Santa to arrive in Garden City

Santa will arrive in Garden City Center to welcome in the season on Nov. 24 at 11 a.m. at the Gazebo. His cabin will also open that day through Dec. 24. There will be free face painting, crafts, hayrides and a living snowman. In Santa’s Cabin all visits are free and professional photos are available for purchase. Save time, book online for a Santa Fast Pass (see gardencitycenter.com for details).

Meeting to be held at the Cranston Historical Society

On Nov. 20, the Cranston Historical Society will hold an open meeting for Volunteer Appreciation Night and a presentation on Historic Battlefield Medicine.  

John Currier of the Pawtuxet Rangers will serve as guest speaker at the meeting, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Governor Sprague Mansion, 1351 Cranston St. 

Currier will offer a talk on medical procedures used to treat soldiers in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.  The annual Volunteer Appreciation meeting will also honor Paul and Tamara Sasso and Kaylie Sasso of All the Right Answers, and Bernard Poirier and Tristan Poirier of PPA, LLP – Certified Public Accountants, for their service to the Society.  

A social hour with refreshments will follow the meeting, which is open to members and guests.  For more information please call Mary Mierka at 944-9226.

2018 Interfaith Thanksgiving service

The Cranston Interfaith Clergy Association welcomes all to the 2018 Interfaith Thanksgiving service at 3:00 p.m. on November 18. It will be held at Holy Apostles Church 800 Pippin Orchard Road, Cranston. Attendees are asked to please bring new white socks, undergarments, winter gloves, hats and scarves for men or women. There will also be a freewill offering to be presented to St. Charles Soup Kitchen, Providence. All gifts go to support their work for those in need.

Adopt-a-Family Program

Once again, the annual "CCAP Adopt-a-Family Program" is being organized. Although reports say that the economy has improved, CCAP is still seeing very fragile communities, and families who continue to struggle. 

The "Adopt-a-Family Program" helps hundreds of local families during the holiday and your commitment to this project would be greatly appreciated.

CCAP makes it easy for you to extend your kindness and generosity to the families in need in our community by helping in two ways: you can adopt a family and we can provide you with their wish list; or, you can make a monetary donation.  A donation of $300 will adopt an entire family. Your gift, large or small, can make a difference for a joyous holiday for a family in need.

All donations are due by Dec. 14 at CCAP Offices located at 311 Doric Ave. For more information, please contact Joanne Gregory at 562-8333 or jgregory@comcap.org.

Reverse College Day

The Guidance Department at Cranston High School East will once again sponsor their Annual Reverse College Day on Nov. 21. Graduates from 2018 are welcomed back to their alma mater to speak with current seniors. They talk to seniors about their college experiences up to this point. They encourage seniors to stay on track until graduation. They answer questions honestly from a first-hand perspective. All experiences are welcome.

 The program begins at 8 a.m. with breakfast treats for participants. Two sessions will run during the morning: 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. and 9:40 to 10:40 a.m. Please respond to Mr. Potemri at jpotemri@cpsed.net with contact and college information.

At the Senior Center

The Michael A. Traficante Enrichment Center, located at 1070 Cranston St., will offer the following programs and activities:

Thanksgiving Luncheon will be held on Nov.16 at 11:30 a.m. with a suggested donation of $3. Join the Senior Services family as the give thanks for all our blessings. Bring your friends and enjoy a fabulous Turkey Dinner. For reservations, call 780-6134.

Simple Thanksgiving Snacks will be served on Nov. 21 at 10 a.m. with a surprise guest. Entertaining this Thanksgiving or looking for a simple snack to bring to a Thanksgiving gathering? They have some “simple” ideas for you.

Need a Card, Forgot a Birthday? Visit the Senior Center Gift Shop for Seasonal and Holiday Gifts. This Gift Shop is open 9 to 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

Exercise Programs at the Center are being held and the time is right to stay active. The classes include Aerobics Classes; Tai Chi; Yoga; Making Fitness Easy; Zumba Gold; Bone Builders of RI; Chair Yoga; Chair Exercises; Ballroom Dancing and Line Dancing. You can select which works best for you. For more information, contact the Senior Center at 780-6000.

St. Mary School Christmas Boutique

A Christmas Boutique will be held on Dec. 2 at St. Mary’s Parish Center on Vallone Rd. from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Shop till you drop with more than 40 crafters and vendors. There will also be a food court with homemade pizza, calzones and more.

In addition, raffles will be held and there will be a Children’s Room with activities and games.

November with the Gentian Garden Club

The Gentian Garden Club meeting for November is going to be a workshop put on by their Program Chairs, Edna Duffy and Sharon Gainey, on Nov. 20 at 7 p.m.  The title of the program is “Creative Pumpkin Decorating.” Each member will bring in a pumpkin and decorate it either with flowers or decorations depending on where the pumpkin will be showcased in the home.

