Monthly Archives: June 2018

Lymes’ Youth Service Bureau Acquires an AED Thanks to Donation from CT Trailblazers Facilitated by Critical Skills

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Members of CT Trailmixers club celebrate LYSB’s installation of the Automated External Defibrillator with LYSB Director Mary Seidner, standing at right.

Lymes’ Youth Service Bureau (LYSB) has installed an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) in their main Activity Center on Lyme Street. The addition of the LYSB’s new AED contributes to the growing number of readily available lifesaving tools and skills that are part of the Connecticut Department of Public Health’s “HEARTSafe Community” award to the Town of Old Lyme.

Critical Skills Education & Training owners Colleen Atkinson and Doug Lo Presti are local Emergency Medical Technicians and American Heart Association Instructors, who have coordinated the Town’s HEARTSafe Community award through three renewals, continuing the placement of AEDs and training of hundreds of individuals who live and work in Old Lyme. Training consists of Adult, Child and Infant CPR, use of an AED and relieving an obstructed airway.

The purchase of the AED for LYSB was funded partially by contributions made by Critical Skills through classes held at LYSB but the principal contribution came from the non-profit group CT Trailmixers, a Southington-based trail-running club, whose members are passionate about sharing the love and use of trails in the state of Connecticut.

The Trailmixers’ mission also includes making donations to a variety of causes and organizations, including the Southington YMCA and the Connecticut Forest & Parks Association. Proceeds also go to the CT Trailmixers’ Shoe Scholarship Program which, in partnership with Fleet Feet West Hartford, gives free shoes to children in need, who wish to run cross-country or track in school.

Michael Lo Presti, CT Trailblazers Founder and President, reached out to Critical Skills on candidates for donations and Lo Presti and Atkinson suggested the idea of an AED for LYSB.

The Trailmixers’ generous donation not only completed but surpassed the fundraising effort and LYSB purchased and installed the AED in May.

The AED purchased is a Public Access Defibrillator (PAD) and available to trained and untrained bystanders alike in case of emergency. LYSB is committed to providing services to the people who live, work and play in Old Lyme and has been a central point of service for generations of children. The acquisition of the AED helps to ensure the best care for the existing population and for generations to come.

In addition to LYSB, Public Access Defibrillators in Old Lyme are now located in

  • Old Lyme Town Hall
  • OL-PGN Library
  • Town Woods Park
  • SNAP Fitness
  • Old Lyme Wellness
  • Soundview Community Center
  • Old Lyme Country Club
  • Black Hall Golf Club
  • Mile Creek School
  • Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School
  • Center School
  • Lyme-Old Lyme High School
  • Saint Ann’s Episcopal Church
  • First Congregational Church of Old Lyme
  • L & M Primary Care
  • Lymes’ Senior Center
  • Old Lyme Beach ClubIf you are interested in acquiring an AED or in American Heart Association CPR/AED training, call Critical Skills at 860-304-8471 or 860-391-3779 or visit www.criticalskillseducation.com.

Join an Old Lyme Trail Walk in Ames Family Open Space This Afternoon

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The public is invited to join members of Old Lyme’s Open Space Commission in hiking three town-owned properties this June.

The Commission members will assess trail conditions during the walks, and complete light maintenance.  The hikes are an opportunity for residents and others to become acquainted with the properties, meet Commission members, and offer their thoughts on either the particular properties or on Old Lyme’s open space program.

The hike schedule, beginning at 4 p.m. each afternoon, is as follows:
Tuesday, June 12 –  Champlain North entrance, Wyckford Road
Monday, June 18 –  Champlain South entrance, Meeting House Lane (rain date June 19)
Monday, June 25 –  Ames Family Open Space, Whippoorwill Road entrance (rain date June 26)

More information on the properties, including maps, and on the Old Lyme open space program may be found at: http://www.oldlyme-ct.gov/Pages/OldLymeCT_Bcomm/open_

Old Lyme Church Holds Interfaith Service Today to Call Attention to Pakistani Family Living in Sanctuary

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Malik Nayeed bin Rehman and Zahida Altaf and their daughter.

The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme (FCCOL) will hold an Interfaith Service on Sunday, June 24, at 10 a.m., to celebrate the many friendships the congregation has established with people of other faiths through its sanctuary work; and call attention to the plight of Malik bin Rehman, his wife Zahida and their daughter Roniya, who continue to live in sanctuary at the church, awaiting a stay of deportation. 

The entire community is invited to attend.

In announcing the service, FCCOL Senior Minister Steve Jungkeit said, “We’ll share the service with our Muslim brothers and sisters, particularly those whose country of origin is Pakistan, listening to holy texts from the Bible and the Quran.  We’ll share prayers and music together, and bless our neighbors – Malik, Zahida and Roniya – as they continue to sojourn with us, even as we sojourn with them.”

