Monday Musings

Last week's Back to School Clothes for Kids project and the food drive hosted by R.S. Scinto and Prudential Annuities made for an extremely busy and productive week. I capped the week on the weekend by running in two road races in Shelton - the Wesley Heights 5K Road Race and the Sunset Run for the Warriors 10K.

Now I'm sitting here looking at the weeks ahead and the official beginning of our Community Campaign on September 22. There are several things between now and then starting with a reminder of a way to save money and benefit United Way at the same time.

Several weeks ago, I wrote about program that we are doing with Shelton based DiscountPower and the state's program that allows people to select their electrical power supplier. I'm happy to say that we have almost 30 people who have already signed up to lower their bill and help make a small donation to United Way at the same time. I also switched and my bill already shows DiscountPower as my new supplier. As I mentioned previously, I've been saving $20-$30 a month for a while now, and DiscountPower's rates were lower than what I was already paying. On top of that, tomorrow Dr. EnergySaver is coming to my house to do a full energy audit that comes free if you switch to Discount Power.They have already sent me some informative materials to prepare, and I am looking forward to their visit.

It also dawned on me this morning as I was contemplating my weekend running that Nick Tarasovic is approaching the end of his Tri-Challenge. In less than two weeks, he will be attempting to swim 2.4 miles, ride a bike for 112 miles and run 26.2 more miles - all in one day - and I thought running two races in a weekend was tough!!

On September 14, we have the thank you reception of members of the Commodore Hull Society. We had hoped to be able to show an oil portrait of the Commodore that dates back to the early 1800's - even before his famous victory over the British on Old Ironsides. Unfortunately, something has come up, and the portrait will not be available, but we will tell the story and more importantly take the time to thank our largest donors for their support.

Week of Caring is going to involve the renovation of Umbrella's shelter for victims of domestic violence, and companies are already lining up to participate. This is the third time down through the years that we have done the shelter, and it's always a rewarding experience for everyone involved. That will be held the week of September 20-24.

And finally, it's time to make your reservation for the Kickoff on September 22 at the new Derby Middle School. Invitations are now in the mail, but the quickest and easiest way to make your reservation is to simply do it on-line. Click here to go directly to the page.

There's a lot going on in addition to everything mentioned already, but it's also time to pause and wish everyone a Happy Labor Day.

For more information about Valley United Way, visit our website at www.valleyunitedway.org.