Corporate Cup Horseshoes - a big hit

The weather turned bright just in time for today's Community Corporate Cup Horseshoes Tournament held at American Legion Sutter-Terlizzi Post #16's pits in Shelton. If you have never been there, this is the Yankee Stadium of horseshoe pits! There are 15 magnificently groomed pits that bear little resemblance to the playground pits that I remember as a kid!

There were 19 teams entered in this year's event, but one team and one player in particular really stuck out. This is BIC's first year as a competitor in the event now that they have moved to Shelton, and they have been in the middle of the pack so far - but today was their day to shine. Their winning team of Mike Worobel and Frank Cwelinski dominated as they ran off 5 straight wins in the double elimination toruney leaving no doubt that they were the class of this year's tournament. Cwelinski was particularly impressive as he threw ringer after ringer including the winning one against a game Spectrum Plastics team that had rallied through the losers bracket following a loss to BIC earlier in the event only to run into the same buzzsaw in the finals!

There were many great matches throughout the day with some real highlights. One of the most amusing was in a game between the YMCA and Birmingham Group. As the game neared its conclusion, the Y's Dick Feher joked that all it would take to win would be a double ringer. Moments later, that's exactly what he did - however it didn't produce a win as Birmingham's John Yeager still had a chance to throw. Down to his last shot, he threw a ringer on top of Feher's two to limit the Y to three points. On the next series of throws, Yeager's partner, Greg Cahoon, scored a winning point for Birmingham Group.

It was a great day, and the American Legion was a great host as always. They were even running a pig roast fundraiser, and many of the competitors took advantage of the great food available during the competition. We want to thank the Legion and the Valley Horseshoe League for their support.

We're now down to one event to go in this year's Cup competion. The Y will be hosting the Run/Walk event at Prendergast School in Ansonia on June 10. This year we have added a 5K race to the walk. The walk will not be competitive, but the Run certainly will be. Check out the website for registration information.

The 2009 Cup winner will be announced at the Awards Reception at Griffin Hospital on June 23.

Il Palio Restaurant-70's event-updates!!

Il Palio is in the process of renovating the downstairs of their restaurant and the patio area. It will be completed by June 4th. Not that it wasn't beautiful before, but now there is a great new bar area and both the tent and patio have been expanded! All in time for our 70's event! The chef has researched a great menu and rumor has it some are practicing up on their 'Hustle' dance steps and the 'bump!' Also heard, we will have some people attending in leisure suits and maybe even platform shoes!!!

Get ready! Just 2 weeks to go. Register now at www.valleyunitedway.org. Bring your friends and enjoy a great evening while supporting our community.

Griffin Celebrates Centennial with Stories

As you may know from a previous story on United Way's website, Griffin Hospital is celebrating its 100th anniversary as the Valley's community hospital. That's quite an achievement, and Griffin is looking to celebrate with a variety of activities including the amazing food drive that they conducted last month.

Yesterday Bill Purcell (President of the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce and a United Way board member) and I had the unique experience of participating in another very special project that Griffin is bringing to the Valley in hopes of capturing the rich history that has surrounded Griffin's "century". They have brought the nationally acclaimed oral history project StoryCorps to the Valley. StoryCorps' mission is "...to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening." They do that by traveling to communities throughout America where they record conversations among ordinary Americans. The participants are given a copy of the recording to share with family and friends, and another recording is preserved at the Library of Congress in Washington. Since 2003, over 50,000 people have shared life stories and yesterday Bill & I joined the ranks!

I think we were both a bit apprehensive going in as there was no pre-arranged script and the tape would be rolling for 40 minutes. Surprisingly, the 40 minutes was over in a flash, and Bill and I had shared stories of our families, careers and our involvement with the community. I guess our Irish gift of gab got the better of us as we ran out of time long before we ran out of things to talk about. In the course of the conversation, we touched on quite a bit of history in the Valley over the last 100 years and some of the great leaders who made things happen here. Ironically, Bill made a special point of talking about Joel Smilow and his contributions to the Boys & Girls Club, and it was amazing how similar his perceptions were to those that I had expressed in an earlier blog posting.

Griffin will be wrapping up the StoryCorps project today, but they are giving people plenty of opportunities to contribute their own memories of the last 100 years. "Griffin Tales" is their project for inviting people to share their memories of life in the Valley and involvement with Griffin. Their tag line tells it all - "Griffin Tales: Your Stories, Our History. Since 1909." If you want to share your memories, you can e-mail them to Development@griffinhealth.org. Stories should be no more than one page in length. Include your name, address, phone number and e-mail, but you can request anonymity.

On behalf of Bill and myself, I want to thank Griffin and Connie Evans for giving us the opportunity to share in this wonderful project and also to congratulate Griffin on 100 years of making this a healthier place to live!

