Thinking of taking a CPR course? Well, you never know how useful it could be... We found out about a Good Samaritan (who prefers to be anonymous) who was first on the scene when a cyclist with a bicycle ride event collapsed on Mt Pleasant Road on Saturday. She had just completed a CPR class four months ago, and was able to not only offer comfort, but emergency care, until someone more experienced was able to take over. Now that is worthy of a Good Egg Award, I think!

Our latest completely unscientific poll showed readers prefer coffee ice cream over any other flavor. After a few weeks of voting, 16 went for that flavor over chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, mint chocolate chip, fudge ripple, or another of the other flavors we offered as options. The second highest vote getter was Other. So now we move on, and hope those who visit our website will join us with our latest poll: How do you beat the heat? You don’t need to be registered to vote. Just visit newtownbee.com and scroll down; the poll can be found along the right side of most pages.

Debbie DeBlasi shared a photo taken by Laura Terry of the Newtown Lugnuts team that won the 11U/12U Majors Division Championship last month! Way to knock it out of the park!

Think it’s too early to put the annual 50-mile motorcycle Hook & Ladder Firehouse Ride on the calendar? If you want to put an ad in the program booklet that is distributed around town, August 15 is the deadline. All proceeds from the ride support Newtown Hook & Ladder Volunteer Fire Company. It doesn’t matter if you don’t ride; there is lots of family fun planned for the Saturday, September 28 after-party (around 4 pm), including a pig roast, BBQ, cash bar, games for the kids, live music, and raffles. Registration is at 1 pm that day, and the ride roars to life from the fire company at 12 Church Hill Road at 3 pm. For details on becoming a sponsor, placing an ad, or online registration, visit firehouseride.com/register.php.

After reading that Dooley, a kitty who went AWOL for three years, was reunited with his Madison, Conn., owner last week, I feel inclined to recommend that you ask your veterinarian about microchips for cats — and dogs. Nothing like a happy ending, I always say.

Khloe and Kylie Hudak — 2KsForaCause — had another successful lemonade stand this past Friday. The young girls and friends served more than 100 customers, they tell us, bringing in donations for St Jude Children’s Hospital. (Their last effort supported The Kennedy Center in Trumbull.) “We and our friends were so tired after the event... so dad BBQ’d for all of us,” said the girls. “Then, for some strange reason, we all [chose] to go bed early, mostly because Khloe was falling asleep at the table.” The girls counted up the donations this week, which totaled $419.44, and will have their dad send the money to St Jude. They are very thankful to all who visited their lemonade stand.

Our Newtown Hearts of Hope group has brought joy to many with the handpainted ceramic hearts distributed and randomly placed. Now you can help kids create hope by supporting the Hearts of Hope Back To School Fall Initiative. Donations will provide materials for schoolchildren to make these simple, lovely expressions of love in schools across the nation. Donate at https://hearts-for-hope.myshopify.com/pages/donate.

Please remember to check expiration dates before donating to a food pantry. We’ve heard that before, and we have been surprised to hear it repeated by volunteers at FAITH Food Pantry (FFP) and the Salvation Army food pantry in town, but it happened to us this week. With FFP having a number of closures in recent weeks while the parking lot around their building — and everything else on the campus of St Rose of Lima Church — has been repaved, clients and donors haven’t been able to access the nonecumenical pantry at 46 Church Hill Road. We have a donations bin for FFP inside our office at 5 Church Hill Road and have been hanging on to items that have been dropped off lately. We’ll get them to FFP as soon as they can access their building. In organizing the donations this week ahead of getting them to FFP, Bee employees were distressed to find multiple items with expired dates. One had expired in May 2014. Please check expiration dates before donating to a food pantry. If you wouldn’t eat it, please don’t send it off to someone who can’t afford to put food on their table.

Todd Martin says he knows who that royal looking young couple is whose photo appeared in last week’s “Way We Were” column. We wondered if they were prom king and queen, and Todd tells us, “Yes. Homecoming of ‘82. Queen Sue Arendt and King Tom Colby. Same picture is in the Class of ‘83 yearbook.” Well, I pulled out our copy of the Quest ‘83 NHS yearbook, pawed through it, and the lovely couple pictured is indeed Sue and Tom. Thank you, Tom, and thanks as well to Sue Vogelman, who also identified the couple.

August 1 was World Lung Cancer Day, and the good news is, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “Lung cancer death rates in the U.S. have decreased 11.5 percent since 2013.” Through awareness, early detection, and research, although lung cancer remains the #1 cancer killer for men and women, people are being diagnosed early enough to make survival more likely. The American Lung Association’s Saved by the Scan campaign is a low-dose CT screening. Visit www.lung.org to find out if you qualify for a lung cancer screening. It’s never too soon to find out!

The CT Clay Artists, which includes Karen Pinto, Ros Liljengren, and Roberta Ahuja of Newtown, will exhibit their works at Gallery 25, 11 Railroad Street, New Milford, from August 1 to August 31. They would love to see their Newtown friends anytime, but especially at the artists’ reception scheduled for Saturday, August 10, from 5 to 8 pm. The gallery is open Thursdays and Sundays, noon to 5 pm; and Fridays and Saturdays, 11 am to 8 pm. For more information, visit connecticutclayartists.org.

I’ll be molding news out of the clay of this town for next week, so be sure to... Read me again.