Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Valley United Way loses a great friend

I had planned to get caught up with some notes about last week's string of events today, but I just read the news of the passing of Ed Brickett yesterday. Ed lived a full and active life and was a community leader in everything that he did - including his years with United Way. He found time to chair an annual campaign in 1978 and then served as Board President in 1982. He was active in so many communtiy activites that I couldn't begin to recite all of them. Suffice it to say that after he returned from serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict, he was a leader in civic, government, religious and social organizations throughout the Valley.

The term "gentleman banker" surely was coined because of people like Ed Brickett.  He was a success and a leader in anything that he undertook. He will be sorely missed by everyone who ever came into contact with him.

For more information about Valley United Way, visit our website at www.valleyunitedway.org.

Friday, September 17, 2010

A Great End to the Week

Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce Breakfast Club
On Monday, I wrote about a great start to the week with Nick Tarasovic's completion of the Tri-Challenge, and we're ending the week on a high note as well. This morning the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce hosted one of their regular Breakfast Club sessions with Jay Holm, President of Iroquois Pipeline Operating Company, as the guest speaker. The Chamber did it's always outstanding job of presenting Anniversary Breakfast Club Salutes to DiMatteo Group, Brownson Country Club and Advanced Decisions for their significant anniversaries in business before Jay took the floor.

Jay's presentation was especially relevant in light of the recent pipeline explosion in California. I think Jay did an exceptional job in setting everyone at ease as he explained all of the safety procedures built into the Iroquois operations. He also laid out a very strong case for natural gas as the "bridge" green energy solution as the country moves forward in solving our country's energy issues. He also gave a great view of the company's business growth and its business philosophy including their commitment to the community. Jay and Iroquois have won just about every award that Valley United Way has to give. If you look through our website, you will see Iroquois Gas and its employees mentioned in every area of the site. Certainly, their campaigns are the very best, but when you look closer, you will also see their involvement with all of the hands-on projects that we take on. So, I want to thank Jay and everyone at Iroquois for Jay's kind comments this morning - and for their years of demonstrating what corporate citizenship really looks like!!

By the way, if you want to see the video that Jay alluded to, click here.


Leadership Greater Valley

We also started a new year for Leadership Greater Valley last night. We have 19 people enrolled this year, and we're looking forward to another fantastic year. last night's session was on leadership. Next week we will be taking the Valley Heritage History Tour of the Valley, and I am looking forward to getting to know each of our participants during the course of the tour.

A feel good story for the week

And finally, we had another one of those feel good stories that we don't often have a chance to talk about. For as long as I have been here, we have had a quiet, but effective program that allows businesses and individuals to donate items to non-profit agencies that might have a need for them. We have the nonprofits linked electronically, so that we can alert them when something becomes available. 

We recently had one of those lucky occasions when a need and a donation coincided. I had a call from a family looking for a wheelchair. A family members health had deteriorated and now needed to move to a wheelchair for mobility. I had to tell the caller that we did not have one available, but I would keep the name in case something came up. Incredibly, about 15 minutes later, Kathy Barrios from Freedom Disability in Shelton called to say that they had a few items including a wheelchair that were looking to donate! A quick call back to the family looking for the chair, and we soon had a match.

What makes the story even better is that the family that received the wheelchair now wants to donate a tricycle for the disabled designed for someone with paralysis from the knees down. We're working to find a match for that as we speak. 

For more information about Valley United Way, visit our website at http://www.valleyunitedway.org/.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Over 40 years of leadership

 From 1968 to 2010!

Last night, United Way hosted a reception for members of the Commodore Hull Society, Valley United Way's leadership giving group. During the course of a very pleasant evening, we had the opportunity to take the unique picture that you see above representing the leadership of Valley United Way's Community Fund Raising Campaign from 1968 to 2010. 

Starting right in the center of the front row, you see Virginia Costigan who has been a very, very active volunteer in the Valley for decades. Back in 1968 when Valley United Way was formed from its predecessor  groups in Ansonia, Derby/Shelton and Seymour/Oxford, her husband Jack became the first person to ever chair a Valley-wide United Way campaign. Jack worked for the old Derby Savings Bank and was involved in just about every aspect of life in the Valley. Before his untimely death, he won just about every community award there was in the Valley including our own Charles H. Flynn Humanitarian award in 1994.

Everyone else in the picture also chaired at least one United Way campaign. In the front row you have Fred Ortoli (2009) and Ken Schaible (1980) and in the back you have Mike Marcinek (2004, 2005, 2006 & 2007!), Dr. Sal Graziano (1998), Joe Pagliaro, Jr. (2010) and Dave Grant (2008). Joe's father, Joe Pagliaro, Sr. was campaign chair in 1999. Fred and Ken were also Flynn Humanitarian Award winners, and Mike is currently Chairman of the Board. They are all still involved with United Way to this day, and are all still members of the Commodore Hull Society

I think their attendance along with the other members of the Commodore Hull Society who could make the reception signifies the strength of Valley United Way. Giving and caring are part of the very fabric of life in the Valley, and the members of the Commodore Hull Society demonstrate that every day of the year through  giving of their time, talents and treasures to make the Valley a better place.

