There is a free birthday cake waiting for a lucky boy or girl - every week. Send your child's photo, name, age, and birthdate to eliza@thebee.com for publication in the Just For Kids section of The Newtown Bee. (Be sure to include a daytime phone number, which does not get published.) Bakes 'n' Cakes owner Tony Posca is happy to provide the winner of the Bee Birthday Cake with a delicious cake. But you can't win if you don't enter. You'll find complete entry details in each issue of The Newtown Bee. Submissions must be received by noon on Tuesday for that week's edition of the paper.Storm Lake Times in Iowa, which this week was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing. Art Cullen, who with brother John, owns the 3,000 circulation paper, published twice a week, took on agricultural companies' farm pollution in his editorials.maplecraftfoods.com.info@cvhfoundation.org.

Congratulations to another family-owned newspaper, the

A familiar face has been hired to be the new director at Brookfield Library. Former Sandy Hook Elementary School Library/Media Specialist Yvonne Cech has returned to the area after working in Croton-on-Hudson. Yvonne left Sandy Hook School two years ago. We wish her luck and happiness in her new position.

Just a reminder that among the many vendors at the April 22 Earth Day program at NMS, Cullens Youth Association will host a booth to collect items to be given to Savers, the thrift store run by Big Brothers, Big Sisters. Cullens will be paid by the pound for collecting the donated goods. All donations are tax-deductible. Please place clothing and soft items in plastic bags; small household items in boxes; books in bags or boxes. No large furniture, TVs, or computer electronics will be accepted. For more information contact Amy Cox at 203-241-2170. Money earned by Cullens will be put toward maintenance of the youth outdoor education facility on Taunton Lake Road.

You'll find Maple Craft Foods, there, too. The Sandy Hook natural foods company will be handing out free samples of its new Organic Blueberry Maple Syrup at the Newtown Earth Day festival at the Middle School, Saturday, April 22, from 10 am to 4 pm, while supplies last. A limited number of bottles will be available to purchase, along with bottles of the award-winning Bourbon Barrel Aged maple syrup, Organic Salted Caramel maple syrup, Organic Apple Cinnamon maple syrup, and Organic Pumpkin Spice maple syrup. Founded in 2015 by Sandy Hook resident Dave Ackert, its products are made with all natural, unprocessed maple syrup. A complete list of retail locations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York is available at

Warmer weather means a return to the Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary property at the end of Old Farm Road, for Sunday With The Sanctuary. Join in outdoors on Sunday, April 23, from noon to 3 pm, for a look into the world of bees and wind power. Find out about backyard beekeeping from experts and get a taste of honey, too. An observation hive gives a real peek at the business of this pollinator, and you can learn how to build bee houses. There will be a vortex cannon demonstration on the power of wind, as well - bring your kite! There is no charge for the program, but registration is requested by e-mailing

Last week Newtown Bee readers learned that Andrew Mangold plans to be in town the weekend of May 6-7 to reawaken the Newtown Fruit Trail for its second season. While gardeners are looking forward to getting their hands into the soil again, one other sure sign of the season is spring cleaning. At least three groups in town will be helping residents and business owners with that chore. The Commission on Aging and Friends of Newtown Seniors will be hosting a Document Shredding Day on Saturday, May 6. From 10 am until 1 pm, everyone is invited to visit Newtown Middle School to have papers securely shredded. Cost is $10 per standard size paper box - $5 per box for seniors, and higher for oversize boxes - and at the end of the day, that will be one big chore crossed off your list. If you can't get your papers in order by that Saturday (or continue cleaning and need to shred more documents), the Ladies Auxiliary of Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company will be sponsoring a similar event the following weekend. On Saturday, May 13, from 9 am until noon, the ladies will host a Paper Shredding Event at the fire company's main station, 18-20 Riverside Road. File boxes and paper shopping bags filled with papers will be shredded for $10 each, with prices going up in $5 increments according to containers. And this event will be held in conjunction with the auxiliary's Mother's Day Flower Sale, which will actually begin on Friday, May 12. So they're offering you a chance to clear out the old, and bring in the new at the same time.

And while you're doing that spring cleaning, don't forget that the Friends of the C.H. Booth Library Spring Book Donation Day is scheduled for Sunday, April 23, from noon to 5 pm. Donate used (or new) books, DVDs, CDs, LPs, video and board games, and puzzles to the library. Volunteers will be on hand to help unload the donations, and receipts for tax use are available.

It's a holiday week with Passover underway as of this past Tuesday, and the Easter celebration on the horizon this Sunday. May you find joy in however you celebrate the season.

I'm a little backed up in reporting this, but what a relief that the cat token survived the Monopoly board game cut this past winter. Voters instead chose to wheel away the wheelbarrow, gave thumbs down to the thimble, and booted out the boot. It's all about animals, though. Joining the newest version of the classic board game are a penguin, a Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur, and a rubber ducky token.

I'm thinking inside the box, not outside the box, and whether you color inside or outside the lines, look out - Crayola is making a change to its 24-pack of crayons. Savor that stub of Dandelion Yellow, as Crayola has scribbled it out, and so far as the replacement color goes, all I can tell you is that I'm feeling blue...

You would be pretty blue, I'm thinking, if I didn't put my paws to the keyboard next week. Not to worry - I always have a plan to entice you to... Read me again.