5 East Haven Residents Named Merit Award Winners For Fall Fest

EAST HAVEN, CT —Mayor 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 September 5th at the Seasons, formerly known as the Country House Restaurant in East Haven beginning at 6 pm.

The event will also pay tribute to Mark Caponera, in memoriam, for his years of dedicated service. Tickets for the event are $ 50.00 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 September 6th, 7th and 8th 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, Lorena 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. Lorena 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 over 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. Joan 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.” Lisa, 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 5-10 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 over 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. Riya 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. Riya was chosen to participate in an internship experience with the East Haven High School Youth Cadet Program where she had the opportunity to shadow East Haven police officers. Riya 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, Mark came to the Board indicating that this was a great event and he wanted to get involved. For fifteen years, Mark 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. Mark 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 Mark adored him. For several years, town organizations tried to honor him at dinners, but he always refused. Tonight we honor you, Mark. So loved—so missed.

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 468-3205 or email him at eh.jcoppola@gmail.com.

For further information on the Festival you may go to the Town’s website: www.townofeasthavenct.orgorthrough social media.

FALL FESTIVAL SOCIAL MEDIA: Get all the latest entertainment schedules and weather related changes on your smart phone when you follow the East Haven Fall Festival:
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/EHFallFest & Twitter https://twitter.com/EHFallFest.