Give a coat, get a coffee – it's that simple!

The 5th Annual Coats for Coffee drive to benefit the Boys and Girls Clubs of Providence kicks off this Monday at all Seven Stars Bakery locations. Bring a gently used kids or adult coat to either Providence (820 Hope St. or 342 Broadway) or Rumford (20 Newman Ave.) Seven Stars between October 22-November 4 and you'll receive a free small coffee. To help kickstart things, on the first day only they will also throw in a free baked good. All coats will be cleaned by Courtesy Cleaners before donation. You can also drop your coats directly at one of their locations and receive a voucher for your free coffee. Over the past four years Coats for Coffee has donated hundreds of badly needed coats to children and families in need during the chilly winter months. Help us reach this year's goal of over 500 coats this year and you're guaranteed to feel warm all over.More

If you haven’t seen the rosy-colored State House recently, then here’s a newsflash: it’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and in recognition of this, CORE: Center of Real Energy will be offering a series of Pilates for Pink classes. These one-week-only workouts begin on Monday, October 15 and run through Saturday, October 20. CORE is partnering with Shape magazine to raise money for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, a non-profit organization and one of the pioneers in breast cancer research. So, if the rainy autumn weather has you feeling blue, boost your spirits with a workout that will benefit your body and mind. All classes are $20, and some require pre-registration, which can be done right on their website. Won’t be able to make it to a class but still want to contribute? CORE will also be accepting check donations at their original studio on Angell Street in Wayland Square and their newly opened location on Governor Street. With 100% of the profits from these special classes going directly to breast cancer research, you can feel even better knowing that your ab-ripping Pilates workout contributed to women’s health everywhere.More

With Halloween looming, Providence will again be celebrating one of its own creators of horror during the annual H.P. Lovecraft Walking Tour and film series. The tour, hosted by the Rhode Island Historical Society in conjunction with the Rhode Island International Horror Film Festival, will highlight the famous horror and fantasy author's “Providence stories,” written between 1924 and 1935. The tour will cover the site of his former home, as well as numerous locations around the city mentioned in pieces such as The Haunter of the Dark, The Shunned House, and The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.

The tour begins at 1pm on Sunday, October 28 , departing from the John Brown House at 52 Power Street, and will last for 90 minutes. Tickets cost $18 per person and can be purchased in advance by calling the RIIFF offices at 401-861-4455 or online. Those who attend will be treated to two premiere films inspired by the writing of Lovecraft: Shadow of the Unnamable and The Thing on the Doorstep, immediately following the tour at 2:30. The screenings will be held at the Providence Public Library Theatre, 150 Empire Street. Tickets for the film screening only will be available to the public at the door.More

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Core: Center of Real Energy in Providence is taking part in Shape magazine’s nationwide Party for Pink campaign in support of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). During the week of October 15, Core is offering six classes for the cause at its two East Side locations (469 Angell Street, 2nd floor and 208 Governor Street). Bring a $20 (or more) donation to class and all proceeds will go directly to BCRF. Contact Core for specific class times and locations, as some require advance sign-up due to space availability: 273-CORE.

With its new, larger location on North Main Street, Rhode Runner has a community room in which they host exercise classes for the public. The newest offering is Bootcamp each Saturday morning at 8am. The class is run by the folks at Providence Bootcamp and the cost is $10. Space is limited, so reserve a spot ahead of time by contacting Rhode Runnner by phone 831-6346 or email staff@rhoderunner.net.More

Recycling can be daunting. While you might fully commit to going green, if your neighbors aren’t doing anything to contribute, it can feel like a wasted effort. Mayor Taveras wants to show us that if we all recycle, we can see some tangible benefits – BBQ benefits, to be precise, and to do it he launched the Neighbhorhood Recycling Challenge. The Providence neighborhood that increases its recycling rate the most between now and September 7 will win a community barbecue with the mayor. Taveras will also bestow upon the victorious district five new trees – a green reward for the greenest community.

Mayor Taveras says that increased recycling saves the city money – as much as $250,000 if residents commit to the task – and those are funds that the city desperately needs. So if BBQ wings, trees or a cleaner environment are not your thing, maybe the promise of keeping property taxes down for another year will be enough to ensure your participation.More

One of our former "10 to Watch" honorees and a former "Most Eligible Singles" cover girl respectively, performers Kristen Minsky and Miss Wensday are heading out on tour. Their adventures in vintage jazz will take them from Providence, through Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, DC, North Carolina and back home, picking up cleverly stashed-away members of their band, The Cotillions, along the way. Of course, with the price of gas these days, it can be tough for a gal to make a living. That's why they've started a Kickstarter campaign to get their show on the road. In exchange for a little travel budget, they're offering everything from autographed prints to show tickets to command performances. We love to see PVD performers going out to conquer the world (or at least the mid-Atlantic), so check them out before the deadline on August 31.More

Writers are an odd lot. They choose to spend their time in solitary pursuit, forever erasing and deleting, cursing themselves at regular intervals. Blame it on writer’s block or lack of talent, but occasionally a writer just gets... stuck. If you can relate (who can’t?), you’ll be relieved to learn of Frequency Providence, a community of writers who band together to help each other grow creatively.

The arts group offers a range of writing workshops, volunteer assignments (such as editing non-fiction publications) and events so that participants can network, engage and learn. If you’ve been shy to share your writing thus far, now’s the time – get feedback from your peers or from the instructors, all of whom have many years of experience under their belts. It’s a supportive environment that can only help your creativity flourish.More

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Calling all illustration, comic and arts and crafts lovers: ICON7 is bringing the Illustration Conference to Providence, June 13-16. This non-profit organization creates community in the illustration and design professions through the four-day conference, which will include guest speakers, workshops, parties and even a soccer match at various locations around the city. But if you can’t commit to the conference, there will be two special events held on Friday, June 15. First, Lynda Barry, creator of the long-running, influential comic strip Ernie Pook’s Comeek, will be holding the Main Stage Keynote 5:30-6:30pm at The VETS Theater. Tickets are $25. Immediately after, the conference is hosting the Rhode Show Bazaar at the Symphony Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel, 6:30-10pm, presenting a group of over 60 artists in a portfolio showcase and marketplace. Illustrated products will be for sale by the artists themselves and illustrators Chris Buzelli and Jessica Hische will be signing free large-format ICON7 posters from 7-8pm. Both events are open to the general public and the Rhode Show Bazaar Marketplace is free.More

The thing about fashion shows is that they're very alluring with all the glamour and glitz and fabulous clothing, but they tend to be so hoity-toity and exclusive; most of them aren't really accessible for us regular folk. That's the real beauty of our own StyleWeek: everybody's welcome, so you get all of the style and none of the snootiness. While a full-on StyleWeek won't be hitting the runway again until the August/September 2012 edition, you can get your fashion fix this Saturday, June 9 at the RISD Museum as we celebrate the event's two-year anniversary. That's right, it's already been two full years and four seasons of Providence's most stylish event, and "The Ascension of Style" is going to be a soiree to properly mark the occasion. The theme of the party is indeed "four seasons," and StyleWeek-affiliated designers will create installations to illustrate them. Plus, there will be live music courtesy of Miss Wensday, performances by TEN31 Productions, complimentary hors d'oeuvres and first cocktail, a cash bar, and great silent auction prizes to benefit Gabrielle's Heart Camp. As always, you're invited, so you won't need to stand on the other side of the velvet rope while high society hoots it up. It's fashion for the people. Get your tickets now and, despite what you may have heard, don't arrive fashionably late.More