ross and his trees (Alan and Judy). Thanks to the judges, to the winners and to those that didn’t win for adding a lot of frivolity to the evening.

Dec. 7 will be our annual tea with wrapping of the children’s Christmas presents. Emily and Patti will be hosting. More details will be available at the November potluck. This will be followed by the December potluck on Dec. 17 hosted by the board and trustees. The hall will then be put to rest for the winter months to be back in action in April.

If you have been hiding under a rock, you may not know that the BICA elves have already started planning for the Christmas gift-giving for the island children. There are 46 children that live on the island. In an effort to reduce extra shopping for gifts to fill gaps in donations received, again this year the elves have a Christmas tree at the hall with hanging wish tags indicating the age and gender of an island child. Please help yourself to one or more tags (many tags were taken at the September potluck). The cost of gifts should be limited to $25 or less and they may be brought unwrapped but with the wish tag attached to the November potluck or delivered to Evelyn’s home (207-380-6977). The gifts will then be wrapped at the holiday tea (Dec. 7). Thank you in advance for helping continue this BICA tradition and thanks to those that have already done their shopping.

You may contact Bill at wfbutterfield@roadrunner.com with any questions or offers to help with BICA events. There will be plenty of opportunities in 2026.