Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro in Milford

              

For Victims of Rape

The Milford Bank to Sponsor a Collection Drive for the Rape Crisis Center of Milford

"When a victim goes to the hospital after an assault, they can participate in an evidence collection procedure which requires them to leave their clothing. Victim Support Packages are brought by an advocate of the Rape Crisis Center so the victim can leave the hospital with dignity. 
This serves as a stepping stone to healthy recovery."

Items needed are:

•  light weight pants
• sweat pants
• elastic-waist shorts
• sweat shirts
• t-shirts
• white low cut socks
•  underwear all in sizes, especially large and extra-large
•  flip flops
• comb/brush set
• toothbrush/toothpaste set
• water
• Gatorade
• individual tissue packs
• mall hand sanitizer
• individual snacks like granola bars or crackers. No nut products please. 

Here are the locations for drop-offs of supplies:

33 Broad Street, Milford, CT 06460 (203) 783-5700
259 Merwin Ave., Milford, CT 06460 (203) 783-5770
205 Bridgeport Ave., Milford, CT 06460 (203) 783-5780
1455 Boston Post Road, Milford, CT 06460 (203) 783-5790
295 Boston Post Road, Milford, CT 06460 (203) 783-3017
And, In Stratford:
2366 Main Street, Stratford, CT 06615 (203) 386-9176
ShopRite Office 250 Barnum Ave Cutoff, Stratford, CT 06614 (203) 378 – 2260

Thank you for your generosity in donating, and Thank You to Milford Bank for sponsoring this collection.

Recycling Makes Money!

How do you feel about good news? 

Recycling Contract Means New Green Revenue for the City

CRRA to Accept Books, Large Rigid Plastics for Recycling

The Million Residents of CRRA Recycling Towns Can Keep Phone Books, Buckets, Baskets, Bins and Many Other Items out of Trash

The Mayor [Ben Blake] called upon all Milford residents to join his challenge and boost their recycling efforts. 

“By recycling more, we not only support the environment but we also generate new revenue for the City and keep taxes low,” Blake said. “This is truly a win-win.”

Effective immediately, CRRA’s state-of-the-art single-stream recycling facility will accept a number of additional items including   •  large toys,   •  beverage crates,   •  laundry baskets,   •  recycling bins,   •  telephone directories,   •  storage containers and   •  hard-cover books.

Any of these items that fit inside the single-stream barrel can be recycled, provided that
  •  all metals such as bucket handles and wheel axles are separated
     from the plastic items;
  •  all items are rinsed and
  •  covers from hard-cover books are removed and placed in the trash.

A complete breakdown of all items residents of participating communities can recycle, along with instruction on preparing those items for recycling, is on CRRA’s website.

Milford Farms and Farmers' Markets

Supporting local agriculture is fun

By Barbara Currier Bell
As seen in the MilfordMirror on July 26, 2013 

In the early 21st century, Connecticut has been getting back to its family farming “roots.” Environmentalists promote family farming as wise land-use policy, especially in Milford, blessed with prime agricultural soils. Health-conscious “locavores” demand access to food with the freshness, high nutrient levels, and low pesticide burden provided by neighborhood farms.

Finally, economists emphasize small-farm rewards due to employment, land-use diversification, and so-called “external” efficiencies, meaning efficiencies realized from the services nature supplies free of charge. Milford has three summer farm markets: One at Treat’s Farm in Woodmont, one in downtown Milford by the train station, and one in Devon on Route 1 between Naugatuck Avenue and the Washington Bridge. These markets support family farms by giving them new outlets for distribution.

[Editorial insert]
The Downtown Milford Farmers Market runs every Saturday through October, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., in the parking lot near the River St side of the Milford Railroad Station. All the vendors are self-producing Connecticut farmers. Features Scratch Bakery goodies and breads, locally grown vegetables and herbs, hormone-free meat and poultry, and much more.

The Village of Devon hosts a farmers market on Sundays at the municipal lot at 120 Bridgeport Ave. from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Fresh seafood, fruits, vegetables, flowers and baked goods. WIC and DSNAP vouchers accepted. Live music.

The Woodmont Farmers’ Market at the Robert Treat Farm is held Wednesdays. Located at the corner of New Haven and Merwin avenues, the Woodmont Farmers’ Market will be open every Wednesday, from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m., through the end of September, rain or shine.

So far so good, but community-supported agriculture (CSAs) up the ante. They’re small farms using direct distribution. Whether alone or supplemental to farmers’ markets, CSAs are more nitty-gritty than the markets and more fun.

