‘Will Act 4 Food’ brings rapid-fire creativity to support The Idaho Foodbank

Imagine writing, casting and performing a play all within a 24-hour time frame.

Those who accepted this challenge will showcase their original work at Daisy’s Madhouse Theatre’s “Will Act 4 Food” on Saturday, Jan. 28, at Boise Little Theater, 100 E. Fort St.

The short-play performances start at 7:30 p.m., and the festival benefits The Idaho Foodbank.

The event, now in its 8th year, features family-friendly plays about 10 minutes long.

Participating writers are randomly assigned a genre (drama, comedy, etc.) the evening before the live performances, and are given a line and a prop that must be included in their plays.

The entire process is quick and dirty with plays casted the day of the performance and rehearsals beginning at 8 a.m.

Tickets are $15 at willact4foodboise.brownpapertickets.com.

Philip B. Garonzik Music Scholarship Fundraiser

Enjoy an evening of jazz from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26, in The Sapphire Room at The Riverside Hotel, 2900 Chinden Blvd., in Garden City.

Performers include Jake Hale, The Moody Jews, Camden Hughes, Chuck Smith, Steve Eaton and other special guests.

Ken Harris will emcee the fundraiser, which benefits a new local scholarship for promising local junior and senior high school band students to provide private music instruction.

The scholarship was created in honor of local jazz musician/saxophonist Philip Garonzik, who passed away Feb. 8, 2016.

Tickets are $10 for general seating and $15 for preferred in advance at eventbrite.com. Pick them up at the door for $15 and $20.

Idaho Suicide Prevention Hotline needs volunteer phone responders

The Idaho Suicide Prevention Hotline needs volunteer crisis phone and text responders for all shifts, particularly nights and weekends.

The ISPH team trains volunteers — both non-experienced or professionals in the greater Boise area — to become crisis phone workers. The next training course begins Tuesday, Jan. 31, and completes Feb. 25. Orientation and screening sessions, tours and listening shifts for prospective volunteers are ongoing in January.

Volunteer crisis responders receive 50-plus hours of training and apprenticeship, including 14.5 continuing education units (CEUs), and commit to one 4 ½-hour phone room shift per week for one year.

Hotline volunteers learn, develop and practice critical “soft skills” of active listening and communication while helping fellow Idahoans in need.

To learn more, contact Sharon Lightning at (208) 813-3070/slightning@jannus.org or Nina Leary at (208) 401-8327/nleary@jannus.org or go to idahosuicideprevention.org/volunteer to apply.

Brightest Stars Awards Ceremony recognizes Idaho Volunteers

Seventy-four volunteers from throughout the state were honored Wednesday, Jan. 18, by Lt. Gov. Brad Little at Idaho’s Brightest Stars awards ceremony in Boise.

The volunteers were nominated for their contributions in seven categories — Business, Individual, Nonprofit/Civic Organization, Senior Citizen, Student, Teacher/Professor and Veteran. All were nominated by fellow Idahoans for their extraordinary volunteer efforts.

Nominees were recognized as stars in their communities, and one Brightest Star Volunteer of the Year was chosen in each category. A review panel of citizens throughout the state participated with the lieutenant governor in selecting the brightest stars. This year’s recognized volunteer leaders were:

▪  Business: Hewlett Packard, Boise

▪  Individual: Ginny Gobel, Boise

▪  Nonprofit/Civic Organization: Book it Forward!, Boise

▪  Senior Citizen: Dr. David A. McClusky, Twin Falls

▪  Student: Joseph Thomasson, Lewiston

▪  Teacher/Professor: Julie Richardson, Oakley

▪  Veteran: John Harrington Burns, Meridian

Visit the Serve Idaho website at serveidaho.gov to see a list of all of the nominees and to learn more.

This story was originally published January 24, 2017 at 12:20 PM with the headline "‘Will Act 4 Food’ brings rapid-fire creativity to support The Idaho Foodbank."