On Monday, I wrote about the start of a great week with Nick Tarasovic's great story, and last night's reception made Tuesday pretty special as well! Thank you to all of our Commodore Hull Society members and also to La Scogliera Restaurant for their hospitality and great food.

For more information about Valley United Way, visit our website at www.valleyunitedway.org.

Monday, September 13, 2010

A great start to the week

It's always good when you get to the office on a Monday morning, and find good news waiting for you. That's exactly what happened today when I got to the office and found an e-mail from Nick Tarasovic in my in-box. I had been searching the Internet in vain last night to find the results from yesterday's triathlon in Sandusky, Ohio. My computer locked up before I could open his e-mail, so I had to wait while I re-booted the machine. It was worth the wait as Nick's simple e-mail simply said "Done 15:30" which was almost all that I needed to know. Basically, he was saying that he had completed the event in about 15 hours and 30 minutes.What it didn't say was how he felt after such a great accomplishment.


Shortly thereafter, the phone rang, and it was Nick. He sounded great - and he was feeling great, a bit sore maybe, but great. And well he should be. He has been in training for just about a year, but yesterday he put it all together and swam 2.4 miles, rode a bike for 112 miles and ran 26.2 more miles. Think about that!! You start in the morning at the crack of dawn, swim, bike and run all day and finish in the darkness. Any one of the individual events would be an accomplishment of its own, but doing all three on the same day - priceless!

I'm sure that we'll have more on our website in the coming days, but for now let's all have a big round of applause for Nick Tarasovic!


For more information about Valley United Way, visit our website at www.valleyunitedway.org.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Congratulations & Good luck

Congratulations
Last night I attended a Valley Community Foundation reception where they signed a historic agreement with the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven culminating years of discussion and negotiation that brought them to last night's agreement - and it's a winner for everyone involved. Under the new 7 year agreement the Valley Community Foundation effectively gains control of the decision making process for grants made from the funds left to the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven by the Gates brothers, Frank and Ross, years ago. This is truly historic as the Gates Fund was a major step forward for the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven when it was established, and it is a major step forward for the Valley Community Foundation today. Coupled with the success that they have already achieved in their early history, this agreement guarantees that the Valley Community Foundation will be a permanent part of the Valley's philanthropic landscape and that benefits everyone in the Valley community.

I want to congratulate everyone involved in reaching the agreement, but there are too many to mention here. I do want to single out my Derby High classmate and Valley Community Foundation President Jamie Cohen and his counterpart at the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, Will Ginsburg, for their leadership in moving the agreement along to yesterday's signing. It is obvious that their friendship and mutual respect for each other coupled with their vision for the success of both organizations played a major role in reaching the agreement. The agreement goes well beyond the Gates Fund in creating a strong and mutually beneficial working arrangement between the organizations; but for today at least, I think the main story is the Gates Fund.

Good Luck
If you have been following his story on our website, you know that this is the big weekend for Nick Tarasovic and the Tri-Challenge. During the course of his training, Nick has traveled over 4,750 miles through all kinds of weather from polar cold to tropical heat and humidity. That includes running more than the distance from New York to Florida, biking from here to Los Angeles and swimming across the state of Connecticut. I'm tired even thinking about it!

It all culminates this Sunday in Sandusky, Ohio where Nick will have to swim 2.4 miles, ride a bike for 112 miles and run 26.2 more miles in the Revolution3 Cedar Point Triathlon! All I can say is good luck on Sunday and congratulations for what he has already achieved. To date, we have pledges of $11,695.81 made on behalf of Nick as part of the challenge. We'll have a full story on the website next week.



For more information about Valley United Way, visit our website at www.valleyunitedway.org.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Energy Audit - A Useful Tool


 In earlier blogs, I talked about the cost savings associated with switching electrical providers and the fact that I have been saving about $20 - $30 on my bill since I switched about 18 months ago. As I had mentioned, Valley United Way is now urging people to take advantage of those cost savings and providing them with a quick and easy way to do so using a Shelton based electrical supplier - DiscountPower, Inc. This will also lead to a donation being made to Valley United Way based on the electrical usage of those enrolling in the program. The details can be found by clicking here.

Today, I'm writing about one of the other benefits of making the switch with DiscountPower. Once you enroll in the program, you are entitled to have a free energy audit done by another Valley based company - Seymour's Dr. Energy Saver. I called and booked my appointment a couple of weeks ago. About a week before my appointment, I was surprised to receive a packet in the mail. It included information about and pictures of the two technicians who would be coming to do my inspection. It also included a book about energy savings and the different methods that could be involved. It was a big help to have those things in hand before the audit.

Since my house is a bit older, and my oil bills are very high, I was expecting the worst and preparing for estimates for all kinds of work that could cost me more than they would be worth to do. Instead, I had an audit that was thorough and professional in every way and resulted in a recommendation not for a full range of measures to be taken, but rather for one that would return the greatest cost savings for the dollars that would need to be expended. It also included information about rebates and tax credits that could help to offset the costs.

I'm now mulling over my options, but I am very pleased to say that the audit was a worthwhile effort and was conducted professionally in every way. I think that anyone who signs up for the DiscountPower option for their electrical supplier should also take advantage of this great deal on the energy audit with Dr. Energy Saver to save even more on their heating and electrical costs.


For more information about Valley United Way, visit our website at www.valleyunitedway.org.