Meals on Wheels - A Special Job

TEAM, Inc. does a fantastic job in delivering meals to clients throughout the Valley, but clients may have been a bit surprised on May 20 when the delivery truck rolled up to their homes only to have local mayors make the delivery of their daily meal!

Valley United Way is pleased to be a small funder of the Meals on Wheels program which services over 500 of the Valley's homebound seniors. TEAM does an incredible job with this program and it has a tremendous impact on the lives of those in need of the service. Consider the alternatives that would need to be put in place if the individuals needing the meals had to make other arrangements. Services such as this allow seniors and the homebound to live at home where they feel comfortable and independent. TEAM's drivers also provide a valuable service by being available to check on the condition of their clients on a regular basis.

We salute TEAM for the great job that they do with this program, and also thank our local mayors who are always willing to roll up their sleeves and support worthwhile programs such as this.

70's Night Raffle and Silent Auction Prizes!

Great Items! A Ducane grill (retail value-$570), Box of 20 seats at a Bluefish Game ($500), One night stay at Homewood Suites ($135), Gift Certificates to John J. Sullivan's Restaurant, Brookside Restaurant, Panache Hair Design, Soundview Deli, Center Stage and more!!!!

Our DJ for the evening, Bill Piaciatelli of DJGMB.com will be recreating memories with great music from the Great 70's! Send in your requests!

Register soon by downloading the registration form from our website at www.valleyunitedway.org or emailing laurel.vicidomino@valleyunitedway.org!

The Impact of Education

At the Detroit Staff Leaders Conference, United Way of America and the America Human Development Project unveiled a very interesting new tool called the Common Good Forecaster which can be used for demonstrating the impact that education has on all our lives . The on-line system not only provides current data on a variety of statistics including health, finances, community involvement and education, but it also allows the user to forecast how each of those stats would be impacted by changes in educational attainment.

To use the tool, you simply select the indicator that you are interested in and then slide one of the education variables up or down to see what impact it would have on the indicator that you are examining. For example, in Connecticut Median Personal Earnings in 2007 amounted to $41,771. By moving the slider showing that we currently have 12% of the population with less than a high school diploma to 6%, the Median Personal Income figure would jump to $42,304. You can use the sliders to change a variety of educational attainment figures to predict what would happen as the educational attainment changes.

The system provides data by state and/or county levels. It is the first of what will eventually be several similar tools. You can test the system out for your self at http://www.liveunited.org/forecaster/. We'd appreciate hearing from you with your thoughts on the value of the Forecaster.

Thursday was one of those special days in the Valley when the community comes together to celebrate something extraordinary. This time, it was the ribbon cutting and official grand opening of the new Joel E. Smilow Clubhouse for the Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley's new Ansonia location. A raft of local dignitaries, donors and supporters were on hand, but it was Mr. Smilow himself who stole the show with his remarks.

Mr. Smilow was the major donor to the construction of the new project having contributed $2,000,ooo of the $5,000,000 cost. However, in his very humble remarks, he actually thanked the Club for giving him the opportunity to contribute to such a significant project that will affect the lives of generations of children to come. He urged other potential donors who have the means to do similar things to do so now and not wait to make bequests at their deaths. He pointed out that many people have seen investment losses in the last two years, but he noted that his contribution to the Boys & Girls Club is actually an investment that not only did not decrease in value, but is already paying dividends!

The facility is an incredible asset to the City of Ansonia and we want to congratulate not only the Boys & Girls Club, but also Ansonia Mayor Jim DellaVolpe and his administration for their support in making the project happen.

We also want to congratulate Sue Reilly and her team at the Valley YMCA which will also be opening a greatly needed day care center in another portion of the building. This cooperative spirit by two of the Valley's leading nonprofit youth agencies is another tribute to what can be accomplished when we work together.

Valley United Way is proud to support the work of these two outstanding agencies and to have also been a major donor to the project.

70'S NIGHT

Thursday, June 11th at Il Palio! Some of the great 70's foods Il Palio will be serving....
Deviled eggs, stuffed celery, pigs in a blanket, ritz & spritz cheese, swedish meatballs, cheese fondue, mini beef wellington, chicken chow mien, macaroni & cheese and monte crisco sandwiches! Beer and wine are included as are Harvey Wallbangers! Cost is $35 per person with advanced reservations. $40 at the door. For more info & registration: www.valleyunitedway.org

Orienteering - a great night in the woods

The Community Corporate Cup provides for a wide variety of physical activities, but orienteering is quickly becoming one of the favorites for competitors. Having near perfect weather and a beautiful setting at the Ansonia Nature Center made for a great night last night resulting in 19 teams meandering through the woods in search of 10 hidden landmarks. The teams had 2 hours to finish the course, and 17 finished in the allotted time.

