Local Agencies Benefited From Hard Work By Volunteers During United Way’s Day Of Caring

By Shannon Hicks

Four organizations in Newtown had projects completed by volunteers during the 12th annual United Way Day of Caring, and The Women’s Center of Greater Danbury also received help thanks to a pair of people who spent their time at the Danbury agency on September 14. Three community-minded companies — Connecticut Light & Power, Newtown Savings Bank, and The Taunton Press — provided close to 40 volunteers who worked on a variety of painting and cleanup projects at The Children’s Adventure Center, Family Counseling Center, Newtown Youth Services, and Nunnawauk Meadows.

The day, as is tradition, opened with a volunteers’ breakfast at The Amber Room in Danbury, with groups leaving from there to start working on their projects. Due to overcast and sometimes rainy weather on Thursday, most volunteers — especially those who were slated to be working outdoors — were eager to get to work as soon as possible so that they spent as little time as possible in the rain.

“The breakfast was excellent,” said Donna Cavaliere, one of two volunteers from Caldwell & Walsh. “There were presentations and speeches, and they fed us a delicious breakfast. This was for all the volunteers who were scheduled to work, but I don’t think everyone was there. They said there were 1,100 people signed up this year, and I don’t think they could have fit everyone in there, but we filled that entire room nevertheless.”

Ms Cavaliere and Wayne Skelly were the Caldwell & Walsh volunteers this year. It was not the first time for the construction company, which has an office in Sandy Hook, to participate in Day of Caring but it was a first for Ms Cavaliere.

“It was good. It left me with a great feeling,” she said Friday afternoon.

Ms Cavaliere and Mr Skelly spent their time on Thursday painting the living room at the safe house operated by The Women’s Center of Greater Danbury.

“It went quite well,” Ms Cavaliere said. “We tried to make it a little more homey for the people who need to stay there. It’ll be their living room, and we tried to make it a little more comfortable for them.”

The Women’s Center was indeed grateful for the help.

“We had just two people come in and originally were hoping to have two rooms done, but they went right to work, got one room done and they did a really nice job,” said Alex Lopes Massa, who works at the women’s center and was also able to benefit from some advice offered by Mr Skelly.

“I was stumped with where to go next on a home construction project, and he gave me some advice that worked out well,” she said with a laugh, adding, “You never know where help is going to come from. It was a great networking project, in addition to helping the women’s center.

“The paint color that was donated for Day of Caring was perfect,” she said. “It makes the space feel a little more homey.”

The Taunton Press provided two teams of volunteers for this year’s event.

Linda Ballerini was the team leader for the publishing company, which sent some of its volunteers — David Gray, Rob Harlow, Alice Saxton, Sheila Torres, Carolyn Turoczi, and Priscilla Wakeman — to Newtown Youth Services’ office in Sandy Hook and its other volunteers — Walter Aponte, Nancy Boudreau, Stace Caseria, Sally Cunningham, Dee Flanagan, and Shannon Marrs — headed over to The Children’s Adventure Center for the day.

At NYS, volunteers trimmed hedges and shrubs, washed windows, and dismantled a “very large” bookcase, said Ms Ballerini, on the second floor that was then brought outside in small pieces for disposal.

The group had also hoped to do some painting, but could not due to the weather, which worked well for the team over at The Adventure Center.

“They had eight yards of mulch that needed to be spread between the children’s playground areas,” said Ms Ballerini, who traveled between the two Taunton Press project sites on Thursday. The Adventure Center has a large playground and a smaller adjacent one. When volunteers who had already completed their projects at the NYS building arrived, they too were put to work dismantling and spreading out the massive mulch pile.

“What really saved us was two of the project site coordinators — two of the men from United Way — when they saw the pile of mulch that we had they got right in there and started helping us, too,” she said. “So in addition to the other Taunton Press volunteers, they both got down there and pitched in, and then they even called another project site to see if anyone else could help. Three more volunteers showed up and we were nearly done by the time they got there, but we appreciated all the help.”

When Day of Caring arrives, there is a certain amount of impromptivity that needs to be allowed for. One of the Taunton Press volunteers wasn’t feeling well, but she was determined to fulfill her commitment. So she was put to work cleaning up the playground toys at The Adventure Center and even washed some windows from the outside of the building.

“We were able to find something for her to do,” said Mrs Ballerini. “She wasn’t inside with the kids, but she was able to work outside and still have a roof over her head.”

Rose Luzzi, the director of The Children’s Adventure Center, was “so impressed” with the amount of work that got done on Thursday as well as the tenacity of the volunteers who showed up in the rain.

“We had the two truckloads of mulch delivered on Wednesday, just in time for Day of Caring with the thought that this was what the volunteers would work on,” Ms Luzzi said. “When I saw that rain Thursday morning, though, I was just devastated. I thought we were going to be left with all this much, and I didn’t know what I was going to do.

“But they saw the mulch and they weren’t deterred at all,” she said. “They were so nice, and so pleasant, and above and beyond what I would have expected. It was the best experience.

“Now our children’s play area looks wonderful and the children are protected on the playground. God bless them,” said Ms Luzzi. “Those poor people were just soaking, but their spirits were so high. They were laughing, and wonderful. They were just a great group of people.”

Likewise, the people who represented Newtown Savings Bank were also “tired and worn out, but very satisfied at the end of the day,” said team leader Donna Lake. Those volunteers spent their time sprucing up the offices of Family Counseling Center.

The bank’s team did a lot of painting — a therapy room, the main lobby and the upstairs kitchen – at FCC. The group also rearranged the attic, inventoried supplied, vacuumed, and organized the basement of the counseling center’s office.

“We had a team of eight people — Sandy Almeida, Carla Begglo, Susan Day, Robin DiRenzo, Dave McNamara, Anita Schaub and Diana Trubunella — and by the end of the day everybody felt great,” said Ms Lake. “We were tired and worn, but very satisfied.”

In addition to the adults participating in Day of Caring, eight students from Immaculate High School provided some outside maintenance and clerical work at the American Red Cross/Western Connecticut chapter office in Danbury.

The United Way figured that collectively, volunteers invested more than 5,800 hours on projects in the region this year. Teams from 36 companies signed up for 44 available projects in the United Way’s seven-town northern Fairfield County region this year, ranging from landscaping and painting to collecting food.

“I think it’s a great program,” said Taunton Press’s Linda Ballerini. “I’ve never heard someone walk away from a project site without commenting on how good they feel.”

In addition to the volunteer efforts, local businesses donated thousands of dollars in materials and supplies toward Day of Caring Projects. All combined, the 2006 Day of Caring was expected to generate more than $145,000 in donated work hours and materials.

Organizers say the impact of Day of Caring is an example each person can have on the lives of someone in need. While the efforts are focused on one day, what is accomplished will benefit the clients and their programs for a long time to come.

“Over the last 11 years, hundreds of local businesses have supported thousands of their volunteers, [committing] this day to helping our local nonprofits complete much-needed maintenance or improvement projects for their facilities,” said June Renzulli, president of United Way of Northern Fairfield County. “Many of these projects would otherwise go undone for lack of human or financial resources.

“And of equal importance, volunteers learn firsthand about the human service agencies in their community and how very important they are to so many people,” Ms Renzulli continued. “Promoting volunteerism in the community is an important focus of the United Way of Northern Fairfield County, and this day is a great vehicle to get our message out to the community on a grand scale.”

Day of Caring was also the official start of the UW 2006 Annual Campaign.