Hug a tree today! If anyone gives you an odd look let me know, because April 26 is Arbor Day and we should hug trees for everything they do for us.

If you’d like to hug baby trees, be sure to visit the Newtown Lions Club area at Saturday’s Newtown Earth Day Festival. Club members will be handing out four different types of saplings. They’ll be among the multiple vendors and local organizations celebrating all thing green and environmentally friendly during the annual event returning to the front lawn of Newtown Middle School on Queen Street. Organizers have arranged a full lineup of entertainment, local car dealers and enthusiasts will show examples of 21st Century green vehicles that offer tax breaks and other benefits, and proceeds will again go toward a scholarship for a Newtown High School graduate interested in environmental or ecological studies. Check our calendar, in print and online, for hours and other details.

It’s been a minute or two, but this week we have our latest Good Egg Award. This time the honor goes to a young man at Newtown Middle School who recently coordinated a fundraiser that raised just over $75 for FAITH Food Pantry. Sue Shpunt may have whispered some of the details to me this week. She was still so thrilled to see a young person take the initiative for something “so important to so many people,” she said. “I’m still so touched. He took the time to talk to his principal, get permission for his idea, and did this special thing just to help others.” He didn’t want to share his name, she said, but she wanted to do something to let him know that his kindness will not be forgotten. I agree: this young man is definitely a Good Egg!

If you’d like to help FAITH Food Pantry, there are many ways to do so. The pantry itself is located in the standalone building south of the Knights of Columbus building and the rectory on the St Rose of Lima campus at 46 Church Hill Road. Donations are accepted Tuesday mornings between 9:30-11:30 am and Thursdays between 3:30-6 pm. Drive-Thru Food Drives are conducted the first Saturday of each month (which means the next one will be May 4) from 10 am until noon. Nonperishables, cleaning and personal hygiene products, and even pet supplies are always welcome. Financial donations can be done at any time in person and online through newtownfoodpantry.org. The website also lists current needs if you’d like to really plan ahead. There is an Amazon Wish List also set up through the website. Finally, there are still a few copies of The Silver Bridge is Silver Again (But Somebody Tore Down Bill’s Hotdog Stand) available at our office. Shirley Ferris published her memoir late last year, and every penny of the $20 cover price is going to FAITH Food Pantry.

If you’re on the other side of the spectrum — if you’re among those in town who need a hand putting food on your table — visit the FFP website. Full details are there, as is a phone number if you’d like to speak with someone at the pantry. They make things as easy and discreet as possible, I promise.

I saw St Rose School students and teachers walking across Church Hill Road on Monday, visiting Holy Cow Ice Cream for their annual spring visit. That means one more thing is approaching: the final St Rose Bingo Night of the 2023-2024 academic school year. The season finale is planned for Friday, May 3. Bingo fun and cash prizes, along with raffle giveaways and concessions will take place in the Msgr Weiss Gathering Hall at 40 Church Hill Road. Cost is $20 per person, $1 for each special game, and full details are available in our calendars.

You know I’m a sucker for anything with a bumble bee on it. Someone must have known I’d be walking past these adorable painted rocks (see photo) when they planted them recently just outside Newtown Senior Center. How could I not take a photo and share it with you?

The calendar changes next week from April to May. Looking toward Mental Health Awareness Month, NewSylum Brewing Company and NYFS Mental Health Awareness are again collaborating on a fundraiser now in its third year. The month is a time to shine a light on an essential aspect of well-being that often hides in the shadows. In May, however, readers who are 21 and older are invited to visit the brewery at 36 Keating Farms Avenue in May, and order one of the local brewery’s favorites, Therapy Session. All profits from the purchase of the hazy New England-style pale ale will go to NYFS, a leading mental health and youth services agency that serves the greater Newtown area. The collaborative effort has done well its first two years. Organizers are hoping to do just as well if not better this year. Let’s see if we can help with that.

The Annual Daniel Barden Mudfest will celebrate its tenth year of mud, mayhem, and merriment next weekend in Deansboro, N.Y. A decade ago, race co-founders Dan and Melissa Williams organized Mudfest as a way of honoring the memory of Daniel Barden, one of the first grade children killed on 12/14. Daniel was a kind and gentle child who touched the hearts of everyone he met. In the years since, Mudfest has made over $440,000 in charitable contributions to many organizations such as Sandy Hook Promise and other local nonprofits. Officially dubbed “The Boilermaker’s Dirty Little Brother,” Mudfest is a rough-and-tumble mud run obstacle course that offers something for everyone: timed 5-mile run and timed 5K obstacle course options for competitive runners, an untimed 5K course for the less competitive runners, and even a Kids’ Fun Run for ages 5-11. The event returning Saturday, May 4, will also offer brand new offerings: The Highland Games, an exhilarating exhibition of strength at noon; and The Farmers Carry at 1:30 pm. After all that, participants and spectators will find Central New York’s biggest barn party with food, drinks and music. All proceeds this year will benefit Sandy Hook Promise, the nonprofit founded in the wake of 12/14 with a mission to educate and empower youth and adults to prevent violence in schools, homes, and communities through proven programs and sensible, bipartisan school and gun safety legislation. Athletes, volunteers and sponsors are all welcome to join. Visit bardenmudfest.org for full details.

It felt like April Fool’s Day was happening all over again on Monday, when a Frost Advisory was issued for parts of southern Connecticut, northeast New Jersey and southeast New York. The plants around The Bee office all did well. I hope everyone reading this was able to protect their plants, either with covers or getting them inside until it warmed up again.

Right now it feels like this time last week all over again. This is where I tell you I hope you have a good week and you promise to come back next week to … read me again.