Macungie Minstrelaires will present "Souled on Motown" at Lower Macungie Middle School. Show times are 8 p.m. Oct. 26, 27 and Nov. 2 and 3. Matinees are 2 p.m. Oct. 27 and Nov. 3. Part of this year's proceeds will benefit the East Penn School District Angel Network. For tickets and information, order online at www.macungie-minstrelaires.org; e-mail minstrel@ptd.net; or call 610-770-6845.

There will be Mother-Son Bowling Day 2 to 4 p.m. Nov. 4 at Emmaus Bowling Center for boys in kindergarten through sixth grade. For information, call the community center at 610-966-6924.

Concordia Lutheran Church on Brookside Road will hold a Holiday Bazaar 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 10. There will be an assortment of crafters and vendors including a gold buyer. Bring your gold, silver and platinum jewelry, sterling silver flatware, silver and gold coins and dental gold. Refreshments will be available for breakfast and lunch.

The Lower Macungie Township Community Center will be collecting new children's pajamas infant through size 18 and new books to donate to local children's shelters. Teenage sizes are especially needed. Donations can be dropped off through Nov. 30 in a drop-off bin in the lobby.

There will be a breakfast with everyone's favorite orange fish from the Great Barrier Reef 9 to 10:30 a.m. Oct. 20 at the community center. Ticket price will include breakfast, photo opportunities and fishing for a prize. Registration is limited to 100 people.

The Yippee Puppet Show will present a live puppet show Rumpledillskin 1 to 2 p.m. Oct. 21 at the community center. The program, for children ages two to eight years old, will include making a paper bag puppet. Registration is limited to 30 children.

The Macungie and Lower Macungie Township Historical Societies will present, "Then and Now: Lehigh County," a talk and book signing by Kelly Ann Butterbaugh 7 p.m. Oct. 24 at the Macungie Institute in Macungie. Butterbaugh, a teacher and lifelong resident of the Lehigh Valley, will compare local sites by historical and contemporary photographs.

Miller-Keystone Blood Center and Lower Macungie Township will hold a blood drive Oct. 30 at the community center.

Curbside leaf collection will begin in late October and continue through the end of November, weather permitting.

Curbside collection of yard waste will take place Oct. 15 to 19. Containers and bundles should be placed separately at the curb on the regular collection day. Grass clippings are not included. A maximum of four bundles or containers per household will be collected. For more information, see www.lowermac.org.

Yard waste site hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and noon to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday through Oct. 31. Beginning Nov. 1, the hours will be noon to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They are closed Tuesday and Thursday. Be prepared to show your photo identification as proof of residency. For more information, call Public Works at 610-966-4343.

Trick or Treating in Lower Macungie Township will be held 6 to 9 p.m. Oct. 31. Some homeowner's sssociations may have set alternate dates for their neighborhoods.

The Lower Macungie Firefighters' Ladies Auxiliary will hold their annual craft fair 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 3 at 958 Brookside Road. There will be over 45 crafters, a homemade lunch, Chinese auction and bake sale. For information call 484-239-3945.

The Lower Macungie and Macungie Historical Societies and VFW Post 9264 will sponsor a Veterans Day program 2 to 4 p.m. Nov. 11 at the Lower Macungie Township Community Center. The guest speaker Captain Richard Buss will speak about what he has learned from writing biographies for the Veterans Recognition Project and give an overview of his recently published book "Life and Thoughts of a U.S. Soldier during World War II." Buss is a veteran of the Vietnam War. Refreshments will be served.

The Board of Commissioners and staff are holding the seventh annual Troop Support Program to collect donated items to send to township residents in the armed services who won't be home for the holidays. To register a loved one in the holiday program, call 610-966-6924 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Donations of food, toiletry items, batteries, magazines and phone cards will be accepted at the community center 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday 8 a.m. to noon through Nov. 10. A list of acceptable donations is available at the community center. Over the last six years, 578 boxes of donated items were sent to 81 soldiers.

The township is also collecting old cell phones to be recycled in exchange for prepaid calling cards for U.S. troops stationed overseas. The community center is an official drop-off point for "Cell Phones for Soldiers" until Oct. 31.

The annual craft and vendor fair with over 100 vendors will be held 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 17 at the Lower Macungie Township Community Center. Refreshments will be available. For more information, go to www.lowermac.com.

The Friends of the Library meet 6:30 p.m. Oct. 30 at the Lower Macungie Community Center.

The Lower Macungie Senior Citizens Club meets noon Nov. 6 and 20 at the community center. After a business meeting, members play bingo or card games. On the third Tuesday, the games are followed by special entertainment.

The Lower Macungie Garden Club meets 1 to 3 p.m. Nov. 14 in Room A of the community center. The website is www.lmgctoday.org.

The Lower Macungie Township Community Center offers a number of activities including Walkercise, yoga, pilates, tai chi, Zumba, early childhood music programs and cooking classes. Upcoming classes include children's cooking and art classes, jewelry making classes and "Mommy/ Daddy and Me" art workshop classes.

For more information or to register, visit the community center 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday or call 610-966-6924.

The Friends of the Library will hold a used book sale 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 16 and 17 at the library.

The library's board of directors will offer free coffee 9 to 11 a.m. Saturdays Nov. 24 through Dec. 15 as a way of saying thank you to patrons for their continuing support of the library.

Throughout the month of October, Lower Macungie Library will feature the paintings of Marian Stewart. She is a retired graphic artist and enjoys painting on location.

Arti and Janet Persing will present a program on rainwater harvesting 6 p.m. Oct. 23 at the community center. Participants will learn about the advantages of collecting rainwater and the equipment necessary to start.

There will be an adult story time and open mic night 6 p.m. Nov. 27. Ingrid Bohn, a storytelling guild member, will entertain the audience with stories. An open mic opportunity will follow for the audience to tell their own stories.

The library book club will meet 10:30 a.m. Nov. 7 to discuss "Paris Wife" by Paula McLain. The book for Dec. 5 will be "Christmas is a Sad Season for the Poor" by John Cheever.

There will be a Halloween Drop-by storytime for children ages two and a half to eight years old 10:30 a.m. Oct. 27.

There are monthly programs for children in grades first through fifth. The theme this year is Space Trek. For more information on these classes or storytimes, call the library at 610-966-6864 or go to the library website www.lowermaclib.org.

Family open gym time is 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays for ages infant through 10 years with a parent. Proof of residency is required.

Benjamin enjoys making up games to play outside. One of his games involved writing chalk numbers 1 to 30 all over our cul-de-sac and then riding his bike to each number in order. The only problem was some of the numbers were on our neighbors' driveways. Matt and I told Ben he couldn't do that without asking the neighbor if it was okay.

Matt went over to one neighbor's house and apologized for Benjamin writing on their driveway. The neighbors, who apparently enjoy watching Benjamin's antics, laughed and told Matt he was too hard on Ben. Matt passed on the message to Ben that it was okay for him to draw on their driveway. So the next day Ben was over there with his chalk. I didn't really pay attention to what he had drawn until the neighbors pointed it out. Ben had drawn a picture of our neighbors, holding hands and complete with glasses and hairdos, on the driveway!

The next township column will be published Nov. 21; copy deadline is Nov. 15.