First, “fun.” Typically, the way a CSA works is that members pay a set amount in advance for a summer’s worth of farm product. On a certain day each week, members pick up a basket of food at their CSA, but they don’t know in advance what’s going to be inside. They might get a few items they’ve never heard of, such as bok choy, kohlrabi, or tatsoi, radishes in unlikely shapes and colors, red currants or white eggplant or purple squash they scarcely know how to prepare.

Besides sheer novelty, these unfamiliar species offer way more diversity than a customer ever finds at a grocery store, even counting exotic imports. Then consider the abundance. Flowers and herbs can be cut as bonuses to the weekly basket, and, sometimes, when a particular vegetable or berry crop ripens all at once, members can pick all they want.

Next, “nitty-gritty.” CSAs bring members up close and personal with farmland. Sometimes, as mentioned, members act as farmhands themselves; in any case, when members are at the CSA they see their food growing, not just sitting on shelves. The ecological connections underlying agriculture are evident all around.
Here, the farming history of Milford comes alive. Sun, rain, and the slow progress of the seasons rule. Farm work is more than isolated individuals can do by themselves, so community becomes important, as reflected in the way CSA members share a common schedule and set of basket items; additionally, many CSAs celebrate the end of their year in September with a party for all their members—a feast entrée from the farm, the rest pot-luck.

Originally, America was a nation of farmers. What our forebears called the “symmetry” of nature was all-important: They tried to preserve it with diligence, patience and frugality.

Today we use the term “sustainability.” Regardless of the label, the basic concept is illustrated in every CSA: Human beings are not “above” nature, but embedded in it together with all nature’s creatures.

Our health depends on the health of the land.

Raise Your SAT Score NOW!

Milford-based
College Placement Firm Expands

Disclosure: The following is a Press Release from First College Placement,  the brainchild of the terrific James Maroney, who is our newest State Rep from Milford. Beyond that, they do wonderful work and increase teens SAT scores to get them into the best possible position for applying to College.
Get your kids enrolled right away!

First Choice College Placement is pleased to announce it will be opening new classroom facilities to serve students in Norwalk, Monroe, Wallingford and their respective surrounding communities. In Norwalk they will be located at 430 Main Avenue, in Monroe at 601 Main Street, and in Wallingford at 950 Yale Avenue. The new facilities are the result of a strategic partnership with All-Star Driver, Connecticut’s leader in driver’s education. 

First Choice College Placement has been providing SAT/ACT test preparation classes in Milford since 1999, and beginning in August, those same test preparation classes will be available at the three All-Star Driver classroom facilities - Norwalk, Monroe and Wallingford.

“Our two businesses serve the same groups of high school juniors and seniors, so it just made sense to utilize these state-of-the-art classrooms when they are available,” said James Maroney, Director of First Choice College Placement LLC. “We employ a variety of technologies to assist students in the classroom, such as white boards, iPads, and recording of each session for review at the student’s convenience. In addition, all classroom sessions are taught by our highly qualified tutors who are graduates of top universities.”

First Choice has worked with a number of recruited athletes to help them get the scores to qualify for Ivy League schools and other academic requirements, along with helping a wide variety of students, including high academic achievers, realize their college-related goals.

“First Choice gave my son direction on studying for the SAT’s, his essay and selecting the right school,” said Peter Graeb of Wallingford. “My son’s ultimate college choice could not have been better for him and the experience was so rewarding we used them again with my younger son, with the same great results.”

For more information, call (800) 575-0950 or email jmaroneyct@gmail.com.  www.firstchoicecollege.com/

 And, yes, James, I am impressed.

Our Government Gives Grants - Not a Bad Thing at all

For Immediate Release:
June 12, 2013
Contact: Elizabeth Benton (860) 729-3589
Elizabeth_Benton@blumenthal.senate.gov

   
BLUMENTHAL, MURPHY, DELAURO
ANNOUNCE FEDERAL GRANT
TO UPGRADE FIRE ALERT SYSTEM IN MILFORD

(Hartford, CT) – U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-3) announced today a $280,000 federal Assistance to Firefighters Grant for the Milford Fire Department to assist in the purchase of a new fire station alert system. The new system will improve response time and more efficiently integrate communications systems between departments.

The grant program is administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency in cooperation with the U.S. Fire Administration.

“These federal funds will help improve response time, communication and coordination for Milford firefighters, an investment that will undoubtedly save the lives of residents and first responders. Our firefighters and first responders risk their lives every day to save ours, and deserve the assistance and support of the best, state of the art life-saving equipment and systems,” Blumenthal said.

“When it comes to fighting fires and keeping our families safe, seconds count,” Murphy said. “This funding will give Milford a new fire station alert system and give firefighters a crucial new tool to help to save lives,” Murphy said.

