Opportunity Fair Provided One Stop Shopping For Aspiring Volunteers

By John Voket

About a month ago it was just an idea. There are so many volunteer-driven organizations in Newtown, and there are so many new residents who have moved to the community in recent years.

So why not create a one-stop shopping experience for residents who are looking to get involved in their community by volunteering, or exposing them to one of the many other social, sporting. or cultural activities offered by local organizations.

And much like a grassroots movement, a few volunteers collaborated with a few town nonprofit agencies and Newtown’s first Opportunities Fair came together. The activity drew several hundred visitors who watched ballet dancers, learned about in-town camping opportunities, purchased decorative plants, and had their children’s vital statistics recorded in case they ever went missing.

More than two dozen local nonprofit and for-profit organizations were represented, according to Newtown Youth Services Director Tony Tozzi, who helped organize the event. He said he spoke with both new and longtime residents, and most came away with a better idea of how well-served their community is.

“This entire event came together in three or four weeks,” he said. “But I’d say it was well worth it for everyone who came through the door. People from the community learned about the many resources available to them, and several of our local groups had an opportunity to network among themselves.”

Mr Tozzi said Youth Services board members Kathy Jordan and Joy Kopesky played important roles in ensuring the many participating organizations had coordinated placement in the cafeteria, and benefited from the traffic flow of interested visitors.

“I’m really happy with the variety of tabletop participants,” Ms Kopesky commented.

“We had about a 60/40 split between nonprofits and for-profits,” Ms Jordan said. “It was a nice cross section of organizations represented.”

Ms Kopesky said she was particularly entertained by members of the Grassy Plains Drum and Bugle Corps. “They were recruiting new members, but in-between they were playing up a storm,” she said.

Mr Tozzi credited school district Pupil Personnel Services Director Michael Regan and Assistant Superintendent of Schools Alice Jackson for originally suggesting the idea that came to fruition last Saturday.

“We thought it was a great way to highlight all the resources available to youth in collaboration with our district schools,” Mr Tozzi said in a previous interview. “We sent out a list to over 100 area businesses and community organizations, inviting them to participate.”

The organizations were chosen, he said, to appeal to all facets of youths’ needs, from physical to emotional.

One of the more highly attended activities was the Amber Alert registration center, where identification kits were created for local youngsters in the event they ever went missing. While volunteers snapped pictures and took the information required for parents to successfully employ the Amber Alert kits, Dr Aaron Gilman of Dental Associates assisted the initiative by creating “toothprints.”

“We start this program at one of the child’s first visits, and then proceed to update the toothprints as the baby teeth are lost and finally replaced by adult teeth,” he explained. As parents and children stepped up, he would present a soft plastic wafer that resembled a football player’s mouth guard.

Children would bite into the warm tasteless wafer and a permanent impression of their current dental formula would result, along with collateral samples of their DNA material.

“With the advent of modern dentistry, children’s teeth are so well cared for, that the old-fashioned dental records are not as plentiful as they once were,” Dr Gilman said. “We’re offering this service so parents can have their own, easy to access set of dental and DNA information. We just hope they never have to use it.”

In another area of the fair, three high school students representing the Greenery program sold decorative plants and hanging flower baskets. But don’t mistake this trio for future floral arrangers.

Senior Chaz Perry said he got into the Greenery program to learn about running a successful business. “The group really encourages entrepreneurial activity,” he said. “Sure, you learn about the plants, but you also learn about budgeting, inventory control, sales and marketing.”

John Ciaccio said he was eager to join the group as soon as he entered his junior year at Newtown High.

“The group is reserved for eleventh and twelfth graders,” he said. “I joined as a junior because I want to start my own business after I graduate.”

Senior Chris Jordan said he liked the prospect of working outside doing something productive during his free time. “We’re constantly analyzing every aspect of the operation, looking for ways to build a better business,” he said.

Robert Nute, a Sandy Hook volunteer firefighter and training officer was on hand at the Opportunity Fair getting to know some of the younger visitors who had an interest in becoming volunteer or paid firefighters some day. He spoke to a number of visitors about plans to reestablish a junior volunteer firefighter program through the Sandy Hook Fire Department.

“These are our future volunteers,” he said. “So I like to give them every opportunity to interact with our personnel, and maybe gain some skills toward becoming a firefighter themselves someday.”

Mr Nute said the first new class of about 14 juniors will begin their activities soon, but also reminded adults that their volunteer skills are valuable, too.

Ken Appeley, chief of the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and Assistant Chief Liz Cain stayed busy for most of their shift educating interested visitors about their department.

“It’s great when the parents come and bring their kids here,” Mr Appeley said. “Then they get to see how we help the community.”

According to Tracy Van Buskirk, a board member for Cullins Youth Association, many parents who visited her booth were surprised to learn of the group’s lakeside camping retreat, right in the middle of their own hometown.

“Our camp is really one of the treasures of Newtown,” she said. “It’s an ideal location for first-time campers because it has all the creature comforts you need, but it’s close enough for mom or dad to drive over and get you if you’re having a bad night.”

Besides acting as a sponsoring organization for several town scout troops, the association hosts church camps and other youth groups who enjoy the cabins, rustic Adirondack lean-tos, and lakeside amenities.

Although visitor traffic was steady, Mr Tozzi hopes to take the feedback he gets from participating organizations and visitors so he and other volunteers can create an even bigger and better experience next year.

“I would ask anyone with comments to email them to me at newtownys@sbcglobal.net, so we can factor them in when we start planning for the next event,” he said.