The fastest team to navigate the course and collect all ten stickers was the Perkin Elmer duo of David Scott and Bob Van Egghen. For David, it marked the second straight year that he has been a winner in the event. For Bob, it was an unexpected bonus as he had not planned to compete, but was a last minute replacement for a fellow employee who had to scratch from the event. That's getting to be Bob's thing as he was also a substitute in the Wiffle Ball tournament - and his team won that as well! Bob is turning into this year's Corporate Cup MVP.

All of the competitors enjoyed themselves - even if they found some real challenges along the way. What seemed easy for some was difficult for others. Almost all agreed that marker #9 which was right off one of the clearest paths on the course was the most difficult. Perhaps my markings on the map were misleading (see earlier post on marking the course)!!

We have plenty of pictures and even a video interview with the winners on the website. If you look at the pictures careully, you might even see what looks like the Corporate Cup version of Rosie Ruiz with a car replacing the subway. No cheating was involved here, just an honest effort to get back home after a long, difficult journey into the woods.

Horseshoes is up next on May 30.

70's Night!

Bell Bottoms, platform shoes, leisure suits, go-go boots? Check your closets (or attics) for some fun attire and join us for our 70's night on Thursday, June 11th from 5-8pm at Il Palio Restaurant in Shelton. Great 70's themed foods courtesy of Il Palio, beer and wine (Cork & Keg-Shelton) and music (DJGMB.com). It is sure to be an entertaining evening! Costume contest, featured drinks, raffle and silent auction. Register at www.valleyunitedway.org. More details to come....

One of the most enjoyable events that we have every year at Valley United Way is the Orienteering Event which is part of the Community Corporate Cup. This year's event will be held at the Ansonia Nature Center tonight at 5:30 pm, and luckily after a cool and wet spring, the weather is going to be spectacular. For Chris Phipps of the Valley YMCA and myself, the event actually began yesterday with a leisurely stroll through the site with maps and measuring wheels in hand.

Before the competitors have a go at the course, it has to be marked, and that is where Chris and I come in. Now, I will be the first to confess that I'm much more comfortable on a basketball court than in the middle of the woods with a map and a compass - and I think Chris is in about the same category. However, after two and a half hours we had emerged from the "bush" feeling very proud (and maybe a bit lucky!) to have our course fully marked and ready to go for our competitors for tonight's event.

The Ansonia Nature Center is a perfect spot for the event and we are wishing everyone the best of luck. Chris and I are confident that we will see the winners cross the finish line in less than an hour tonight. And for those less skilled like Chris and myself - it may take a bit longer, but that's half the fun of orienteering.

Watch for full results and lots of pictures on the Corporate Cup website later tonight.

Blog Changing Focus

We're about to change the focus of our blog to include more reflections from staff members and other contributors. Up to this point in time, most of the stories on the blog have just been re-postings from our website. As we move forward, we'll leave most of the news to the website and use this space to enhance the website and keep stories up to date.

For example, I have just returned from United Way of America's Staff Leaders Conference. We normally don't include that type of thing on our website, but you might be interested to hear about what took place at the conference in Detroit. It was a tough week for that great industrial city as they received ongoing bad news about the declining situation with the domestic auto industry and also heard U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan advocated for Detroit's new mayor Dave Bing to take over the city school system because of the ongoing problems with the system Both Duncan and Bing spoke at the United Way conference.

Duncan also told United Way conference attendees that partnerships with nonprofits are a key way to ensure that schools stay open for many hours after classes end. "We can run the schools from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.," Duncan said. "You can run the schools from 3 to 9 at night. We have to make sure that schools are open extra hours."

United Way of America has a national goal of improving high school graduation rates all across the country over the next decade.

Dolly Parton also addressed the conference and brought an education related message. She woke the crowd up with a stirring rendition of her hit song "Nine to Five", but then really wowed the crowd in describing her Imagination Library program which aims to help prepare preschoolers for their entry into schools by providing them with age appropriate books to help foster a love for reading prior to school entry. She and United Way of America President Brian Gallagher also announced a partnership between Parton's Dollywood Foundation and United Way to double the number of United Way's sponsoring the program in local communities over the next three years. Valley United Way is heavily involved in the early childhood Discovery effort and will look to see if Parton's program would be a good fit for the Valley.

Perhaps the most inspiring speaker of the entire conference was Chris Gardner. You may not know his name, but you probably know his story - Will Smith was nominated for an Oscar for portraying Gardner in the 2006 movie "The Pursuit of Happyness". It's an amazing story that brings humanity and hope to those who struggle with homelessness. Gardner's story shows that determination and the support of the nonprofit community can make a real difference in a person's life. I'm sure that our own Spooner House could share many stories of success on a local scale.

Those are just a few of many thougts coming from the conference in Detroit, and myself, Pat Tarasovic and Laurel Vicidomino will be sharing more on this blog in the days and weeks ahead. We hope that you find it interesting and share your thoughts with us.

Jack Walsh