Boys and Girls Village Annual Awards Dinner

What a wonderful evening I had as a guest at the Boys and Girls Village annual awards dinner. I had the opportunity on behalf of Volunteermatch.org to congratulate the winners, for the their time, dedication and commitment to such an extraordinary organization.
Boys and Girls Village is a non profit agency that serves at risk children and families in CT since 1942.

With board member, Joseph Tramuta and his beautiful wife Meg, Mrs. Ct. and her wonderful husband Don.

New Haven Advocate Article, "May the best bill win!"

http://www.newhavenadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=11529

Mardi Gras day at "The Gardens of Danbury"

I spent a wonderful afternoon with the residents of "The Gardens", an assisted and independent living facility in Danbury. Yesterday was

"Fat Tuesday" and Recreation director Kathy Donaldson did an outstanding job with decorating and activities!!

The residents participated by joining in on a parade, games,food and the crowning of the "King and Queen" of the day, by Mrs Connecticut!

Smiles were boundless!!! I had an awesome time! The staff and the residents were absolutley warm and welcoming.

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Some of the residents, getting into the spirit!!

My new friend "Lou" reminds me of my dad. Once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker!

Happy New Year!

May all my family and friends have a wonderful New Year. Let us all hope the upcoming year will be happy and much healthier than in 2008. As my family says, "All will be fine in 2009!"

Stroll of the wreaths

What a wonderful evening! The first annual wreath stroll and auction was held at the Village of South Farms, an assisted living community. So many people turned out to bid on beautiful wreaths donated by local businesses and volunteers. Santa and Mrs Claus were on hand for the festivities along with an amazing choral group!I think it was a HUGE success. All the wreaths were bought and the proceeds all went to St Lukes Home in Haddam. Kudos to the entire team of volunteers who helped make this evening a wonderful success!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Thanksgiving Dinner Give Away!

I joined a host of volunteers for this year's United Way Turkey dinner Giveaway! Over 500 came through the doors, lined up and "shopped" for an entire Thanksgiving dinner. Many volunteers were surprised at the turnout and estimates placed for the day more than doubled last years turnout! The need is so great all over our country, Please don't forget to give to your local United Way!!

Volunteer Tea Party for the Girl Scouts

A special "Thank You" goes out to Stacy Perrone Peta, Director of the Wolcott and Greater Waterbury "Connecticut Outstanding Teen Program" for bringing her junior queens to the Girl Scouts Volunteer Tea Party. Over 50 Girls scouts turned out to meet these "future" leaders,speak to them and have autographs signed. All the girls had a great time and the day was truly successful. I was not able to attend this function due to the passing of my wonderful brother in law Ronald Piombo, but I was there in spirit.
Way to go girls!

Pink Partini Fashion Show for Midstate Medical Center

Over 800 people attended Midstate Medical Center's , "Pink Partini" Fashion show to benefit Breast Cancer and Midstates Cancer Center. It was a night to celebrate Life and survivorship. Ladies were treated to gift boutiques, makeovers,massages and a magnificent room dressed in pink and black! "Bob Thomas of Hamden Ford" provided the "Warriors in Pink" limited edition 2009 v-6 Mustang black convertible! It was truly beautiful and I would love to see lots of these on the road next year! Scot Haney of of WFSB Channel 3 was master of ceremonies and all of the "novice" models did a wonderful job!

Hats off to the development commitee and the hospital Auxilary for putting on such a wonderful event!

Starbright Ball for Cherish the Children

What a beautiful evening for the 7th annual Starbright Ball for the Cherish the Children foundation! Mrs. Connecticut was on hand to assist with the Diamond Necklace raffle courtesy of Glastonbury Jewelers. Partygoers were entertained by the Starlight Orchestra's Sarah Scott Band and everyone enjoyed ESPN's Neill Everett as the evenings master of ceremonies. The silent auction and ALL the raffle items were incredible.












The foundation has started a "teen" volunteer group within the organization and all the young girls wore tiaras to identify themselves and helped sell raffle tickets and assist with the event, what a wonderful way to get our youth involved with giving back!
CTCF is a 100% VOLUNTEER based organization made up of a dedicated board of directors, an army of enthusiastic volunteers, and generous donors, all of whom have identified CTCF as their charity of choice. CTCF serves a unique role in Connecticut as a direct resource for children who have a financial or medical equipment need, which often stem from a terminal or long-term illness and is not being met by traditional funding such as insurance. Please log onto thier website and donate to this very special organization! http://www.ctchildren.org/

Homeless Connect fair

Today was a day for reflection. Sometimes we never even think about how much we have in our lives and are grateful to the wonderful family and friends that we all share.

Homeless Connect Fair took place in my hometown of Waterbury. It was a chance for people that no longer have anything, friend or family, a roof over thier head, to come inside and get a free haircut, a visit with a doctor or dentist, get a mammogram , pick up some free winter clothing and generally just have ALL the services that they need, under one roof.

The amount of volunteers it took to run this event was mind blowing! I am so inspired by the many people who took the time off of work to come out and lend a hand.I helped organize the food line for the event, and then helped people pick out a winter coat so they could better prepare themselves for life on the street. There were many tears an behalf of the volunteers. What many of us take for granted on a daily basis are actually life saving wonderful gifts for many of the people that attended today.

I am so proud of my city~

Bright Bold and Beautiful!!! Luncheon with Model and Business woman Stacy Schiefflin

Model Stacy Schefflein helped kick off this years St. Mary's hospital Auxiliary "Enlightenment series" luncheon. Over 70 women participated ,had lunch, and listened to Stacy's vibrant lecture on "how to learn to be your own best friend"! She is not only a model but a successful business woman. She launched her own cosmetic line called "Models Prefer" and has just started a new company called "YBF" (Your Best Friend) . Her vivaciousness was contagious and everyone left feeling truly inspired!Check out her website at :http://www.ybfstacey.com/home.asp

Celtic Rock 2008!!!!

A HUGE shout out to Bernadette and Briana for making me feel so welcome!!! Thank you for taking such good care of me!!!

















The day was PERFECT for the first annual Celtic Rock event in East Haven! This all day event was held to raise money for the children's gaelic football team ! Bands played all day and a great time was had by all. Local dignitaries popped in throughout the day including The Irish parade Queen Brianna Conway,Attorney General Richard Blumenthal,April Almon the Mayor of East Haven, State Representatives and Majority speaker of the house Micheal Mooney.
Co host of this years event was TV actor Micheal Lombardi from "Rescue Me" . All the kids had a great time and hopefully a lot of money was raised so the whole team could get to play in Ireland!!!