State Representative Michael D’Agostino addresses the committee
By Rob McGreevy
The Hamden Democratic Town Committee met on Tuesday night in Hamden Public Library’s senior center to begin its spring session and to welcome newly elected committee members.
According to the chairman of the Hamden Democratic Town Committee, Lew Panzo, the committee welcomed 23 newly elected members. Some incumbent members said that number was even higher.
Whether it was 23 or more than half of the 63 members as some suggested, this is an unusually high turnover for the committee.
“Our body here was an older body of people who served here for 25-30 years and it was time for a change for some of them,” Panzo said.
The meeting was full of young people, and the loudest and most active voices in the crowd all belonged to newly elected members.
The committee didn’t reach a quorum and therefore was unable to conduct official business, but there were still plenty of opportunities for members to ask questions and voice opinions.
Connecticut state senator Martin Looney attended and briefed the room on the party’s status in the town, as well as the state.
He spoke about the senate’s general agenda and how it was going to act on certain matters, as well as what the Hamden Democratic Town Committee could do to help.
After Looney spoke, Panzo allowed a number of speakers who were either running for elected office, or had opened an exploratory committee to do so, to speak to the room. The group included Connecticut state representative Michael D’Agostino, who is running for attorney general.
The group also included two prominent Connecticut democrats — both vying for the same elected office.
Susan Bysiewicz announced she had opened an exploratory committee to run for governor. Her political resume includes 12 years as secretary of state. She spoke at length on major Connecticut issues, including establishing a pay equity law, infrastructure and especially tolls.
Bronin is a former aide to maligned Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy. He lasered in on fixing Connecticut’s budget issues, while also brushing upon the base Connecticut Democratic issues that his opponent did – taxes, tolls, infrastructure, etc.
The HDTC gives these candidates a platform to reach Democrats in places they may not have been able to otherwise.
“Especially in an election year we have so many candidates running they will generally invite candidates to attend town committee meetings so they can present their case,” Looney said.
The HDTC did not have enough members to conduct its affairs, but going forward the newly elected members will be officially members at the committees next meeting on March 12.
Panzo seemed hopeful toward the new and exciting future of the Hamden Democratic Town Committee.
“It’s good to see this new influx of young people,” said Panzo, “that’s what this party needs, it needs to be revitalized.”
Looking ahead Panzo says that Hamden has always followed along with the state’s Democratic platform, “but there’s talk about us writing our own platform” — something that Panzo said will probably take place this year.
About 1,500 Quinnipiac University students waited Saturday night for 21 cards to be flipped over to reveal how much money they had raised for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.
A “Let’s go, QTHON!” chant starts as organizers turned over each card.
When the cards had been flipped, the numbers revealed $265,431.79.
The crowd erupted into cheers, chants and tears as QTHON surpassed its fundraising goal by more than $15,000, establishing a new high in the eighth year of the event at Quinnipiac.
“There’s something so special about holding one of those cards. It was a rush of emotions,” QTHON recruitment director Alex Ford said.
The QTHON management committee and student organization committees worked through the school year to put on the 10-hour dance event that took place in the Quinnipiac University Recreation Center Saturday.
Athletics teams, greek organizations and clubs like Alpha Delta Pi, Quinnipiac Student Nurses and IceCats created teams to dance for the entirety of the event and also hosted a “miracle child,” or, a specific child who benefited from the money raised.
“I do (this) for my future patients and to make sure another kid doesn’t see the inside of a hospital room,” Ford said.
Alex Clarke, a senior public relations major, said, “This is a way to give kids a voice and raise money for a good cause.”
Miracle child Emma singing Taylor Swift’s: “Look What You Made Me Do”
Each participant was responsible for achieving a personal fundraising goal.
Some got creative with ways of receiving donations, like fundraising committee member Megan McCarthy, who took her personal fundraising to another level by using Venmo.
“I Venmo-requested friends, family and my ex to donate to QTHON throughout the week and night,” McCarthy said.
