The Top of the Mountain
I have been worrying my whiskers off over the news coming out of Liberia. I hope you join me in sending silent purrs and good thoughts toward our friends outside of Monrovia. The building project for the New Life Christian Academy, funded by Reed Intermediate School Pushcart Warriors and an anonymous West Coast couple, is still suspended, and all schools are closed for the time being due to the Ebola outbreak. I also hear that Robert Dolo, the founder and executive director and a cataract surgeon at New Sight Eye Center, a Liberia nonprofit organization that Newtown has supported in the past, is still hard at work to spread community awareness about the Ebola outbreak. His team members have been going door-to-door to share information and distribute questionnaires, hand sanitizer, chlorine solution, buckets for hand washing, and instructions on how to respond if Ebola infects someone. If you want to help, these are suggested donations sites: HEARTT (Health Education And Relief Through Teaching), www.hearttfoundation.org; Doctors Without Borders, www.doctorswithoutborders.org; the AFYA Foundation at www.afyafoundation.org; or AmeriCares, www.americares.org. More information about New Sight Eye Center is available at its website, wwww.newsighteyecenter.org.
I’ve had two nominations for Good Eggs this week, and I cannot deny either one. Robin Olson of Kitten Associates would love to see a Good Egg Award go out to Newtown Veterinary Specialists. The office has been extremely generous in providing care for a KA foster kitten, Freya, that has a very rare birth defect. The folks at NVS have gone out of their way to help, says Robin, and two of the local surgeons will accompany little Freya to Angell Memorial in Boston for the rectovaginal fistula surgery, once the kitten is big enough to withstand the operation. “They will also be there for her, for any follow-up she needs,” says Robin, and NVS has given Kitten Associates a discount on services. “I think NVS has been very gracious and helpful through all of this, and should get a nod of thanks.” I agree. Do you see my head bobbing up and down? A Good Egg to you, NVS!
PS — this surgery is not cheap. If you can help go to www.kittenassociates.org/donate and put a “For Freya” note in your PayPal gift.
That Good Egg Award must be shared this week with the many volunteers of the Victory Garden, “including its originator, Harvey Pessin,” says FAITH Food Pantry volunteer Nancy Taylor. FAITH also received vegetables from the Garner Correctional Institute, where Officer Johnson worked with inmates to grow produce there. “The clients of FAITH were delighted with all the tomatoes, eggplants, squash, cucumbers, peppers, potatoes, and more,” she says. So pat yourselves on the back, gardeners. You are Good Eggs!
By the way, local food pantries are in constant need of donations, and a Bee employee shared with me her painless method for sharing. Whenever there is a Buy One, Get One Free sale, she keeps one for herself, and donates the other. The sales are often items that the food pantries find desirable, like pasta, sauces, cereal, canned fruits and vegetables, and paper goods. Why stockpile extras when someone else will treasure your donation?
Volunteers and members of Christ the King Lutheran Church have been working for weeks to prepare for their annual Fall Festival & Tag Sale, which returns Saturday, October 4. In addition to the tag sale items, the festival will include a bake sale, cookie walk, food selections for breakfast and lunch, a silent auction to benefit the Newtown Comfort and comfort dog Maggie, book sale, crafts, and much more. All of this will be taking place from 9 am until 3 pm, at 85 Mt Pleasant Road, rain or shine.
Will Korth, a Newtown artisan who makes natural furniture out of local fallen trees, is exhibiting at the Warren Fall Festival next weekend, October 11 and 12, if you want a reason to take a ride. The festival takes place at 255 Brick School House Road in Warren, from 10 am to 5 pm, both days. You’ll find chain country crafts, chain saw carving, pumpkin cannons, fire truck rides, and a 500-foot zip line at the festival. Admission is $5 for adults ($8 for a two-day pass), and free for ages 8 and under. All proceeds go to Warren Volunteer Fire Department. Will shared a photo of his work with me, and I think you’ll agree that it’s not only clever, but lovely.
Just a reminder that the second annual Therapy/Comfort Dog Walk-A-Thon, hosted by Newtown Kindness, is scheduled for Saturday, October 18, from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm, at Sea Bluff Beach in West Haven. The walk celebrates the Charlotte’s Litter program. Charlotte’s Litter is a Newtown Kindness program, honoring first grader Charlotte Helen Bacon, who loved dogs, and who died 12/14 at Sandy Hook School. For information on participating go to www.eventbrite.com/e/charlottes-litter-therapycomfort-dog-walk-a-thon-tickets-12859542237?aff=eorg.
Meanwhile, Watertown will host the formal ribbon cutting and grand opening on Sunday of the 26th Where Angels Play playground. This is the final playground in the series of 26 that have been built in the tri-state area, primarily in areas that were damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Each playground has been built to honor the memory of one of the children or educators who was killed on 12/14. The Watertown playground, in Veterans Park at 570 Nova Scotia Hill Road, was built this week to honor SHES Principal Dawn Hochsprung. Its ribbon cutting will be Sunday, October 5, at noon, and everyone is invited.
Even though some of the maples in the center of town have already burst into color and dropped their leaves, don’t worry that you’ve missed foliage season this year. According to the state website ctvisit.com, peak season in Connecticut doesn’t even start until next week — and in our neck of the woods, peak season is predicted for after the middle of the month. There are still plenty of opportunities to take in the autumn beauty for which this part of the country is well known.
I’ll be pawing through fallen leaves for any news coming my way, so be sure next week to… Read me again.