jEye on Enfield

By Marcus Hatfield
Journal Inquirer

ENFIELD — Justin Alaimo walked into a hospital in August with symptoms he thought pointed to a bad stomach flu.

A little more than 24 hours later, his doctors told him his heart was failing and that he needed an emergency heart transplant.

To help cover Alaimo’s astronomical medical expenses, his mother, Jackie Lavoy-Alaimo, has organized the “Have a Heart for Justin” fundraising dinner and raffle. The event will be held from 4 to 10 p.m. Saturday at the Knights of Columbus hall at 371 George Washington Road.
Continue reading “Have a heart: Fundraiser to help uninsured man pay for transplant”

Members of the Prawl Shawl Ministry work at Calvary Presbyterian Church in Enfield on items that they’ll donate to a variety of charities, healthcare facilities, and soldiers. From left are Ann DuPlessis, Roma Metivier, and Sue Sterling.

Enfield Prayer Shawl Ministry sends warmth to soldiers, others in need

By Marcus Hatfield
Journal Inquirer

ENFIELD — Jeane Roberts holds up two knitted skullcaps — one brown, one gray — that she says can be worn under a helmet.

“It gets very cold there,” she says of Afghanistan. “They’re even sleeping with them.”

The caps are among 20 that she will give to her nephew, Master Sgt. Chris Kellam of the U.S. Air Force, who is based in Afghanistan. Kellam will distribute them to other soldiers stationed there.

Roberts is the founder of a group that meets every Wednesday on the lower level of Calvary Presbyterian Church on King Street, creating knitted items that they donate to a number of groups, including soldiers, charities, and health care facilities.

Read more at the JI’s website…

By Marcus Hatfield
Journal Inquirer

ENFIELD — Larry Shortell has been to all 50 states, visited 80 countries, and has stepped foot on all seven continents, including Antarctica, at least twice.

Now, Shortell, a 47-year-old special education teacher for Winsted schools who lives in Enfield, has written a book about his global travels, “Summers Off: The Worldwide Adventures of a Schoolteacher.”

Shortell has made two round-the-world trips — in 2000 and 2006 — and plans to take a third next year. But he doesn’t wait for his circumnavigating adventures to travel; this past summer, in addition to traveling through the South, he went to Honduras to look for whale sharks, but he didn’t find any. He did get to swim with dolphins and snorkel with pilot whales, though.

The trips started as scuba expeditions; before he began teaching 14 years ago, Shortell worked as a scuba instructor. He picked out his first destinations based on things he’d read in diving magazines, but added other spots to his list after learning about them from fellow travelers.

Travel became a lifelong passion for Shortell about 20 years ago, when a close friend drowned and he nearly did, too. He said that was a “turning point” in the way he lived his life.

“Instead of work, work, work — if there’s something I dream of doing, I’m going to do it,” he said.

Read more at the JI’s website…

To find “Summers Off” on Amazon.com, click here.

To find Shortell’s blog, with dispatches from around the world, click here.

(Here’s your competition, Enfield: the Felt Road home of South Windsor Mayor Thomas Delnicki)

Hey, Enfield residents: Do you have an impressive display of Christmas lights at your house? If so, send us a picture and we’ll run it on our blog and Facebook page. (Send us a high resolution photo and we just might run it in the paper, too.) Just be sure to include your name and the street you live on so you get credit for your hard work and your neighbors know where to go to check it out!