“I am so proud of all of the people who worked so hard to make this goal achievable. It makes me so incredibly happy that we were raise that much for the kids,” she added.
Various activities took place through the 10 hours to keep the energy up.
Decked out from head to toe and wearing neon pink shirts were members of the morale committee.
Every hour on the hour they performed a 10-minute routine — rehearsed months prior.
“I knew I wanted to be a role model and have more of an impact on this event, so I applied for (the morale committee) and never looked back,” Melissa Podias said.
Throughout the day, organizers went on stage and asked participants to take out their phones and ask family and friends to donate through apps. That effort raised about $7,000 in one hour.
Fundraising co-chair Katie Stokarski said, “I was very nervous about us reaching our goal. A quarter of million dollars is a huge goal for a school our size, but the push we had at night of made us reach our goal.”
Other activities during the long day included a game of knockout and a game of HQ Trivia QTHON version. There were also different theme hours that included Disney, holiday and throwback Thursday themes in which participants dressed up.
Morale dancer Erin Schirra dressed as Moana for Disney Hour
“Throwback hour was definitely my favorite because it reminded me of my childhood,” QTHON participant Jess Ciccarella said.
Scaling up Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania is no easy feat.
It’s an extreme altitude mountain trek. It takes hikers through five different ecological zones, from farmland to alpine desert to snow capped arctic peaks. Temperatures can reach an upwards of 104 degrees and at night drastically drop between 20 to -20 degrees Fahrenheit, not including windchill. People can start experiencing acute mountain sickness symptoms as low as 8,000 feet and, as one enters the higher altitude zones, limited oxygen begins to impact one’s physiology, officially making the experience empowering yet treacherous.
Now, imagine ascending to the top at 64 years old.
Hamden resident Lew Nescott is taking on this challenge wholeheartedly. He flew out on Feb. 18.
In order to reach the top of the 19,341-foot summit, the body has to train itself, physically and mentally, to adapt to change. He felt the Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University would be the perfect place to help him get back into tip top shape.
Nescott reached out to Bruce Koeppen, the dean of the school of medicine, about wanting to team up for this project. Koeppen then reached out to the biomedical sciences professor Tom Martin.
Martin said, “yeah, let’s give this a try,” and then blasted a call out to the first-year medical students to see who was interested in taking on such a project— perhaps as the student’s required capstone project.
Katherine Woolley was the first to jump on the offer.
“Oh, I hopped on it,” she said.
You can say it was fate.
“I was really excited about it,” Woolley said. “Honestly it seemed too good to be true.”
Katherine Woolley
Woolley is a bright-eyed 23 year old from Denver, Colo. She is an avid rock climber, hiker and snowboarder who loves the outdoors and nature. Having done undergrad at the University of Colorado Boulder, studying Integrative Physiology with an emphasis in exercise science, she knew that Quinnipiac University, nestled in between Sleeping Giant State Park, was the perfect choice for med school.
“The facilities are beautiful and the professors are amazing,” she said.
The year before she moved out to the East Coast, Woolley took a gap year, hiking all over Southeast Asia for three months, developing an appreciation for what the human body is capable of. She explored Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal and India.
Woolley and Professor Martin
“I did some high altitude trekking in Nepal, which is where I kind of had my first idea of making my capstone project involving high altitude and mountaineering,” she said. “It’s such an interesting culture there.”
The entire infrastructure of Nepal is based on Nepali Sherpas taking tourists up different mountains that normally one couldn’t do on their own.
“I thought it was so interesting that this 5-foot-2 tiny man can carry like 200 pounds on his back and run up the mountain and all these big buff tourists are struggling to catch their breath,” she said.
Nescott’s request couldn’t have aligned better with Woolley’s curiosity and career aspirations.
“This project is so multifaceted,” she said. “Not only are we helping a master’s athlete who came out of a retirement for a climb to do something amazing, but he’s doing it all for charity.”
