This week my coworkers have compiled a number of stories to look back on 2022. I’m having a bit of trouble remembering that the year is over, and at the same time I am thrilled for all the possible news I can deliver for you in 2023.

Members of Botsford Fire Rescue deserve a Good Egg Award this week. Firefighters from that company responded about two weeks ago, with Newtown Police Department and Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps, to a call in southern Newtown after a pickup truck crashed into a tree. First responders cared for the male driver, who was transported to a hospital. They also started searching for the man’s dog, who had been in the truck at the time of the crash but could not be located after it. Members of Botsford Fire returned to the scene of the crash after their apparatus was returned to their station to look for the dog, and that time they found it. Poor thing was deep in the woods, shaken up, but fortunately OK. We think that above-and-beyond effort definitely earns those folks a Good Egg nod.

Do you know a town resident or someone who works in town who is deserving of The Newtown Bee Good Egg Award? Simply email my coworker Education Editor Eliza Van, at eliza@thebee.com, with the person’s name and a description of why you think they are deserving of the award.

We heard from reader Betsy Litt after we ran a photo of a beautiful feathered friend in my column last week. Betsy says the bird is a red-shouldered hawk and they can be seen “a lot” around the marshy and wooded areas of Newtown. I’ll be keeping my cat-eyes open for more new friends. That’s for sure.

Congratulations to three of Newtown Police Department’s finest, who all reached their tenth anniversary with the department this week. Sergeant Adam James, currently assigned to patrol division as supervisor of the midnight shift; Officer Will Crone, also assigned to patrol division and currently on the night shift; and Officer Tim Schoen, a Field Training Officer and Motor Unit Officer also within the department’s patrol division all celebrated the milestone on December 27. All three, according to a Newtown Police Department Facebook post, “have been tremendous assets to the department for the last 10 years and should be congratulated!”

Speaking of our local police department, the annual Mitten Tree collection continues to run in the lobby of 191 South Main Street. For the 21st year, the local PD is again collecting hats, scarves, and even socks, in addition to mittens and gloves, for its Mitten Tree. Officer Maryhelen McCarthy continues to spearhead the effort, which this season will continue to January 1. Donations can be dropped in the lobby of the police department. All items received are then distributed to those in need through the Town’s Department of Human Services.

The Charlotte Helen Bacon Foundation (CHB Foundation) highlighted “yet another act of love made possible by so many” this week in an email. “We had no idea that what we wrote in Charlotte’s obituary would provide an opportunity to see her dream of becoming a ‘doggy doctor’ come alive in others,” the foundation’s newsletter reads. The tribute inspired the North Carolina School of Veterinary medicine to raise money to start a scholarship at the school in 2013. The scholarship was at first funded by faculty at the school, then The CHB Foundation spent several years working to endow the scholarship. Finally last February, the scholarship was endowed. “The Charlotte Bacon Veterinary Education Scholarship was fully endowed helping to make dreams come true in perpetuity,” the email reads.

“Quilts by Lois & Friends,” one of the current exhibitions at C.H. Booth Library, is remaining on view a little longer. Originally scheduled to close January 4, the collection of fabric art by Lois Mitchell, the owner of the Queen Street business The Quilt Shop by Lois, and some of her friends will now remain on view until January 31. In addition, the library is inviting the public to meet Mitchell and some of the participating artists when it hosts a reception on Wednesday, January 4, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. The collection is on view in the lower entry hall and meeting room at 25 Main Street, just inside the library’s rear entrance (and a reminder that the front entrance continues to be closed while a large section of the building’s roof is replaced). Light refreshments will be served.

Read To Grow, based out of Branford, is offering a virtual “Popcorn & PJs Winter 2023” event. “Cozy up with a new children’s book, popcorn, and a fun activity with authors and illustrators, all from the comfort of home,” a description reads. The first event is set for Friday, January 27, at 7 pm with author Gaia Cornwall reading The Best Bed for Me. Then on February 27 author Tami Charles will read Freedom Soup, and on March 24 authors E.E. Charlton-Trujillo and Pat Zeitlow Miller will read Lupe Lopez, Rock Star Rules. Tickets for the virtual events and more information are available online at readtogrow.org.

I learned this week that Rebekah Harriman is stepping down from her role on the Newtown Democratic Town Committee (DTC). Harriman has been serving as the group’s chair, and DTC Vice President Clint DePaolo will serve as interim chair.

2023 will be here shortly, and Newtown Forest Association (NFA) is already looking ahead. In an announcement this week, the group shared, “We look now to our community to help us add more open space to be enjoyed forever. Looking forward to 2023, with your support, we are continuing to target land and preservation rights to parcels of open space that will remain undeveloped and open to the public. Thanks to generous people like you, the NFA will be able to save even more of Newtown from development to be enjoyed for generations to come. Since 1924, the NFA has been preserving open spaces in Newtown, but we need your financial support. The NFA is a nonprofit land trust and is not supported by tax dollars.” For more information about NFA see its website newtownforestassociation.org.

With the new year, I’ve marked all of the birthdays I need to remember on my 2023 The Newtown Bee calendar. Calendars are still available at our office, 5 Church Hill Road, during office hours, Monday to Friday, 8 am to 5 pm, while they last. I also noted all of the birthdays I can submit announcements for the Education section’s “Birthday Wishes” column. Each week The Newtown Bee’s “Birthday Wishes” announces upcoming birthdays for local children, and it offers one lucky child every week a chance to win a free ice cream cake from Ferris Acres Creamery. Parents can send a head and shoulders photo of their child, with their first and last name, age, and date of birth to Education Editor Eliza Van at eliza@thebee.com for publication in “Birthday Wishes.” Be sure and include a daytime phone number in case we have questions, as well as your address. All children submitted for birthday announcements are entered into that chance to win the free ice cream cake. With the Creamery closed for the season, I suspect this offer and reminder makes me your favorite cat columnist ...

Ultramarathon runner Chane Cullens takes running to another level with some road races that are as many as 100 miles. Find out which races Cullens has completed and how he goes about it in this week’s Sports section.

I may not be an ultramarathon runner, but I am always running around Newtown to find more news for you. So I hope you promise next week to ... Read me again.