Around Town

NCCF Awards More Than $1.25 Million in Grants

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The New Canaan Community Foundation on Monday announced that it’s awarding more than $1.25 million in grants this year—a total that the nonprofit organization believes is a record high. Each year, the NCCF convenes “grant review teams” composed of community members and leaders to assess requests for funding among local and area nonprofits. On Monday, the NCCF held its Grant Awards Coffee at New Canaan Library. There, the organization shared that it is awarding grants ranging from $2,500 to $25,000 to nonprofits that cover a wide range of human services and other needs, including ABC New Canaan, The Glass House, New Canaan CARES and Waveny Park Conservancy. The NCCF is “grateful to all of the donors that supported our work this year,” NCCF President and CEO Lauren Patterson told NewCanaanite.com during the coffee.

Around Town

‘We Have a Guardian Angel’: New Program Helps Locals Struggling with Auto Repair and Maintenance Costs

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New Canaan residents struggling with car-related costs can now get help through a new partnership involving the town, a nonprofit organization and local businesses. Caffeine & Carburetors—the antique and specialty car show launched by town resident Doug Zumbach outside his eponymous coffee shop on Pine Street—last year raised tens of thousands of dollars for the New Canaan Community Foundation and Waveny Park Conservancy. This year’s downtown C&C, scheduled for June 22, will direct all show funds—including those raised through its registration system—toward a new program that helps qualified New Canaanites with car maintenance and repair costs. 

“When we were thinking about the best use of these funds, we really wanted to make sure that it was going back into our community, and to support local families in one way or another,” C&C Director of Business Development Claire Drexler said. “And we felt like this, with the automotive tie-in, was the perfect way for us to give back to New Canaan, which has been so gracious in allowing us to continue to host this event.”

There are two Caffeine & Carburetors shows scheduled for this year, June 22 (downtown) and Oct. 19 (Waveny).

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‘Thank You for Celebrating This Moment’: Officials Cut Ribbon on Reopened ‘Rogers Studio’ at NCM&HS

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More than 50 people gathered at the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society last week for the widely anticipated reopening of the Rogers Studio. Moved to the nonprofit organization’s campus from its nearby original location on Oenoke Ridge in 1965, the single-room structure was “dedicated by the Department of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark for its exceptional ability to illustrate United States heritage” the following year, according to NCM&HS Executive Director Nancy Geary. “This building was the first in New Canaan to receive this designation, a rare and important honor,” Geary told the crowd on a sunny and comfortable afternoon on Sept. 12, minutes before a formal ribbon-cutting by First Selectman Dionna Carlson and NCM&HS Board President Tom Monahan. “It is a beautiful example of Victorian architecture and we are very pleased that this ‘Rogers Reimagined’ project has given it new life.”

The workspace for John Rogers, described by Geary as “the most popular sculptor in United States history,” the studio’s impressive renovation and collection came about because of many people’s generosity and respect for historic preservation, she said, specifically thanking: Todd Levine of the State Historic Preservation Office of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (he “recognized the importance of both the building and the artist and helped navigate the process,” Geary said); the Greenwich Historical Society (which “gifted the New Canaan Museum 63 groups, the vast majority of its collection.

Around Town

‘A Significant Partnership’: Caffeine & Carburetors Raises $16,000 for NCCF

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What New Canaanites know today as “Caffeine & Carburetors” had a short test run in 1995, outside of Doug Zumbach’s eponymous coffee shop on Grove and Pine Streets. It was a small gathering of just 30 cars and, though it was fun, the event was halted for several years—until about 15 years ago, when Zumbach resurrected the gathering of auto enthusiasts in what has become what he calls “the modern day Caffeine & Carburetors.”

This year, the town approved two of the hugely popular shows—one held downtown on June 16, and another planned for Oct. 20 at Waveny. For the first time in C&C history, that first show raised significant funds for a respected New Canaan nonprofit organization—a longtime goal of Zumbach’s. The Zumbach’s/C&C director of business development, Claire Drexler, said, “We’re so excited that the event has grown to this size where we’re able to leverage it in a way that gives back to the community, and we are really excited to continue to do so in the future.”

Last week, Drexler and Zumbach presented the New Canaan Community Foundation with a $16,000 check.