Can you host a summer food drive?

The Comprehensive Community Action Program, or CCAP, is asking for assistance this summer to help feed those in need.

Children are more likely to experience hunger during the summer months when they have no access to school meals. CCAP is asking member of the community to lend a hand by hosting a food drive at their church, workplace, service group, school or other location. Every month, the CCAP Food Bank serves over 800 families.

For more information about CCAP and how to lend a helping hand, visit comcap.org or contact Joanne Gregory, vice president of social services, at 562-8333.

Free lunches for seniors

The Cranston YMCA has partnered with Blackstone Health to bring senior citizens a Power Lunch sponsored by National Grid. With additional support provided by BankRI, Power Lunch will provide free catered meals for seniors in at the YMCA, located at 1225 Park Ave.

Power Lunches will be held Monday through Friday during the summer. Seating is limited and registration is required. Participants may sign up for just one day or the whole week. A $3 suggested donation is welcomed, but not required. There are two sessions, held at 12 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.

All diners must be 60 years of age or older. Each meal will include a sandwich, soup and fresh fruit. The YMCA will provide additional sides and water.

Power Lunch aims to help seniors beat the summer heat while enjoying a complete meal with friends old and new. There will also be opportunities to connect to resources available to increase energy efficiency and reduce costs as temperatures continue to rise.

To register or for more information, call the YMCA Welcome Center at 943-0444 or email Michelle Puhacz at mdejesus@gpymca.org.

14th One Act Play Festival at Artists’ Exchange

Artists’ Exchange’s One Act Play Festival returns this month for its 14th season.

The festival runs from July 11-27 at Theatre 82, 82 Rolfe Square, Cranston. It will feature 10 original one-act plays written by local, regional, and national playwrights and performed by an ensemble of 27 actors of all ages, abilities and acting experience.

Performances will be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $15 in advance and $20 at the door. A beer and wine cash bar will be available before and during the show.

The festival’s directors are Jessica Chace, Tom Chace, Lauren Annicelli and Rhiannon Annin, with original music by Parker Chace and lighting design by Alexander Sprague.

The 2019 plays and their authors are “Game Changer” by Kay Ellen Bullard of Lincoln; “Top Shelf Tolstoy” by Maximillian Gill of Sunnyside, New York; “Up in the Air” by Ben Jolivet of Providence; “FOMO” by Rhea MacCallum of Downey, California; “/ärt/” by Steven G. Martin of Lafayette, Indiana; “When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Christmas Tree” by Rich Orloff of New York City; “Family by Numbers” by Arianna Rose of Miami Beach, Florida; “Putt-Putt” by George Sapio of Spencer, New York; “The Stand” by Caity-Shea Violette of Boston; and “The Monster Under the Bed” by Joseph Vitale of Denville, New Jersey.

For more information, call 490-9475 or visit artists-exchange.org.

Women’s self-defense class

Premier Martial Arts, located at 1099 Park Ave. in Cranston, will offer a free women’s self-defense class on Saturday, July 13, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Participants in the workshop will learn about situational awareness, vital parts of the body that are vulnerable and easy to attack, basic strikes and kicks, defenses for the most common attacks on women and more. For more information, call 219-0166.

'Looking West’ author to speak at library

The Cranston Public Library will host Providence resident Albert Badre, author of “Looking West: The Journey of a Lebanese-American Immigrant,” on Saturday, July 13, from 2:30-4 p.m. at the Central Library, 140 Sockanosset Cross Road.

Badre’s book explores the author's cultural and spiritual roots, prompting him to begin a “search for meaning in life” that “leads him to social activism among New York City’s poorest. And, in time, to graduate studies, where his desire is to improve the human condition through information technology.”

Copies of the book will be for sale for cash transactions only. This event is free and open to the public.

For more information, visit cranstonlibrary.org.

Authors to visit Barrington Books

Barrington Books in Garden City Center will welcome bestselling authors Meg Mitchell Moore for her new book “The Islanders” and Susannah Marren for her book “A Palm Beach Wife,” for a conversation and book signing on Sunday, July 14, at 2 p.m. at 176 Hillside Road, Cranston.  

“The Islanders” has been named a Best Beach Read of Summer by Vulture, PureWow, She Reads and Women.com. Author Elin Hilderband has praised Moore as "one of my favorite writers.” “The Islanders” is Moore's fifth novel and takes place on Block Island. Moore is also the author of “The Captain's Daughter,” “The Admissions” and “The Arrivals.”

“A Palm Beach Wife” is set among the high society galas and gossip of Palm Beach. Marren's first novel was “Between the Tides.”

For additional information and to reserve a copy of a book for the event, contact 432-7222, visit barringtonbooks.com or stop in at Barrington Books.

Baseball writer, historian to speak at Sprague Mansion

On Tuesday, July 16, the Cranston Historical Society will host baseball writer and historian Steven Krasner at 7 p.m. at the Governor Sprague Mansion, located at 1351 Cranston St.

