Branford resident Eunice Lasala was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter Animal Carnivale Dinner at the Pine Orchard Yach & Country Club on May 9. 

During a gala with 175 in attendance, Laura Burban, Director of the Branford-North Branford Cosgrove Shelter, and Branford First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove presented Lasala with a Martha Link Walsh paper cutting depicting many of the organizations and causes with which Lasala has been involved over the years.

A member of the Cosgrove Animal Shelter Commission, Lasala was recently featured as Person of the Week in The Sound/Zip06, in a story which described her decades of volunteer and community service connections as a leader and member of local groups. Currently president of Branford Community Foundation, Lasala is also a founder of Branford Compassion Club, a leading member and past president of the Branford Garden Club, a board member of Branford Cares and a long-serving volunteer with Community Dining Room (which also recently honored Lasala by naming her Grand Marshall of the 2014 CDR Walk-a-thon).

Lasala and her husband, Anthony Lasala, have been Branford residents since 1966. She joined Junior League of Greater New Haven in 1972, leading to her appointment to the Greater NH Visitors and Convention Bureau and chairing New Haven’s 350th birthday celebration. Among her other Branford volunteer commitments, Lasala served as PTA president at every school level, chaired many programs for Branford Woman’s Club, was active with the 1980’s-era Teen Activity Group (TAG), became a Blackstone Library Trustee, and taught religious education classes at St. Therese Church. Lasala was inducted into the Branford Education Hall of Fame in 2002.