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12/19/2022 10:59 AMThe East Haven Rotary Club continues to be committed to its mission of giving back to the community with its events through the holidays and winter season.
The organization held its first stuff-a-trailer toy drive on Dec. 4 at The Pit on Maple Street, in collaboration with paving and asphalt service Moffett Line Striping. The donation event was a family-friendly occasion, with Christmas-themed arts and crafts, hot chocolate and cookies, and face painting, but it also hit close to home for one of Line Striping’s namesakes, co-owner Joe Moffett, as a benefit for children.
“Joe Moffett himself has been in and out of the foster care system his entire life. He knows what it’s like to be without, he knows what it’s like to have really [lousy] Christmases,” said Maggie Moffett of husband Joe Moffett. “It was an idea that we had last year, and our community has grown drastically during that time. There was no better time to do it now.”
Maggie said the striping service selected the Rotary Club due to business and familial ties to East Haven, where their family and service were both started.
“We were one of those families at one point that needed help. It was inspiring to give back to the Rotary Club. It just felt right,” she said.
According to Maggie and the Rotary Club, a total of 105 toys were collected as part of the event. Twenty-five local businesses participated in the event to rally behind the donation effort alongside the Rotary and Moffett Line Striping, including those who donated several raffles, such as Snip Snaps and Donnie’s Drywall and Home Improvement. The raffles raised over $500, according to Maggie, which was used to purchase more toys for donation to children in need.
“The East Haven Rotary Club has a list of names of children in need of toys. They gave me [a list] of how many boys and how many girls. We’re able to, at this moment, provide three toys per their list, of over 100.”
The toys donated and to be purchased from raffle funds will be split between distribution to the Rotary Club and the Guilford Police Department.
The Rotarians held another toy collection event with its first Breakfast with Santa event on Dec. 10 since 2019, serving up pancakes and a safe sense of belonging for young families and their children.
“It was a tremendous event. We probably had over 150 people with kids,” said Ann Penington, a member of the Rotary Club who chaired the breakfast event. “What was nice is that it was a family event. And it brings young families out into the community. They were able to eat as much as you want, take pictures [with Santa], play a few games. I think there should be more events like that. We did collect toys that of course go to the Fire Department for the children of East Haven."
The Fire Department held its annual Christmas toy drive on Dec. 11, where the unwrapped gifts collected from the pancake breakfast were donated for distribution to children.
Penington said the event was a wonderful event to hold again after it had been canceled several times since the coronavirus pandemic and thanked her fellow pancake chef Town Councilman Joe Santino, Jr. for dressing up as Santa Claus again for the family-friendly meal and donation gathering.
“It was great to be back doing this with the community, and it was needed, I believe,” Penington said. “I think we should thank Joe Santino. He was a wonderful Santa, he’s done it for us numerous times in the past.”
The breakfast also allowed for the Rotary to offer free identification cards for East Haven children through the Amber Alert-Connecticut system, the child abduction emergency program to assist communities in the search and recovery of endangering or kidnapped children.
“Lots of families took part in that. It’s a service that the Rotary has always given free of charge to families,” Penington said.
Rounding out the early part of the winter season is the Clothe the Children event, started by Ben Mazzucco over 20 years ago, according to Penington.
“His daughter Tammy [Afragola], who is now our president, has continued with that and his legacy. It’s one of the most fulfilling events that the Rotary does,” Penington said.
According to the Rotary Club, the event has helped to provide almost 900 children with new clothing over the past 17 years.
Starting in January, the Rotary Club will again acquire a list of names of children in need of new clothing suited for the colder months, who will meet the Rotarians at the Kohl’s Department Store in Branford on each Saturday of the month. They then will be given at least $100 to use in pursuit of choosing new garments, with the money being donated by local businesses and residents.
“Each child gets $100 at Kohl’s, but Kohl’s works with us and we get a discount, and so that gives probably each child $130 to spend,” Penington said. “It’s nice because you get to see kids who haven’t had a new winter coat or new winter boots. It just makes you smile, makes you happy that they’re able to continue to do this. And there’s such need in the community.”
Understood as a member of numerous organizations, Penington views community events like these as essential in keeping people in the community involved, and for families to be acknowledged members of the town
“For us to continue as a great community, we need young families to want to come to East Haven, and we need to offer them services and functions at no or low costs,” she said. “Not everyone struggles, but young families, they struggle one way or another. And if we can just help a little bit, that’s what I want. I want East Haven to be known as a fun place for young families to be.”