Woolley said that working with Nescott has been inspirational and that he is motivated, hard working and doing this from the bottom of his heart. Nescott is funding his trip all out of pocket. All the money raised will go directly to the Sarah Foundation, which provides programs and services for people with intellectual and other disabilities who live in Connecticut.
According to the foundation’s website, Nescott said this climb is personal. He is climbing for Sarah, as well as his cousin, George or “Geo.”
“I think this goes to show you that if Lew can come out of retirement, hike to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, then anyone in the Sarah Foundation, anyone anywhere, if you are down on your luck, if you are turning over a new leaf, you can do anything you set your mind to,” Woolley said.
“It’s been a real honor to work with him and everything that this climb stands for.”
Nescott started to ascend to the top of the mountain on Feb. 20 or Feb. 21, but in order to prepare, Woolley and Martin devised a strategic plan for Nescott to help him through the harsh conditions.
Even though Nescott is an experienced climber having previously scaled three of the seven highest mountains in the world, he still needs to train and prepare for that high hypoxic environment.
“We came up with high intensity interval training, which has been shown to improve your cardiovascular fitness very efficiently,” Woolley said. “You can go for like an hour jog or you can do a 30 minute HIIT routine and you’d be sucking in a lot more air after the HIIT routine.”
The program also has different measures of heart rates that they want Nescott to hit. He has his own monitor with a watch he wears so he knows what beat per minute he needs to be at and for how long. These exercises can be done on his own, which is something Woolley thought was important.
“It’s a pretty strict exercise regiment,” she said. “Now he has the equipment to really workout properly.”
Testing began eight weeks ago before training started in the Motion Analysis Laboratory.
The work doesn’t end when Nescott returns from Africa on March 1.
From the plane, he will head to Quinnipiac and, on March 2, the rest of the data will be collected and they will begin to see how the operative outcome affected a bunch of the different variables.
“And on top of that, we have data we are collecting while he is climbing,” she said. “So he is wearing a bio strap. It’s going to be collecting heart rate, heart rate variability, temperature, activity level and GPS, all that kind of stuff. He is going to be wearing a pulse oximeter, O2 saturation…”
Woolley though is most excited about the video interviews Nescott will record, answering questions like: How nauseous are you? How are you sleeping? How are you eating? This is all to see if Nescott is getting altitude sickness.
Woolley will be able to see his cognitive abilities, how he is talking and how he looks. She also has him doing ataxia exams, heel to toe walking and a stroope test for air detection.
“The whole idea of all the senses is so we can recreate this climb from a data standpoint,” Martin said. “This is how he went from this elevation, how the heart rate and body temperature changed …that kind of stuff.”
Whooley said it may seem like a niche study, but there really isn’t any other data on anyone like Nescott out there.
“It’s a great opportunity for Katherine and the learning for the school of medicine students,” Martin said. “It’s also a way to help advance science potentially. To kind of get an idea of how athletes can respond to the altitude, it benefits the community, it benefits Lew, it benefits the foundation, it benefits the students and it also has the ability to potentially help the sciences. It hits all those landmarks.”
The research isn’t even close to being done yet, but Woolley is thankful for the opportunity.
“I am really grateful for Lew, the foundation is awesome, the school has been very supportive and Dr. Martin has been the best mentor ever,” she said. “He’s even teaching me an independent study, which is something he is doing out of his own free time.”
Quinnipiac University will host its eighth annual QTHON charity event Saturday from 2 p.m. to midnight. The 10-hour dance marathon will take place in Quinnipiac’s recreation center at Quinnipiac University’s Mount Carmel campus.
QTHON has been an annual event at Quinnipiac University since 2011. QTHON has raised more than $450,000 to date for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. Dancers and sponsors raised $218,184.83 for the cause at last years event.