Krasner, a Cranston native, will discuss the history of local and regional baseball teams. For many years, he covered the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots as a sportswriter for the Providence Journal and then as a freelancer for ESPN Boston. Along the way, he began writing children’s books, some of which have a baseball theme.

For more information, call 944-9226 or visit cranstonhistoricalsociety.org.

Summer concerts at William Hall Library

This year’s free summer concert series, “Music In Our Town,” is underway at the William Hall Library, 1825 Broad St., Cranston.

Concerts will be held on Thursday nights from 6:30-8 p.m. The Neo Retro Band performs on July 18, followed by Nightlife Orchestra on July 25, Cee Cee and the Riders on Aug. 1 and John Connor and the Irish Express on Aug. 8.

Additionally, William Hall Library will host free “Concerts for Kids and Kids at Heart” on Tuesdays from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Toe Jam Puppet Band will perform July 30.

Attendees are advised to bring a blanket or chairs for use on the library’s lawn. For additional information, visit cranstonlibrary.org or contact Adrienne Gallo Girard at 781-2450 or hall@cranstonlibrary.org.

Dementia Friendly Community Series

The Cranston Enrichment Center, located at 1070 Cranston St., will host a Dementia Friendly Community Series on Tuesdays at 1:30 p.m. in the weeks ahead. The series will explore the faces of memory loss.

“Medically Caused Dementia” will be held on July 23. “Dementia & Hearing Loss” will be held Aug. 6, and the series concludes with “A Caregiver’s Journey” on Aug. 20. Support for the Dementia Friendly Community Series is provided by a grant from Tufts Health Plan Foundation.

For more information, visit cranstonseniorcenter.com.

Trip to Foxwoods

The Cranston Senior Guild is planning a July 24 trip to Foxwoods. The cost is $27 per person, which includes roundtrip transportation on a deluxe motor coach bus, a free buffet or $10 food coupon to any of the casino’s restaurants, and $10 in bonus slot play (subject to change).

The bus to Foxwoods will depart from the Rhode Island Mall near the Burlington location at 9:15 a.m. and return at 3:15 p.m. Payment must be received by July 6, and those interested in joining the trip are advised to reserve a spot early. For more information, call Sunny at 785-0748.

‘American Creed’ at the library

The Cranston Public Library, in partnership with OneCranston Working Cities Challenge Initiative, is hosting a screening of the PBS documentary “American Creed” at the Central Library, located at 140 Sockanosset Cross Road, on Wednesday, July 24, from 6-8:30 p.m. The screening will be followed by a community conversation facilitated by Larry Warner of United Way of Rhode Island.

In “American Creed,” former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David M. Kennedy come together from different points of view to investigate the idea of a unifying American creed. Their spirited inquiry frames the stories of citizen-activists striving to realize their own visions of America’s promise across deepening divides.

Following the film, there will be a facilitated discussion to allow for personal reflection and dialogue. The discussion will be led by Larry Warner, a Cranston resident and director of grants and strategic initiatives for United Way of Rhode Island. Warner has a distinguished career in philanthropy and public health and was a firefighter for 15 years. Depending on the size of the audience, there may also be an opportunity to break out into smaller groups.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit cranstonlibrary.org or americancreed.org.

CCAP Chip for Charity tournament

The Comprehensive Community Action Program will host its fifth annual Chip for Charity Golf Tournament & Million Dollar Hole-in-One Contest on Thursday, Sept. 12, at Habor Lights in Warwick.

The event is CCAP’s largest fundraiser to support its programs and services. To register or for more information on sponsorship opportunities, contact Lee Beliveau at 562-8353 or lbeliveau@comcap.org.

Cranston High School class of 1959 reunion

The 60th reunion of Cranston High School’s class of 1959, 60th Reunion will be held on Sunday, Sept. 15, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Eleven Forty Nine Restaurant, 1149 Division St., Warwick. Registration costs $50 per person. Send checks payable to “Class of Cranston High School 1959” to Dianne Apici, 573 Cedar Ave., East Greenwich, RI 02818, by Aug. 24. For more information, contact Dianne Apici at dapici@cox.net or 885-4595.

St. David’s hall rentals

St. David’s on-the-Hill Episcopal Church, located at 200 Meshanticut Valley Parkway in Cranston, offers affordable rates to rent its upper and lower halls for events of all kinds. For more information, visit stdavidsonthehill.net/hall-rental or contact the church office Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at 942-4368.

Family health services at CCAP

Tired of ineffective yet expensive medical care? Check out Family Health Services at the Comprehensive Community Action Program. CCAP offers affordable, 24/7, professional family health and dentistry services. The experienced staff includes physicians, nurse practitioners and other health care professionals who are caring, compassionate and highly skilled. New patients are welcome. For more information, call 384-6007.

Did you know?

July was named in honor of Julius Caesar. When Julius Caesar died, Quintilis, which was his birth month, was renamed with July. Quintilis means “fifth month” in Latin, which represents where this month originally fell in the Roman calendar. (Source: July Fun Facts)

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