Three to Receive Distinguished Citizen Awards Wednesday

Our Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce membership will all gather on Wednesday at the Crowne Plaza in Cromwell to honor three outstanding members who will receive this year’s Distinguished Citizen Award: Harry Eben Burr, Gregory R. Shook and Deborah D. Shapiro. 

Every year, we present this award to people in the community who are successful in their businesses in addition to providing service to the community.

We also honor an individual from the civil service field who has made a difference in the community with the Chief Michael Green Award at an annual dinner.  The award is presented to a member of the police or fire community for outstanding service to the community and chamber.  

The candidates are nominated by a town selectman or mayor and service to the community beyond one’s duty is an essential criterion for selection. This year, Trooper First Class James Connelly, the resident state trooper of Haddam, will receive the Green Award for his outstanding service.

In addition, the chamber awards three outgoing seniors from the county’s high schools with college scholarships: The Lorraine C. McHugh Scholarship, The Harry H.S. Phillips Jr. Scholarship and Raymond E. Baldwin Scholarship.

This year, the recipients are: Allison Ballek of Hale-Ray High with the McHugh scholarship; Jacob Sattler of Vinal Technical High with the Phillips scholarship; and Natalie I. Schmitt of Middletown High with the Baldwin scholarship.

The final portion of the dinner Wednesday will include our outgoing chairwoman, Teresa Opalacz, as she passes the gavel to the incoming chairwoman, Kelly Smith. 

This year has been a wonderful one that really brought the chamber forward with key legislative issues, strategic planning, and successful events. Teresa is behind each of these accomplishments and I thank her for her leadership and commitment to our cause.

Congratulations to Beth DiLoreto of Prudential Connecticut Realty of Middletown who took home the Chamber Real Estate Council’s 2011 Mary Ellen Klinck Real Estate Agent of the Year Award last week at the council’s annual real estate luncheon.

The chamber presents this award each year to an agent who has made outstanding volunteer contributions to the community. Recipients exhibit professionalism and success in the field. Beth received the award this year not only for her great achievements during her more than 22 years in real estate, but also for her outstanding volunteer contributions.

Another great event from last week was a joint meeting between the Chester/Deep River/Essex Division of the Chamber and the Environment, Land Use and Energy Committee with Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Dan Esty, hosted by Valley Railroad in Essex.

The event was a true success with over 75 of the Chamber’s committee members that met to hear from Commissioner Esty and ask him questions about regulatory and land use issues that impact the business community.

Finally, a big thanks goes to all of our mentors from the Middletown Mentor Program, led by Hal Kaplan and Jennifer De Kine.

This year, we had 60 mentors. Kaplan is the driving force behind this outstanding program and I would like to praise him for his unrelenting effort. He started this program 19 years ago, and works just as hard with it today as he did in its first year.

We are on the brink of Travelers Championship and tickets can be purchased for $19 for each full day of competition. 

For information, call (860) 347-6924 or email matthew@middlesexchamber.com.