0684-Radi0: Mobilizing New Canaan’s Volunteers and Donor Dollars



In this installment of 0684-Radi0—free and downloadable here in iTunes—we talk to New Canaan Community Foundation President and CEO Lauren Patterson about the organization’s unique process of involving dozens of residents in reviewing local needs and prioritizing grant funding to address them. This week’s podcast is sponsored by the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce, connecting community with commerce. The Chamber hopes to see you at the Sidewalk Sale, coming up July 12 and 13. Here’s more from 0684-Radi0:

Did You Hear … ?

The Greenwich Free Press is reporting that an arrest warrant has been issued for Heidi Lueders, a former town resident and head of a pit bull rescue organization who has been identified as the subject of an animal cruelty case in Fairfield. 

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New Canaan Police through the department’s Instagram account has issued safety tips for residents making online purchases in order to avoid becoming a victim of package theft. They include signing up for delivery alerts, ensuring someone is ready to collect the package, requiring a signature when possible and having packages sent to a workplace if feasible. ***

Asked about the Tourism and Economic Development Commission he plans to create, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said locals have expressed strong interest in joining and that, after candidates are approved by local town political committees, the group will see about 15 total members. ***

The town on Wednesday issued an after-the-fact building permit for a $10,000 job at a Putnam Road home. A new bathroom with a shower had been installed in the basement of the home by New Canaan-based Hoffman Contracting LLC, the permit said.

New Canaan Community Foundation Announces ‘Spirit of New Canaan’ Honorees

“They have given of themselves to make the community better”—that’s how New Canaan Community Foundation President and CEO Lauren Patterson describes five to be honored next month at the organization’s “Spirit of New Canaan” luncheon. Selected through a careful process that’s overseen by NCCF, this year’s honorees include: Tom McLane, who helped found the Community Foundation itself in 1977; Meg Domino, who has touched the lives of countless families here in 16 years as executive director of New Canaan CARES; New Canaan Land Trust board of directors member Schipper, widely credited with reinvigorating that important organization; and Kathie and Leo Karl Jr., heads of a civic-minded, longtime local family whose continuing legacy of community service is reflected in every aspect of the town. “The Spirit of New Canaan Awards are meant to honor remarkable people or couples who have an impact on the community, and typically that is through civic engagement, community leadership—volunteers or supporters of different efforts in the town who have made an impact,” Patterson said. The luncheon is to be held 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, April 24 at Woodway Country Club. Those seeking to reserve a seat ($100) may do so through the Community Foundation’s website.

‘Stay Connected with the Natural World’: New Canaan Land Trust Opens ‘Silvermine-Fowler Preserve’ [PHOTOS]

Jim Fowler describes himself as the type of person who promotes the natural world as important. An award-winning zoologist and New Canaanite for more than three decades, Fowler doesn’t mean saving animals alone by that, but also preserving open space and wilderness. “We need, in a community like this, to stay connected with the natural world,” Fowler said on a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon, seated in a foldout camping chair in the middle of the woods off of Silvermine Road as more than 200 locals gathered on the 6.35-acre property he purchased in 1984, arriving by shuttle bus or by way of leafy footpaths he knows intimately. “And that is why it gives me great pleasure. Look at this original forest around here.