When things heat up, our volunteers stay cool

What do a firefighter, a police officer, a baker, a farmer, a teacher, students, a printer, a businessman, a graffiti artist, a Red Sox fan and a Yankees fan all have in common?

They all want great things for Middlesex County—and they all participated in our video shoot last week.

It was a hot, hot day with a high of 96 degrees and a heat index of 108, but our wonderful volunteers put on a smile—and a LIVE UNITED tshirt in some cases—and joined the excitement.

In the film, everyone will answer the same question: “What do you want for your community?”

And we got some great answers.  

“Community participation.”

“Health and safety.”

“Respect for everyone.”

 “Learning for real life.”

 “Access to healthy food.”

“Unity." 

We’d love to hear from you as well. You can tell us what you want for Middlesex County at www.middlesexunitedway.org/myvision.  

I’d like to say a great big thank you to the following volunteers who participated with us: Capt. Gary Wallace of the Middletown Police Department; Chief Robert Ross of South Fire District; Jennifer McGuinness of Fusion Bakery; John Lyman of Lyman Orchards; Laura Webster of Wesley School; Harry Burr of McCutcheon Burr & Sons; Dan Litwin of Young’s Printing; Ryan Christenson of RC Murals; Yankees fan Karen Warren of Wesleyan University; Red Sox fan Rick Waterman of L.H. Brenner Inc.; and students Alessandra Turco, Hayley Wilhelm, Cameron Wilhelm, Ben  Gilliland and Jordyn Carraway. We were also grateful for the support of Justin Carbonella and Jackie Carraway of Middletown Youth Services Bureau, Tom Cannata, principal of Wesley School, Tim Burt at Lyman Orchards and United Way intern Mia Centore.

We also owe a great big thank you to photographer John Giammatteo of Middlefield and director Taylor Warren of Yellowbarn Films and his crew. They are great partners to Middlesex United Way, and they were troopers in the heat.

LIVE UNITED.