For the month of November, they have several other activities happening.  On Nov. 3 they will be decorating the barrels on the Village Green, Community House window boxes, and the containers at the N. Scituate Post Office and Tyler Library, Foster with evergreens for the winter.

Their hard-working co-chairs for this event are Dee Scamacca and Sharon Lavigne. They have Garden Therapy on Nov. 14 at the Bridge at Cherry Hill in Johnston. They will be working with the residents there on a program called “Giving Thanks”.   The next day, Nov. 15 they have a Junior Activity at the North Scituate Library at 4 p.m. working with the young people entitled, “Harvest Centerpiece”. Cheryl Hahn will be the leader for this session.

New this year, they will have a table at a Holiday Bazaar on Nov. 17, being held at the Brookdale Long Term Facility in Johnston.  Members have been working hard on crafts for the table all summer and fall. The bazaar is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  The theme for their table is gardening and they will have many interesting crafts ready to be sold. As always, the money we raise goes to civic beautification and a scholarship for a local high school senior.

As you can see the Gentian Garden Club offers something for everyone. If you have an interest in joining our club after reading the above please contact Nancy Laurie, Membership Chair at 647-6966 or via email at gentryway@cox.net.

Holiday Craft Fair at Oak Lawn Community Baptist Church

On Dec. 1, Oak Lawn Community Baptist Church, located at 229 Wilbur Ave. will host a Holiday Craft Fair and Luncheon from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. with a Fireside Luncheon, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Also come for: Homemade baked goods for sale, Christmas Room - treasures at great prices and Kids’ Holiday Design n’ Buy Studio (Proceeds to Children’s Mission).

For more information, or to reserve a table (space is limited), call Laura at 439-1776, or email scoops777@hotmail.com.

Coats needed

There will be a coat drive this month in Cranston which will be delivered to the State House on Black Friday for the coat exchange/donation event.

There are two collection sites as of now. One is at 46 Balsam Court (Garden City area) and coats should be sealed in a plastic bag. Items may be placed in the breezeway door.

Another location is the Cranston YMCA, located at 1225 Park Ave., which is a collection and distribution site.

You may contact Andrea Champagne at achampagne@gpymca.org.

Deadline for drop off is Nov. 21. Coats any size in good condition. Men’s, women's and children's coats are needed along with scarves, hats and gloves any size also in good condition.

Cranston Senior Guild Holiday Luncheon

The Cranston Senior Guild will hold its Annual Holiday Luncheon on Dec. 5, at noon at Mesa Café & Grill, 100 Rolfe St.

The luncheon will include your choice of chicken Marsala or baked fish, rolls, chicken escarole soup, salad, pasta, green beans, and carrots. For dessert you have a choice of tiramisu or fresh fruit cup and coffee or tea. The total is $25 (tax and tip are included). A raffle will follow the luncheon.  

Men and women 55 or older are welcome to join the Cranston Senior Guild. You do not have to live in Cranston to become a member.  

Payment must be received by Nov. 20. Make your check out to the Cranston Senior Guild. Also, please include your choice of entrée and dessert on the memo of your check. For more information call Sylvia at 944-6812.

Craft Bash

Families are welcome to join us for free crafts at Artists' Exchange on the last Saturday of every month. Coming this Nov. 24, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., will be The Golden Spiral, which uses the mathematical Fibonacci sequence, find objects that we see every day and relate them to the mathematical pattern to create unique nature illustrations.

Library launches digital archive of historic newspapers

The Cranston Public Library has launched a new digital archive of local historic Cranston newspapers. This archive is free and available online. The archive has full .pdf scans of Cranston newspapers from 1885-1975. The list of available newspapers is: Cranston Herald (1936-1975), Cranston City Times (1921-1925), Cranston Herald Today (1975), Cranston Leader (1889-1890), Cranston News (1922-1939), Cranston Today (1972-1975), Howard Times (1885-1905), Herald News (1939-1940), Cranston Herald News (1939) and Neighborhood News (1930).

The scans were produced with full Optical Character Recognition (OCR), which will allow for keyword searching for specific names, topics, etc. Other advanced searching options are also available. The archive is available with this direct link: cranston.advantage-preservation.com.

This digital archive was created in partnership with Advantage Preservation and was funded by a grant from the Champlin Foundation.

Free Yoga for breast cancer survivors

The Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Foundation and Yoga at Studio Exhale offers yoga for breast cancer survivors every Sunday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Yoga at Studio Exhale, 1263 Oaklawn Ave, Cranston is the place to be to explore slow flow, gentle movement to create space in the body and eliminate stress. This class is designed to restore the nervous system and help release deeply held tensions from the body and mind. Visit GloriaGemma.org for more details.

Did You Know?

The first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25 was in 336, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (the first Christian Roman Emperor). A few years later, Pope Julius I officially declared that the birth of Jesus would be celebrated on the 25th of December. (Source: Holiday Fun Facts)

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