The family was offered sanctuary earlier this year to help give the appeals process a chance to work and provide immigration authorities with an opportunity to recognize the injustices and flaws of the law as it is being applied in this case.  Connecticut Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, the New Britain City Council, the New Britain Democratic Town Committee and numerous human rights organizations are included among the groups and individuals who have asked federal authorities to grant this family a stay of deportation.

The couple came to the U.S. legally in 2000 on non-immigrant visas according to federal authorities, but stayed past their visas’ expiration dates.  The couple tried for years to extend their visas and become U.S. citizens, but were misled by an immigration attorney who was later jailed for swindling other clients. 

Jungkeit said, “We believe that with time and reason and compassion, the family can receive the full, fair hearing and consideration they deserve – that justice will prevail and they will be allowed to remain in the U.S. with their five-year-old daughter Roniya who is a U.S. citizen. Deporting the parents would needlessly tear the family apart.”

Local DTC’s Host ‘Blue Wave Fest’ This Afternoon in Chester

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Citizens from across the lower Connecticut River Valley and shoreline will come together tomorrow, June 24, for a day of civic engagement to explore and challenge the current policies impacting democracy in the US, and emphasizing the importance of everyone exercising their right to vote.

The Blue Wave Fest will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Chester Fairgrounds, Chester, Conn. Speakers include:

  • endorsed gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont;
  • Secretary of the State, Denise Merrill;
  • State Sen. Beth Bye;
  • political pundit Bill Curry;
  • musician Tyler Suarez, whose aunt Dawn Hochsprung was killed in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School;
  • lifelong activist and author Miriam Butterworth;
  • Rev. John Selders, co-founder of Moral Monday and the Poor People Campaign-CT;
  • Po Murray, co-founder of Newtown Action Alliance;
  • Will Kneerim of Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS);
  • candidates for the General Assembly seats in the region.

“We live in an unprecedented moment when civil discourse, freedom of the press, constitutional norms, protection from foreign interference in our elections, and even widely-shared facts about science are under daily attack,” said Marta Daniels, a Chester resident and Chair of the Fest. “The traditional institutional brakes on government interference are completely absent. Our first opportunity to remedy these assaults on our democracy is coming in November when citizens can go to the polls and vote. The Blue Wave Fest had its origins in this idea,” she said.

The Blue Wave Fest features local musicians, 20+ issue speakers, state and federal legislators, state and local office seekers and 35 information exhibitors offering valuable insight into how citizens, communities and organizations are taking action to face the most pressing challenges affecting our democracy today.

This big tent event is co-sponsored by the 15 Democratic Town Committees of Chester, Deep River, Essex, Clinton, East Haddam, Haddam, East Hampton, Killingworth, Lyme, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Portland, Westbrook, Madison and Colchester. All are welcome. There is no admission fee.

For the Blue Wave Fest line-up of presenters/speakers visit www.BlueWaveFeat.com

‘Cities of Peace’ on View at Lyme Academy Through Sept. 8

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Lhasa: 10 Directions (Tibet), Cities of Peace, 22-karat gold leaf, egg tempera on Belgian linen, 69 x 104″, 2005, is featured in the ‘Cities of Peace’ exhibition at Lyme Academy.

Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts hosts an opening reception this evening in the Chauncey Stillman Gallery from 5 to 7 p.m. for “Cities of Peace: A Living Monument to Cultural Heritage Preservation.’  All are welcome and there is no charge for admission.
This historic exhibition features monumental paintings illuminating the heart and soul of 10 cities around the world that have suffered major conflict and trauma—Baghdad, Beijing, Hiroshima, Jerusalem, Kabul, Lhasa, Monrovia, New York, Sarajevo, Yerevan — and how the community collaboration behind the creation of each of these paintings demonstrates the power of art as cultural diplomacy and ambassadors of peace.
The founder and artistic director of the Cities of Peace project is Ellen Frank, Ph.D. of the Ellen Frank Illumination Arts Foundation, Inc., Cities of Peace®.  The exhibition curator is Christina Mossaides Strassfield.  For more information on the ‘Cities of Peace’ project, visit this link. 
The exhibition sponsors are Connecticut Humanities, Anonymous, Dr. John & Donita Aruny, Becky and Ted Crosby, Clo and Stephen Davis,  Lee and John Pritchard, Saybrook Point Inn/Fresh Salt, and Barbara and Dick Shriver.
The exhibition will be on view through Sept. 8, 2018.
The gallery is open Monday through Thursday, from 10 a.m.to 4 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.