We all have good intentions of donating each year to support the Labor Day Parade (which costs more than $20,000 to pay for the awesome bands and other expenses), but we forget to send in that donation and then it comes down to the wire as to whether or not the parade committee is going to be able to afford to put on the parade. Donations mailed to the Newtown Savings Bank, 39 Main Street, are welcome, but this year committee members are making it even easier. For the first time, the Newtown Labor Day Parade Committee will staff a table at the annual Lions Club Pootatuck Duck Race event, this Saturday, May 29. Stop by and drop a dollar or two in the jar, and show your support for the yearly end of summer parade.

Anna Wiedemann has let me know, too, that the Newtown Woman’s Club will have a table at the Duck Race this weekend selling the 2009 Club ornament, which depicts the Little Schoolhouse by Middle Gate Elementary School. “We will have others from previous years as well,” says Anna. “Stop by to purchase these wonderful Newtown mementos.” 

Bruce Moulthrop answered to the title of Donut Maker last October, when St John’s Episcopal Church hosted its annual fall Donut Stop, celebrating the return of fall with freshly made donuts, coffee, hot chocolate, and orange juice for visitors to the church. Fresh- made donuts will return to the church at 5 Washington Avenue this coming weekend when the church — including Mr Moulthrop — will host another Donut Stop. The public is invited to visit the church’s front lawn any time between 9 am and noon this Saturday. Tables will be set up for al fresco dining if the weather cooperates. This is, of course, the same day as the Great Pootatuck Duck Race, which returns to Sandy Hook Center on Saturday. Sounds to me like the perfect way to enjoy some great donuts and then work them off immediately by making the walk from St John’s over to the park area at 3-5 Glen Road for all things Duck Race.

I’ll be at the VFW Post 308 Tinkerfield Road location this Monday morning, May 31, at 11 am, for the solemn Memorial Day service hosted by members of the Post and the American Legion, and I hope I’ll see you there, too. The beautiful ceremony each year is a heartfelt salute to those who have served and are currently serving our country. You might think that you’ll miss out on all the fun if you are late to that holiday picnic or outing, but I assure you, you will leave this service with a feeling of peace that will only make the rest of the day better.

Mandi Poseno, one of the Newtown “Merrell Mamas” has let me know that the all-women running team successfully finished the Ragnar Relay 200-mile relay, from Yale University in New Haven to Harvard University in Boston, this past weekend. “We ended up finishing in second place out of all women’s teams and 50th overall,” says Mandi, “and we raised $5,750 for the Women’s Center of Greater Danbury. It was an amazing experience and everyone worked really hard. It was extremely hot during the day on Friday and Saturday, so that was challenging. The nighttime runs were fantastic.” Believe it or not, the Merrell Mamas are ready to do it again next year. Congratulations to all. What good friends the Women’s Center has in this group.

Teddy Wenick is a wire-haired dachshund, not a pointer, but he pointed out a very interesting visitor to his owners, Drs Rob and Diane Wenick this past weekend. Lazing beneath the shade of the azalea bushes was a rather large snapping turtle. Most likely, she had made her way up from the pond in back, seeking a place to lay eggs. Teddy is a little put-out that he has ended up barred from that part of the yard until Mrs Turtle takes her leave, but he’s making the best of it by peering out the front door at the snappish guest.

Brothers Nathan and Joshua Malota were successful at a booth in the annual Stormville Airport Ultimate Yard Sale in Stormville, N.Y., selling donated tag sale items from Newtown. Their effort raised $900 to donate to reconstruction efforts in Haiti. Nathan, a fifth grader, and his second grade brother will be donating the money to Deacon Chuck Dietsch of Sacred Heart Church in Southbury, who was in Haiti at the time of the earthquake and was stuck under rubble for ten hours, and the Haitian Ministries for the Diocese of Norwich. The nonaffiliated Newtown High School group of students called Two Schools One Song also surpassed expectations at the May 22 Rock Ridge Country Club fundraiser. The group formed after siblings Dan and Jane Sclafani learned of the American Assistance for Cambodia program, which matches donations of $13,000 to fund building a school in Cambodia. Combined with their other fundraising efforts, Saturday’s event kicked the group’s collection to $15,000. Read more about both of these young fundraisers in next week’s print edition of The Bee. I just couldn’t wait to tell you!

Who knows what else I will have to tell you when next week rolls around? I guess you’ll just have to… Read me again.