The Town of Wake Forest is recruiting friendly, outgoing volunteers to greet and help direct visitors to Town Hall as part of its Guest Services Volunteer Program. Since Wake Forest introduced the initiative in 2010, dozens of area residents have volunteered to manage the Guest Services Counter. Responsibilities include greeting visitors in person and on the telephone, helping direct them to their destination, and performing other tasks as needed. Approximately 12 area residents currently participate in the program. Most are recent retirees and senior adults looking for opportunities to give back to their community. Located in the Town Hall lobby, the Guest Services Counter is open Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Guest Services Volunteers are expected to manage the desk at least two shifts per month. Volunteers must also participate in mandatory training where they will learn about Guest Services Desk responsibilities, participate in a brief

The Wake Forest Woman’s Club is pleased to announce the continuation of offering a scholarship competition for both male and female seniors attending Franklin Academy, Heritage High School, and Wake Forest High School, who are in the top 25% of their class and will be attending an in-state, four year college or university in the fall of 2023. The winner of the Wake Forest Woman’s Club Continuing Education Scholarship will receive a one-time $2,000 award from our club. Please encourage all seniors who meet the criteria for consideration to contact their guidance counselor for an application.  The application period commences November 6, 2023 and the deadline for the application submission is January 12, 2024. Finalists will be interviewed in person or virtually on January 20, 2024. For more information, please visit www.wake-forest-womans-club.com ###

The Wake Forest Inspections Department issues a monthly report about all new building permits and new businesses.   In November 2023, there were 28 permits issued for single family dwellings, 15 for townhouses and 5 for accessory structures. There were no new commercial building permits issued. There were the following fit-ups fot new businesses: Happy Healing at 744 Merritt Capital Drive, 104 Wells Family Dental at 911 Gateway Commons Drive, 104 Taza Grill at 1898 S. Franklin Street, 110 Soo Café at 12281 Capital Boulevard Super Homes Services (lawn care) at 741 Merritt Capital Drive, 113 There were the following pre-occupancy inspections for new business: The Makery at 327 East Roosevelt Avenue Wake Forest Natural Hair Salon at 10520 Ligon Mill Road, 116 Visible Motorsports at 745 Merritt Capital Drive, 105 ###

Based on the October, 2023 Monthly Development Report, WF Planning Updated November 29, 202 The updated Wake Forest population as of July 1, 2023 was 56,681. That figure included the new homes which were approved for occupancy. When all the current approved apartments, townhouses and single-family homes are built the population will rise to 69,956. The town keeps a running tally of approved projects with counts of those completed. The bestpections current estimates are that between seven and eight people move to town each day. New plans on the list Item #1 on the list for at least two years has been White Street townhomes SP-21-06 requested by the landowner David Smoot with The Nau Company drawing the plans. The planning board members recommended 7 to 0 it not be approved, and instead the town board sent it back to the planning department and the owner for revisions. Since then

Speeding, lack of attention and distracted driving cause most The Wake Forest Police Department recently announced the top six high-risk intersections in Wake Forest based on the number of accidents that occurred in these areas from 2021-2023: Failure to reduce speed, inattention, and distracted driving were the most often cited contributing factors in these accidents. Police officials are taking this opportunity to urge motorists to be alert and proceed with caution through these and all intersections. To try and make the intersections safer, officers will continue conducting enforcement campaigns in and around these areas. ###

cBelow is a list of groups – and if your group is not included and should be – please send a note with the information to cwpelosi@aol.com. If the information about your group is wrong or out of date, please send a note with the corrections to that same email address. Aren’t we lucky to have so many groups that benefit our town and its resident! Last updated on July 1, 2023. *American Legion Post 187 meets the second Thursday at 7 p.m. in the American Legion Hall at 225 East Holding Avenue. The dinner begins at 6 p.m. and costs $5. For information and membership, call Commander Doug Doster at 1-603-660-6948. *American Heritage Girls (AHG) meets at 6:30 p.m. at Hope Lutheran Church on Rogers Road on the second and fourth Thursdays. Get in touch with Amy Minor at chrisnamy34@hotmail.com or see the website, www.hopelutheranwf.org. *The General James Moore

The Wake Forest Gazette has been a reliable source of information about the town of Wake Forest since 2003. The free online weekly newspaper is always available at www.wakeforestgazette.com. The Gazette is the only Wake Forest newspaper consistently offering news about the Wake Forest Board of Commissioners and Planning Board, events in town, calendar, obituaries and a list of community organizations and meeting times. There are also articles about town history, opinion from readers and once in a while we even print recipes. The Gazette currently has 1,590-plus subscribers and 1,500 people who read it without subscribing, reaching a substantial number of area residents. The advertising rate for the Gazette is $100 per month. There are no charges for obituaries or any news. If you want to advertise, please email or call the editor, Carol W. Pelosi, at cwpelosi@aol.com or 919-556-3409. #