The dance marathon charity event began in 1973 in the HUB Ballroom at Penn State. Penn State’s IFC President Bill Lear put on the inaugural event. His goal was to host a dance marathon for a worthwhile cause. Over $2,000 was raised in its first event. Since then, the event has adopted the name “THON” and has raised well more than $100 million to date at Penn State alone.
Students and community members around Hamden will gather Saturday to attempt to reach the goal of $250,000 raised. Dancers who have raised more than $100 prior to the event will receive a QTHON dancer shirt, as well as food and other amenities.
The entry fee for all other attendees is $10 at the event according to QTHON co-executive director, Steph Rivera.
To donate or start your own fundraising page visit QTHON’s website here.
Hamden police arrested four Quinnipiac University students Sunday, Feb. 18 after an anonymous tip led to the revelation of large quantities of marijuana products in a campus dorm.
According to a release by the Hamden Police Department, Quinnipiac Public Safety searched the room of Patrick Owenby and found a plastic bag containing 15.5 grams of marijuana, five “Marijuana Fruity Pebbles Squares” weighing 303.3 grams, 87 grams of THC oil and drug paraphernalia, including packaging materials.
Police charged Owenby, an 18-year old from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, with possession of a controlled substance and sale of a controlled substance.
Facing the same charges is Shawn Wheeler, 18, of Atkinson, New Hampshire. At the time of the search, Wheeler was in possession of 137.5 grams of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, including a scale.
Both Owenby and Wheeler paid $1,000 in bond to appear in court in Meriden on March 5.
Police also issued infractions (possession of less than a half ounce of marijuana) to Samuel Geiss, 19, of Wellesley, Massachusetts, and Wilton’s Matthew Moore, 19.
Like any good movie opening up to the public, “Black Panther” found itself in sold-out theater after sold out theater. During opening night on Thursday, it was more likely to find a four-leaf clover that wasn’t frozen solid than a ticket to a North Haven showing of “Black Panther.” Patrons lined the halls of the Cinemark on Universal Drive, a luxurious 14 screen theater, eagerly awaiting the first showings of the newest Marvel masterpiece.
Much like any great movie, however, the lines continued to find their way back.
On Friday, showings of “Black Panther” sold out quickly throughout the day as reserved seats online and over the phone were snatched up by eager fans. The only way to walk into Cinemark North Haven and watch the new film was with a neck cramp, as the last available seats belonged to the front two rows.
Drive north a few miles to Wallingford, and you’d find the same dilemma at Holiday Stadium Cinemas, where showings sold out hours before the pre-film advertisements flickered on-screen. The sellouts continued all of the way until Sunday, where the 10 screen cinema updated their “Black Panther: sold out times” sheet by the entrance hourly.
Just saw it with Stedman. It’s Phenomenal!! Layers and layers of it. Wakunda ForEveeeerrrr! #BlackPanther
“I would encourage everyone to watch it,” Ayanna Simpson said. “It has a beautiful message that doesn’t overpower the film but can be clearly seen, and I think it’s a breath of fresh air from today’s populated climate.”
Simpson serves as the program coordinator for multicultural education at Quinnipiac University. The African and Caribbean Student Union, along with the Student Programming Board and Department of Cultural Global Engagement at Quinnipiac, put together a “Black Panther” viewing event on Friday.
“Overall I thought it was a remarkable film,” Simpson added. “I loved how each character had a complete and complex story.”
Every time I think of #BlackPanther I’m a bit bummed out that I’ll never be able to watch it for the first time again.
Samantha Nardone, a junior public relations major at Quinnipiac, attended the viewing party with fellow Bobcats.
“It’s really important that they kind of defeated (the) stereotype that everyone in Africa is poor, because there are some wealthy countries in Africa and there are poorer areas,” Nardone said.
“It’s important to show the pride people can have in black culture. So many movies and TV shows don’t show that at all (and) I think this movie helped to reduce that myth and stereotype. It was just awesome to see all the black power and black culture emphasized and the pride in that in this film.”
The nation’s box offices agreed with Nardone.
