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03/07/2018 07:30 AMElected to the Town Council in November 2017, Joe Carfora says he thought hard about giving back to the community when he was approached about the opportunity to run.
“I felt the opportunity was right in my life to try to help out the people and the residents of East Haven,” he says.
Town Council members receive a stipend for their service, but Joe has decided that he will also give that back to the community.
“I’m donating my first year in office to the veterans, and my second year, I’m donating to a cause that I already got involved with, and it’s very close to my heart,” Joe says.
That cause is Nick Vessicchio, the East Haven High School student who had a tree fall on him when he was mowing the lawn outside his home. Joe is neighbors with the Vessicchios and says all the kids in that family grew up with his children.
“They’re a great family, and it was just an unfortunate accident,” Joe says, “That really breaks my heart every time I think about it.”
Joe has helped the family by selling tickets to a fundraiser held at Cascade Fine Catering in Hamden on Feb. 2, and gave “kudos” to event organizers Caroline Vitale-Koziatek and Joann Gondek. More than 500 people attended the fundraiser and many local vendors made charitable donations of products and services for the raffle.
Veterans are also important to Joe, as his son Joey is a Marine and has served the country in Afghanistan and Japan.
“That’s kind of a personal thing for me to help any which way I can with the veterans,” Joe says.
In the trucking business for more than 30 years, Joe owns Carfora Carriers, LLC, located in North Haven. The company delivers liquid asphalt products to Tilcon and hauls commercial and industrial oils to colleges and universities.
As a councilman and a small business owner, Joe wants to reach out to other small businesses, or have them reach out to him.
“Being a small businessman, I know it’s hard to be in business; it’s real tough, it’s a struggle every day, so I could feel for the owners that have small businesses…and as a town councilman, if I could do anything for them, in my district or any other district in East Haven, I would be more than happy to help out,” Joe says.
In addition to his son Joey, Joe also a daughter, Kelli, who is a student interested in becoming a dental hygienist. Joe says his children mean everything to him. He also recently got engaged to “a very wonderful girl,” Rosemarie Deieso.
Joe played basketball during his time at East Haven High School, where he was an All-State and an honorable mention All-American player, as well as a member of the 1980 Class-L State Championship team. He continued to play at Quinnipiac University before finishing his career at Southern Connecticut State University. His brother Al was also an All-State basketball player for the high school.
“East Haven athletics has always been dear to my heart,” he says.
Being a resident of town since he was eight months old, Joe says he wants to do right by the town he grew up and still lives in.
“I love this town; I’m proud of it, I think it’s a great town to live in,” he says.