LEWISTON — The Women’s Center now has a kitchen and is able to offer cooking related activities. The center kicked off the month with a May Day brunch on the first. On May 15 at 10 a.m. Denise Dill, food educator from the Nutrition Center of Maine, will lead her monthly class with a focus on one-dish meals. Oatmeal is available daily for those who need breakfast.

Morning programs are held weekdays from 10 to 11:30 a.m. A “Tea, Talk and Travel” program will take place on Wednesday, May 9. Hibo Omer will talk about Somalia, her country of birth, and teach some basic phrases in her native language. There will also be a discussion about starting an ongoing conversation group for Somali and English speakers. A Somali tea will be served.

Thanks to a grant from the Carignan Fund at Bates College, the Art Van will begin coming to the center beginning May 30. Craft classes this month include a traveling altar project on May 16 with Sarah Shepley, as well as the regular twice monthly scrapbooking and painting classes. The May bingo day is set for the 29th, with the birthday party scheduled for May 25. The Writers Workshop meets on Monday mornings.

Afternoon options on Monday and Thursday include games, singing and chanting, and various relaxing activities. Support groups include the ongoing and popular “Wisdom Circle” with Sarah Wood from The Sexual Assault Crisis Center, and “Beating the Blues” which uses the book “How I Stayed Alive When My Brain Was Trying to Kill Me: One Person’s Guide to Suicide Prevention” by Susan Rose Baluner. These two groups meet on alternate Tuesdays at 1 p.m. A fibromyalgia group is offered Thursdays at 1 p.m., led by Crigen Richards, a person with fibromyalgia and teacher for 33 years. An Al-Anon group meets Wednesdays at 12:15.

Personal hygiene items are given away upon request. The center opens at 9 a.m. each weekday and closes at 3 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, at noon on Wednesday and Friday. It will close May 28. All women are welcome and programs are offered free of charge. For a complete calendar of activities, see www.wisdomswomen.org.

For information, to volunteer or to donate, contact Klara Tammany, executive director, at 513-3922.