This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
08/16/2019 12:00 AMMayor Joseph Maturo, Jr., and the East Haven Merit Award Committee introduced the 2019 Merit Award honorees: Lorena Venegas, Joan Adamczyk, Lisa DeFrancesco, and Riya Patel, who will receive their awards at the annual banquet held on Thursday, Sept. 5 at Seasons, formerly known as the Country House Restaurant, in East Haven beginning at 6 p.m. The event will also pay tribute to Mark Caponera, in memoriam, for his years of dedicated service to the community. Tickets for the event are $50 and may be obtained by contacting Judy Sittnick at 203-996-6596.
The Merit Awards, which recognize East Haven residents who have made contributions for the betterment of the town, are annually presented at the Merit Award Dinner, which is the kickoff for East Haven’s largest event, its annual Fall Festival, being held Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Sept. 6 to 8 on the Town Green. The East Haven Fall Festival is now in its 28th year.
Lorena Venegas is a current member of the Hagaman Memorial Library Board of Trustees. She has successfully written grants that support education for all children. In the past, Venegas was a member of the Momauguin School PTO and volunteered at the Connecticut Mobile Food Pantry. She is also a volunteer at the community kitchen held at Christ Epiphany Church. Venegas has provided programs for children at the Old Stone Church.
Joan Adamczyk has been on the Board of Directors of the Foxon Recreation League for more than 30 years and in the past, served as president. She is a past treasurer of the Rotary Club and recently has been named president-elect for the coming year. Adamczyk is co-chair of the annual Clothe the Children and Anginette Wars. For years, she has organized an Easter Hunt for children and a Christmas Party for seniors at Messina Drive.
Lisa DeFrancesco founded a neighborhood group called Feed the Homeless Neighborhood Brigade. DeFrancesco, along with her daughters, started the neighborhood group, including parents and their elementary school-age children, to volunteer making lunches and power-snack packs for the homeless shelters in New Haven. The donations come from the group and various members of the community. The children’s ages range from 5 to 10 years old and they look forward to the brigade meetings. In addition to the monthly meetings, the children decorate the food donation bags during their lunch break at school.
Riya Patel is an outstanding member of the East Haven High School community. She volunteered more than 130 hours for community service throughout her high school career, 90 hours of which were at Yale New Haven Hospital. She also volunteered her time at the East Haven Fall Festival. Patel plays a leadership role in the school’s Students Against Destructive Decisions club, helping to organize volunteer opportunities for school events. She is also editor of our school newspaper. Patel was chosen to participate in an internship experience with the East Haven High School Youth Cadet Program, through which she had the opportunity to shadow East Haven police officers. Patel has taken some of the most rigorous classes East Haven High School has to offer. She is an honor student and was inducted into the East Haven High School National Senior Honor Society.
Mark Caponera was a silent, generous person who preferred to volunteer his time and effort behind the scenes and without any expectation of recognition. He joined the Chamber of Commerce in the early ’90s and immediately became involved in all of its programs. After the second Fall Festival, Caponera came to the board, indicating that this was a great event and he wanted to get involved. For 15 years, Caponera took over sole responsibility for setting up the green the week before the festival. He would actually close his company down from Tuesday to Friday so that his employees could come and work on the green at his expense. He spent countless hours the week of the Fall Festival making sure that the set-up went smoothly.
He also devoted substantial time to the Chamber Christmas Tree Lighting on the East Haven Town Green, after it moved from the Senior Center. He spent numerous hours for many years setting up the green and getting it ready for Santa’s arrival. He was involved in all of the chamber activities in one form or another as a volunteer. Caponera also loved children and all year-round, collected toys for donations to local charities including the Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital.
All who knew Caponera adored him. For several years, town organizations tried to honor him at dinners, but he always refused.
The Fall Festival continues to be supported by corporate sponsorships and individual contributions. Anyone interested in helping with this effort or for any further information on the festival should contact Joseph T. Coppola in the Mayor’s Office at 203-468-3205 or eh.jcoppola@gmail.com.
For more information on the Fall Festival, visit www.townofeasthavenct.org, www.facebook.com/EHFallFest, or twitter.com/EHFallFest.