Date: Fri 05-Dec-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Quick Words:

Counseling-Center-Festival

Full Text:

VOLUNTEERISM BENEFITS HOLIDAY FESTIVAL & FAMILY COUNSELING CENTER

BY SHANNON HICKS

When the 12th Annual Newtown Holiday Festival takes place this Sunday, the

holiday season will have been officially welcomed in Newtown. The festival

will be the capper of a weekend of holiday-themed events which will have

started Friday evening with the traditional lighting of the town's official

Christmas tree at Ram Pasture.

The holiday festival is a celebration of not only the holidays, but also, more

quietly, the spirit of volunteerism in Newtown. The day of events also raises

money for the Family Counseling Center, a family counseling agency that serves

the greater Danbury and Southbury areas.

The Holiday Festival is a fully volunteer-run event. Volunteers give their

time to serve on organizing committees long before the event takes place.

Additionally, none of the people who work during the festival, from the

vendors at the antiques show and sale and the crafts show and sale to the

strolling singers and the house tour guides, receive any reimbursement for

their efforts.

Volunteers also donate items for the festival. Ashlar of Newtown has promised

to provide 35 dozen fresh-baked scones for this year's Victorian Tea, held in

the Alexandria Room of Edmond Town Hall. The New England Cafe, at Newtown

Middle School, will be supported by My Place Restaurant, Anne's Red Brick

Coffee House and Elizabeth's Tea Room.

Newtown Pool has also taken part in this year's festival. The business, which

has turned its Main Street South store into a holiday-themed shopping area in

the past, is this year offering its immense collection of decorations to the

festival committee for townwide usage this weekend.

The house tour also provides a few more outlets for benevolence. Four

privately-owned homes have been opened to the public for tours this year,

which means the owners of the homes are allowing the prospect of 1,500

visitors to their homes in one afternoon. The homeowners are not paid for

their generosity, yet their homes provide what has become one of the biggest

draws to the festival annually.

Furthermore, each of the four homes will be decorated by local nurseries and

floral designers. J.W. Floral & Antiques, Lexington Gardens, Newtown Florist

and Steck's are all offering their time and expertise this year to make each

of the homes on the tour more festive.

A Busy Year

It has been a busy year for the Family Counseling Center, the beneficiary of

funds raised through Newtown's Holiday Festival. The Holiday Festival raises

money primarily through the tickets sold which provide entry to its separate

events, including the two show/sales and the walking tour of homes.

Established in 1983 as the Family Life Center, the United Way-supported agency

started the year by receiving accreditation from the Council on Accreditation

of Services for Families and Children. The distinction was critical because

such accreditation is required by third party payers, usual insurance

companies.

The organization then changed its name in past June to the Family Counseling

Center. Earlier this fall, the business also relocated into spacious new

offices at 123 Mt. Pleasant Road.

The Center may have changed its name and location, but its mission remains the

same: to encourage and enrich families, couples, children and individuals of

all ages living and/or working in the greater Danbury and Southbury areas. Its

mission also continues to be to provide services to the people who need them,

regardless of their ability to pay.

The Family Counseling Center is an outpatient psychiatric clinic. Counseling

services include individual, couple, family, children's play therapy, group

therapy, support groups, 24-hour crisis intervention, and psychiatric

assessment. On a limited basis, the Center's staff can also provide

educations, and prevention and awareness programs.

In a 1996 interview with The Newtown Bee , interim clinical director Vickie

Santore explained why the center's mission and operation remains so important.

"You don't necessarily need a mental illness disease to need counselling," she

said. "Loss of family, loss of job, loss of anything can precipitate

depression, or the need to adjust to change. It's something you just can't

predict.

"And if Family [Counseling] Center wasn't there, then the alternatives are

traveling to Danbury or Waterbury, or paying higher prices."

The agency has an annual operating budget of about $325,000. Its revenue

includes $45,000 from United Way; $15,000 from the Town of Newtown;

approximately $25,000 from contributions (such as Trinity Church's outreach

program); and nearly $200,000 reimbursement for counseling services.

Special fundraising events also benefit the center. In 1996, the center

received nearly $35,000 from such events; last year's Holiday Festival

represented $29,000 of that figure.