“Time is of the essence in any emergency situation and seconds can make a difference when lives are in the balance. The new alert system will go a long way towards keeping Milford residents safe, and ensure the safety of the first responders serving our community. My heartfelt thanks go to the men and women who so willingly risk their safety to keep the rest of us safe,” said DeLauro.
“This is welcome news for Milford’s public safety and infrastructure and will help us stay at the cutting edge of technology and innovation. It is a victory for the Milford EMS and for the residents of Milford. This grant will make sure that Milford has the highest standards of safety and protection,” said Milford Mayor Ben Blake.

The grant is the 21st firefighting grant awarded in Connecticut in Fiscal Year 2013. Middletown received $1.14 million to hire eight additional firefighters and Waterbury received $2.9 million to hire new fire recruits through the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) and Assistance to Firefighters grant programs administered by FEMA. New Britain, New Milford, Brookfield, Stratford, Bristol, East Woodstock, Killingly, Plainfield, Willington, Seymour, Middletown, East Hartford, Shelton, Norwalk, Torrington, Southington and Waterbury also received grants to support operations and safety measures.
###

Local Author Debuts Book on George Washington

Milford author Logan Beirne will be discussing his book “Blood of Tyrants” at Collected Stories Bookstore, on Thursday, June 13, from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

In the book, Beirne reveals through painstaking research, new and surprising details of George Washington’s military leadership and how the experience of the American Revolution formed the basis of the constitution and defined presidential powers.

From the introduction, the author writes: “A bloodthirsty Congress demands revenge. The commander in chief weighs torture. Politicians clash with generals over war policy. Americans’ liberties come under attack. No, this is not the post-9/11 United States. This is the side of the American Revolution you never knew.”
  Collected Stories Bookstore
12 Daniel Street
Milford CT 06460

Thursday June 13
6:30 pm - 8 pm.
Everyone is invited to the event and the author, an Olin Scholar at Yale Law School, will be available to answer questions. For more information, go to collectedstoriesbookstore.com.

Sat May 18 - Free Event for Families

A FREE family festival with many exhibits that are ecology-centric.
Kids activities, food and fun!

 






























The Milford Rotary Pavilion is behind the library off New Haven Avenue.

Grab Your Festive Hats!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Start your Horses!

Coming Event: Love on Sunday

Come to the Milford Arts Center when M&M Productions present
A.R. Gurney's "Love Letters"
Sunday, April 28th at 2pm
Have you ever known someone who touched every part of your life?
Have you loved someone across time and distance?
Share in the story of Melissa and Andrew as they grow together through the power of the pen!

The Milford Arts Center is great! It occupies what was once a train station (the other side of the tracks still has a waiting room area). The Milford Arts Council arranges for all sorts of musical events, photography and painting shows, plays, and more. Location (you kind of guessed it): 40 Railroad Ave. Milford CT 06460
Easy access by train! Or bus... or car... or bike...

Tickets $15, Members $10
Call 203-878-6647 to reserve your seat for this fantastic show.

Important (and Free) Mental Health Info Event April 30

Mental Health is part of Health.
There has been a lot of discussion "post-Newtown"  about mental health. (Quote marks are because there is some discussion about not tainting the place name and instead calling the event "December 14th" but I am unsure if this is a movement by realtors to preserve property values or actually a true sentiment of the victim's families.)

Anyway, on April 30th, to kick off Mental Health Month, The Milford Prevention Council and Cachement Area Council 6 (part of the CT Dept of Mental Health and Addiction Services) are hosting an event at the Milford Public Library - and it is free. (also: Free parking behind the Library, bus stop nearby from Stratford and beyond and from New Haven - walking distance from Milford MetroNorth train station.)

Milford Library
57 New Haven Avenue
Tuesday, April 30
6:30 – 8 pm. 

To kick off May is Mental Health Month
The Region II Regional Mental Health Board CAC 6 and The Milford Prevention Council will sponsor an event “Celebrating Good Health, Wellness and Mental Health”
_______________________________

Speakers include Michael Sernyak, M.D., CEO of the Connecticut Mental Health Center in New Haven, who will discuss the “health” crisis in mental health and how overall wellness can address it. 

Additional speakers will discuss community support systems for people with mental illness. 

Photographs by members of Bridges’ Young Adult Services program will be displayed, and handcrafted items such as jewelry and pillows from the Young Adult Services store, “Metamorphosis,” will be available for purchase. 

The discussion is open without charge to the public.  Refreshments served.

 _______________________________

The Milford Prevention Council is a coalition of community professionals working together to prevent and reduce substance abuse among youth.  Community mental health and substance abuse treatment programs in Milford, West Haven and Orange comprise the Region II Regional Mental Health Board CAC 6.