Original projections expected “Black Panther” to claw in about $120million over the four-day opening weekend.
As Thursday turned to Friday, and Friday turned to Saturday, moviegoers shattered those projections.
The three-day opening brought in an estimated $192 million, ranking fifth most all time. Current expectations project $218 million over the four-day holiday weekendin the United States with $361 million worldwide.
The film also broke the record for the largest opening by a movie with an African-American director. Ryan Coogler’s masterpiece destroyed the previous record of $98 million set by F. Gary Gray’s “The Fate of the Furious” back April 2017 of 2017.
From meeting Ryan Coogler at the Sundance Film Festival 2013 to doing panels together at SXSW to crying in the theatre during CREED to having you watch my rough cut to give me notes on KONG… I love him like a brother and am in awe of his craft. Black Panther is a triumph. pic.twitter.com/fFvcs5Wq8X
Tiana Duggin of West Haven was happy to add to that total.
“This climate right now, because (of how) a lot of people in the world view what African Americans are, this can teach them what we were in the past, and what we can be in the future,” Duggin said.
Quinnipiac will host a roundtable discussion — A Place at the Table —on “Blackness, Heroism and the American Imagination: Can ‘Black Panther’ Expand the Marvel Universe?” The discussion takes place at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday in Buckman Theater. Professors in media studies, English and journalism will moderate.
**UPDATE: Quinnipiac won Sunday afternoon’s game against Marist, 80-74, in double overtime. The victory clinches the fourth consecutive Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season championship for the Bobcats, who move to 22-5 overall and 16-0 in conference play. Aryn McClure led the Bobcats with a season-high 25 points, while Jen Fay added 21.**
Quinnipiac University women’s basketball head coach Tricia Fabbri collected her 400th career win Feb. 11 against Siena College. It is unlikely that this is on her mind now, as her team prepares to face off this afternoon against arch-rival Marist College — the only Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference team that has challenged the Bobcats.
Fabbri is already a member of the Connecticut Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame as a player for Fairfield and, now with 400 wins, is adding to an impressive 22-year coaching career. Fabbri certainly seemed to enjoy the moment for a few minutes in this video posted on Quinnipiac’s women’s basketball team Twitter page.
.@QUCoachFabbri collected her 400th victory yesterday on the road at Siena. Hear from coach Fabbri about what this milestone means to her: pic.twitter.com/b5xgj3T4Jy
In the video, Fabbri spoke about sharing the victory with everyone around her.
“The team is not I, and it’s shared with everybody. I don’t do this by myself,” she said.
Carly Fabbri, a senior guard and the coach’s daughter, said staying focused game to game is the key to the team’s success this season.
“We hate to lose. I think that’s what fuels us,” the young Fabbri, who is averaging 4.3 assists per game, said.
“Once you start focusing too much on the future, that’s when you’re going to get picked off in MAAC play.”
As her mother collected her 400th win, Fabbri and the team are also on a 16-game win streak. In case that wasn’t good enough, the team is also unbeaten in conference play amassing a perfect 15-0 record.
“I think it’s just that mentality (that) everyone’s going to have their chance if they put in the work and they buy into the system,” Carly Fabbri said.
Her mother’s system, which includes five-player substitutions known as the “gold rush,” was put on display when Quinnipiac made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament last spring when it upset Marquette and the University of Miami.
Quinnipiac has three games remaining on its schedule before the MAAC Tournament opens in Albany, New York.
The Bobcats face MAAC opponents Marist, Rider and Monmouth starting today at 2 p.m. in Poughkeepsie, the place that Carly Fabbri called “one of the loudest places to play.”
Photo: Members of the Navy participate in an active shooter exercise to prepare for incidents of gun violence.
By Sal Siciliano
The shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school this Wednesday injured dozens and killed 20 people.
While vital information remains unclear at this time, the incident has again brought increased attention to Florida’s gun laws.
