The 14th annual Wake Forest Purple Heart Dinner will be held Saturday evening, August 5, 2023 at Richland Creek Community Church, 3229 Burlington Mills Road, beginning at 5:30 p.m. This year’s guest speaker will be Jessica Dawn Lynch, a teacher and a private in the United States Army who was seriously injured and later captured by Iraqi soldiers during the battle for Nasiriyah on March 23, 2003. She was rescued by United States special operations forces on April 1, the first successful rescue of an American prisoner of war since World War II and the first of a woman soldier. Since the banquet was first held in 2009 in the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary gymnasium, formerly Gore Gym, the Purple Heart Foundation has honored all the area Purple Heart recipients it can find. Tickets for the banquet are $30 and are available from the Purple Heart board members or at

The Wake Forest Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources (PRCR) Department will begin accepting 2024 facility rental reservations online Monday, Aug. 7, according to the following rental procedure: 1. Call the facility you wish to rent to confirm availability. 2. Following confirmation, complete the online rental agreement at www.cognitoforms.com/TownOfWakeForestNC1/FacilityRentalAgreement; 3. Once the agreement has been submitted, reviewed, and accepted, you will receive confirmation via email or telephone, followed by an invoice for the rental deposit or full rental fee. 4. Pay rental deposit or full fee via RecDesk. If you do not already have a RecDesk account, set up an account at https://wakeforestnc.recdesk.com/Community/Home; Please Note: Submitting a rental request does not guarantee approval or reserve a date. All requests are considered “tentative” until the entire process has been completed, including payment of the rental deposit or full rental fee. You may also call to check availability and schedule an in-person meeting

The Wake Forest Area Chamber’s Senior Expo presented by Cadence Living will be held Saturday, September 9, at the Wake Forest Renaissance Centre. This FREE expo will connect seniors and their adult children with organizations and companies that can make their lives better. From healthcare, assisted and independent living, and financial planning, to mobility solutions, legal advice, home care and more, you’ll find valuable resources and information all in one place! In addition, we will have panel discussions with local experts around health, wellness, and financial management. ###

(The Gazette was about to run this plea for help on August 8 when the editor tried out the Click Here button and found that all the volunteer slots at both locations have been filled. So instead just donate your five cans of food, get your sandwich and say thanks for helping to the volunteer serving at your window. Tri-Area needs all the food you can donate.) Both Wake Forest Chick-fil-A stores are hosting a Food Drive on Tuesday, August 8, from 11 a.m. till 7 p.m. to benefit Tri-Area Ministry Food Pantry. Customers donating five cans of food at either store on August 8 will receive a “Be Our Guest” card, good for a FREE Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich. We’re looking for volunteers in shifts AT BOTH LOCATIONS during the drive to accept the donated food. No experience necessary, we’ll get you up to speed upon arrival. Click HERE to

Four people responded to the contest about improving Capital Boulevard last week. Do you have ideas? Send them in this week and we’ll publish them, then forward them to DOT. Given that we are not entirely confidant that the North Carolina Department of Transportation will actually buy the necessary land in 2024 and begin construction of the six-lane limited access road in 2025, The Wake Forest Gazette has asked its readers to engage in a little “what-if” scenario. Thus far, four people have responded. David Crank said, “Flow should be improved in many simple ways. What do the traffic engineering studies say are the quick fixes? The DOH has clearly added way too many stoplights in the past few years along Capital. For example, eliminate left handed turns at many of the major and minor intersections. Any drivers that want to go left could go up to the 98 bypass