Noticed on Nextdoor that several people were complaining because teens or older children were taking all the candy as well as the bowls it was in on Halloween night. Now that is rude and just plain awful. But those homeowners in the newer subdivisions should take a tip from the North Main Street homeowners, who have graciously handed out tons of candy through the years. The operative words here are “handed out.” The North Main homeowners don’t leave bowls sitting out of their porch full of candy and let human (and teen) nature take its course. They hand out the candy to each child and say hello or “Happy Halloween,” thereby rationing how much each child gets – when the trick-or-treaters are in the hundreds each year the Halloween candy budget can be shocking – and also keeping a firm grip on the bowl, avoiding the bowl-stealing. I suggest parents

Several local churches and community organizations will honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during a free, public celebration on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. at Friendship Chapel Baptist Church, 237 Friendship Chapel Road. The evening’s theme will center around one of Dr. King’s messages: “I have decided to stick to love…Hate is too great a burden to bear.” In the spirit of the event theme, the Wake Forest MLK Committee will offer creative performance, writing and art competitions for students in Wake Forest and Rolesville-area schools. Complete contest rules and information, along with the online contest entry form, will be available in November at http://bit.ly/WFMLKCelebration. The competition winners will be recognized during the January 20 program. In the meantime, the Wake Forest MLK Committee is accepting monetary donations from the community to help fund the monetary prizes and scholarships awarded to the competition winners.

Ronnie Jackson, one of the voices for the 47 families who are being uprooted from their longtime home, Wellington Mobile Home Park, said this week, “Triangle Family Services is doing a good job so far. It is still going to be a challenge to find new places for people to live. The churches are helping tremendously.” There are about 30 families still at Wellington, and Jackson said they will need every dollar that has been raised so far through the GoFundMe page that ONE Wake, another voice for the families, has set up in partnership with the NC Congress of Latino Organizations. The families will receive the $375,000 pledged by the developer which is purchasing the property, but $375,000 divided 47 ways means each family will receive about $8,000, not enough to move a mobile home. The GoFundMe page below was set up with a goal of $40,000; only $7,235

The N.C. Department of Transportation is again asking the public for feedback on how the agency is performing and ways it can improve its customer service. Now in its sixth year, NCDOT’s survey takes about 15 minutes to complete, and the link is mobile-friendly. Participation can help the department identify ways to make North Carolina transportation services safer, more efficient and customer focused. Administered by North Carolina State University’s Institute for Transportation Research and Education, the survey is grouped into eight core transportation services: motor vehicle transportation (highway), bicycle, pedestrian, transit (local bus), passenger rail, ferry, general aviation and the Division of Motor Vehicles. The N.C. General Assembly requires the survey and results be used to measure NCDOT’s customer service performance across the department. Survey responses must be received by the end of November. The results will be available to the public on the agency’s website, www.ncdot.gov, by March 2021.

Chick-fil-A Food Drive    A big thanks to our community for donating 2,880 pounds of food at both of our Wake Forest Chick-fil-A restaurants. The CFA team couldn’t have been more gracious in hosting us, promoting the event, feeding us on the day of and of course, supplying the “Be My Guest” cards which we exchanged for 5 cans of food. Extra thanks to the volunteers that came out and helped us collect the food. It was a fun and very successful day. Yam Jam   Coming up on Saturday, November 6 is the First Fruits Farm Great Harvest sweet potato gleaning event.  Gleaning is a family-friendly activity, great for all ages. Get out there and dig in the dirt, harvesting potatoes which are distributed to local food pantries, including TAM. We will be picking up 2,000 pounds of potatoes for our community. If you go, be sure to wear your green