Less than two years ago, Orlando’s Pulse nightclub was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. The Oct. 1 shooting in Las Vegas, where 59 people were killed, has since eclipsed that total.
In Florida, one can buy a gun without a license or registration. Potential buyers typically don’t need to go through a background check, including to purchase semi-automatic weapons.
Opponents of gun control argue that gun restrictions have no direct effect on preventing violent behavior. However, Connecticut’s gun control policies in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 has shown a decline in the state’s gun deaths.
Rabinowitz: I was superintendent of Hamden Schools after the shooting at Sandy Hook. One of the most horrible things is that no matter how much we train, secure our schools, we just can't guarantee our children's safety one hundred percent.
“In 2013, Connecticut lawmakers made sweeping changes to the state’s gun laws. For starters, they broadened the scope of what the state classifies as assault weapons, banning more than 150 gun models,” said WNPR’s Lori Mack, who is also an adjunct instructor at Quinnipiac University.
In Mack’s on-air story, she added, “The legislation also banned the sale of gun magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds. A permit is now required to buy any type of gun or ammunition. The state also has a registry of deadly weapon offenders and a universal background check system.”
According to data from the CT Against Gun Violence organization and confirmed by the state’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, gun homicides in Connecticut dropped from 115 in 2012 to 79 by 2015.
Graphic by Andrew Weiss. Deaths classified as gun related homicides, per CAGV.
Despite new regulations, gun sales in Connecticut have not experienced any notable decline, but the state ensures that any gun owners and new firearm purchases are being more effectively monitored.
This information is important to gun control opponents and legislators in states like Florida when seeking effective but publicly accepted firearm reforms.
As shootings have become more common in American schools, the importance of active shooter protocol is exaggerated.
Connecticut has a history of violence on school campuses. Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown was attacked by an active shooter in 2012. The gunman killed 27 staff members and students during the tragedy.
Despite its impressive safety record, Quinnipiac University hasn’t escaped the need to prepare its campus for the worst.
Criminal offenses may be down but co-chair of the emergency management team at Quinnipiac, Keith Woodward, believes that is no reason to forget emergency protocol. “Keeping safety in the forefront of our community is something we do, and we don’t take it for granted,” Woodward said.
The Quinnipiac University emergency management team sent an email to all faculty and staff at the end of January. The email was regarding important safety information and outlined the emergency alert systems used by Quinnipiac. It also supplied faculty procedure in specific emergency situations.
Included in the email was information for Quinnipiac’s emergency text and Alertus computer alert systems. It also gave instructions for the Rave Guardian App, a free app that provides “rapid and proactive” communication to emergency services and contacts.
Woodward also said that the information in the email was not new. Faculty procedure for the scenarios of an active shooter, lockdown, evacuation and shelter in place are all described in the email. They are advised to know two exits from the classroom outside as well as a hiding spot in the classroom. They should also be familiar with the types of emergency messages. Similar protocol for students can be found on Quinnipiac’s MyQ student portal.
Assistant Professor of Journalism, Ben Bogardus, feels that most emergencies are common sense. “Things like, ‘if the fire alarm goes off, leave the building’ and ‘if a student collapses, call 911,” Bogardus said. When asked about preparedness for emergencies in the classroom however, he says, “there needs to be more information on what to do in situations where we [the class] need to stay in the room.”
Compared to the Hamden public school system, Quinnipiac is more prepared for emergency situations. Listed under the district policies of Hamden Public School’s website is their “Emergencies and Disaster Preparedness.” The website only has procedure for fires, bomb threats and emergency closings under said category.
Another clear difference between Quinnipiac and Hamden public schools is the distribution and depth of information. The Hamden public school’s safety information was difficult to find, but Quinnipiac’s information is promoted through alert systems, emails and student portals.
Quinnipiac may have safety information readily available, but it is not necessarily well received. Many students admit that they are not signed up for or even aware of Quinnipiac’s several alert systems. Christian Quigley, a sophomore biomedical marketing major, said he receives email alerts from the school during power outages, parking closures and local emergencies. However, he said has no additional alert app or service from Quinnipiac.
