For the month of April, Old Saybrook has embarked on a community effort to brighten the night in honor of those who are working while most of us are staying at home.

The Let There Be Light initiative is observed by residents and businesses by turning on porch lights, stringing up Christmas lights, or lighting a candle or luminary.

“For those essential workers, the ones that respond when called, treat us when we are sick, supply food to us when we are hungry, and supply our medicine when we are ill, we are shining a light here in Old Saybrook,” said First Selectman Carl P. Fortuna, Jr. “We can all shelter in place; they cannot.”

Old Saybrook residents Debra and Peter Mals are enthusiastic promoters of Let There Be Light in town. The couple is looking after elderly parents as well as an aunt—all of whom live in town—and that includes doing their shopping and dropping it off. Otherwise, they’re doing their best to stay at home.

Debra Mals has a lighted heart she usually hangs in the window for Valentine’s Day. She put it together with an electric red, white, and blue sign that once read “United We Stand,” which she used to memorialize the victims of 9/11.

“My ‘d’ burnt out,” she said, laughing. “It says ‘United We Stan.’”

Aside from that, “[i]t’s the perfect message,” she said. “It’s my little message of hope and encouragement.”

She posted a photo of her window on an Old Saybrook Facebook page, encouraging others to do the same and share their photos.

“One woman...did her whole front lawn,” Mals said. “She made a whole heart out of Christmas lights.”

As far as her own display, Mals hopes to encourage and reassure those who pass by her house.

“I hope it will inspire many to light up all our towns to show support and to know that although we are isolated safely in our homes, we are not alone, we are all walking through this storm together,” she said.