Events
December 2007Sandra Hunt to speak at CSI's Case Management Meeting December 18, 2007 1 pm Drapelick Center in Bloomfield Sandra Hunt, Federal Probation Officer, will be the guest speaker at CSI's case management meeting, Tuesday, December 18th at 1 pm at the Drapelick Center in Bloomfield. Free Christmas Wrapping December 13 and December 18, 2007 12:30 to 3 pm Sullivan Senior Center in Torrington Come to the Sullivan Senior Center in Torrington on Thursday December 13 and Tuesday December 18 from 12:30 pm to 3:00 pm and have your Christmas gifts wrapped free of charge. CSI's Torrington Alternative to Incarceration (AIC) staff, one of whom is Rick Dallavalle, and under the direction of Beth Warburton, Program Director, is volunteering their time and holiday wrapping supplies to give Seniors a break from the task of gift wrapping presents for your family and friends. Their generosity and holiday spirit is extended to you. So, don't miss out, bring your purchases to the center and leave with beautifully wrapped gifts. HomeTown Buffet will be collecting toys to benefit CSI's Safe Home December 15, 2007 8 am to 12 pm HomeTown Buffet, 165 Slater Street, Manchester, CT HomeTown Buffet at 165 Slater Street in Manchester, CT will be collecting toys on December 15th from 8 am to 12 pm, to benefit CSI's Safe Home which is a DCF licensed facility for abandoned, abused, and neglected children. Donate a new, unwrapped toy (value of $10 or more) and HomeTown Buffet will provide you with a coupon for a free Child's meal or an adult discounted meal. CSI's Safe Home to Speak at St. Luke's Church religious education classes December 11, 2007 Safe Home, Community Solution's DCF licensed facility for abandoned, abused, and neglected children, will speak to religious education classes at St. Luke's Church in Ellington, CT on December 11th. Children and parishioners will be collecting three laundry baskets full of kitchen supplies, pull-ups, and toiletries to be donated to the children at Safe Home. Laura Gaiten, a religious education teacher at St. Luke's, became aware of Safe Home during United Way's "Day of Caring" several years ago and has adopted the program ever since. PAL Lights Up Christmas Village December 2, 2007 It's been 25 years since hundreds of people gave their time and money to pull off the so-called Christmas Miracle, the emergency rebuilding project that followed the disastrous fire that leveled the Police Activities League Christmas Village in Beardsley Park in Bridgeport. Today at noon, the PAL Christmas Village, which has brought holiday glee to children since 1950, will open, with its mechanical holiday displays, lights, decorations and seat time with Santa Claus. The village is now located at the PAL headquarters on Quarry Road in Trumbull, just over the Bridgeport line; it moved there from Beardsley Park in 1999. On Friday, volunteers were busily preparing the village displays, which are expected to attract about 5,000 children who will be accompanied by 3,000 adults, according to Mike Marella, Bridgeport PAL executive director. Many of the workers are from the Alternative Incarceration Center, where lawbreakers pay their debt to society through community service. Marella said that they have been doing a "fantastic" job. "We have about 12 to 15 people who'll have to wrap 3,000 gifts," he said. "When they start to run out, we'll probably have to pick up another 2,000, like we did last year." Children will see the familiar mechanized village displays again this year - Santa's workshop, sleeping Santa, the Bake Shop, the Village Square, the Fire Station, the Gingerbread House and the carolers, to name a few - while walking the circuitous path that will eventually take them to the lap of Santa Claus. Marella, who has intimate knowledge of what the man in the red suit hears from the children, said that some of the requests can be heartbreaking. "The saddest request is when they ask Santa to bring their parents back together again," he said. Today's opening features a performance by the Park City Pride Brass Ensemble, Mayor Bill Finch, former Mayor John Fabrizi, and Trumbull First Selectman Ray Baldwin, who will read Clement C. Moore's "The Night Before Christmas." Also, the Police Department's mounted unit will be there as will Engine Company No. 6, the first responder to the 1982 blaze. At 2 p.m., Santa will make his grand entrance with a police escort, Marella said. Admission is $2 for everyone. The PAL Christmas Village is located at 7 Quarry Road, Trumbull, off of Old Town Road. It's open daily from 1 to 8 p.m. until Dec. 23. Call 576-7604 for more information. |