Similarly to professor Bogardus, Quigley had no prior knowledge that the safety information for events such as active shooters and lockdowns was readily available.
“Training to every scenario is not a goal we chase,” Woodward explains. However he hopes the information helps by educating the community on how to react to situations.
Senior Angela Varney felt early application was the best option for Quinnipiac to improve their safety information distribution. “The best way to inform students of their service would be to introduce alert systems in Freshman seminar classes,” Varney said.
For more specific emergency situations and procedure go to ‘Health and Campus Safety’ on Quinnipiac’s website.
According to Hamden Mayor Curt Balzano Leng, the Hamden Legislative Council recently approved the town’s first “Animal Control Facility Gift Fund.” The fund is the foundation for a new Hamden or regional facility and was established as a reaction to the community wanting a secure shelter.
“We would like to do a little better with animals than we are doing with them now,” Leng said.
Authorizing this fund shows the commitment to create a new animal control facility and allows those interested in helping the town and shelters make this goal a reality. According to the Town of Hamden’s Facebook page, any donation made to the gift fund must follow the town’s procurement process and solely be used for the purpose of a new facility.
While Hamden’s Gimme Shelter Animal Rescue and Where The Love is Animal Rescue are excited to hear this news, their main priority is to tend to their animals needs. Co-founder of Where the Love Is Animal Rescue, Christina Hackett, said all of the animals that arrive are examined by a veterinarian and given any treatment needed.
“Before [the dogs] leave and go to their forever homes they are microchipped, vaccinated and are either spayed or neutered,” Hackett said.
With the help of donations from pet stores like Pet Valu, grants and fundraising events, Where The Love Is is able to cover medical bills with that money. This year, they spent about $80,000 in vet bills and were able to use all of the adoption fees received and money donated/fundraised to help cover the cost.
To shelter their animals, they rent out two places.
“We have a garage and a kennel,” Hackett said.
The garage holds six 5-by-5 cages and the kennel holds four 5-by-5 cages with 20 dogs and two cats to care for. Hackett is happy where the animals are sheltered, but is also hopeful the gift fund allows all of the animals to be housed together soon.
While the animal rescue shelters continue to raise money to help support the animals they rescue, they also do what they can to raise money for a new facility. According to Leng, Hamden’s biggest contributor to help raise money for the shelter is Gimme Shelter Animal Rescue.
“[Last year] we held a small blue collar fundraiser that inspired the town to make an animal shelter fund,” Gimme Shelter volunteer Lenny Young said.
Gimme Shelter Animal Rescue has continuously held events to fundraise money for their animals, but their next big event will be a fundraiser to help establish a Hamden or regional animal shelter. On Feb. 15, JaSa Asian Cuisine will donate 20 percent of each pre-tax bill to the Hamden Animal Shelter Gift Fund. Young and other Gimme volunteers are excited for this event.
“We chose the day after Valentine’s Day because it’s the Chinese New Year, which is the year of the dog,” Young said.
The purpose of this fundraiser is to bring the animal shelter issue out of obscurity.
“We are trying to get people to support it, not necessarily help out. We just need people to spread the word,” Young said.
To get 20 percent of your bill donated, go to Gimme Shelter Animal Rescue’s website, print out the flier and bring it with you to the restaurant.
“Every penny goes to the animal shelter gift fund,” Young said.
According to the Where The Love Is Facebook page, the shelter has been doing more adoption events than fundraising events. On Feb. 9-10, volunteers went to various Pet Valu stores in Connecticut. At these events they bring along a few furry friends to interact with possible families who want to adopt a rescued animal.
They have yet to release any upcoming events, but are more than happy to have volunteers come in and help in any way possible, Hackett stated.
With the foundation of the gift fund under way, our furry friends in Hamden will hopefully be housed together in their new animal shelter very soon.
