With a nod to Newtown Chamber of Commerce’s own recently published “Need Help” brochure, the organization is focusing its Monday, April 20, Newtown Leaders Forum webcast on helping local business owners and leaders focus on “Resiliency Under Stress.” It will be presented free from 5:30 to 6:30 pm.

The weekly Facebook Live simulcast of the Zoom forum is co-sponsored by the Newtown Chamber of Commerce, The Newtown Bee, and beginning Monday, welcomes the Newtown Department of Economic and Community Development as a partner, as well. The series of webcasts was conceived by — and is being co-hosted, produced, and moderated by — local realtor and Newtown Police Commissioner Andrew Sachs.

The scheduled guests include First Selectman Dan Rosenthal and Chamber President Scott Anders, as well as guests originally set to appear last Monday on the webcast that was postponed because of weather issues. John Woodall, MD, and private practitioner/psychiatrist, and Newtown Police Sergeant Scott Ruszczyk will be joined by Stephanie Cinque MSW, founder and former director of The Resiliency Center of Newtown.

Viewers can tune in via Facebook on the following pages: The Newtown Bee (facebook.com/TheNewtownBee/), Chamber of Commerce of Newtown, Inc (facebook.com/NewtownChamber/), The Around Town Team-Top 1% Selling Real Estate Team (facebook.com/AroundTownTeam/), and Your Connecticut Realtor — Andy Sachs (facebook.com/YourConnecticutRealtor/).

To participate during the event, viewers can type questions on the Your Connecticut Realtor Facebook page as they watch. Questions can also be submitted in advance to Chamber official Helen Brickfield at helenbrickfield@newtown-ct.com.

Promoting Community Teamwork

Sachs envisioned a multi-part weekly virtual forum as an opportunity for sharing critical information, best practices, and ideas among key community leaders, to help build confidence across the community with an opportunity to see, hear, and interact with leaders, local business owners, and experts on key areas of concern.

He and the event’s co-sponsors and participants also hope to establish communications, connections, and community teamwork to successfully overcome challenges posed by the coronavirus crisis, which physically is keeping everyone apart and making collaboration difficult.

Chamber President Scott Anders said he is planning to engage conversation around ways “to help business owners and community members more effectively deal with the new and additional stresses that have come from this crisis, and how to find and employ successful resiliency measures for ourselves, our families, our employees, and our relationships with our customers.”

“This week we want to take a deeper dive into resiliency — and how we can most effectively deal with the new stresses in our lives,” Anders said. “Whether we like it or not — everything is different. This crisis is unique in that it is universally touching everyone, every relationship, and is taking us into uncharted territory.”

The postponed webcast that ended up running with a shortened guest list on April 15 nonetheless provided some unique insights on how two local business owners were dealing with a COVID-19 world, and included some advice stemming from the creative ways John Boccuzzi, Jr, of BD Provisions Newtown and Fairfield, and Michelle Carrino-Hanson of Farmhouse Restaurant had to pivot and adapt.

An archive of that Facebook live webcast can be viewed at Sachs’ business site or by scrolling to the April 15 webcast post on The Newtown Bee's Facebook page.

The first selectman, who is participating in each weekly webcast, said it is “great to have some familiar local people sharing their own perspectives.”

“Hopefully we won’t be experiencing anything like this again for a very long time, or ever,” Rosenthal said. “But I think seeing and hearing local people with a shared experience of challenge creates some hopefulness that together, we’re going to pull through this. The spirit of camaraderie among local business operators and the sharing of their coping mechanisms is really important for all of us right now.”

Sachs agreed.

“It’s a sincere honor to be able to help present these forums to our town,” he said. “We are fortunate to have such talented small business, town employees, and mental health professionals among our ranks who genuinely care about not only their own survival, but that of their fellow Newtown residents.”

A Valuable Hour

Anders said he is happy to see this Chamber-centric activity benefitting any business owner who has an hour or so to tune in.

“We are pleased that this event is building some momentum with more and more people watching the live stream,” Anders added. “The entire intent of this forum is to help our community reconnect in this difficult time, and through this visual medium remind ourselves that we are still part of a great community.”

Anders observed that Boccuzzi at BD Provisions “had some great insight on adapting his business to meet the needs of his customers and it was so encouraging to hear the stories from Michelle Carrino at the Farmhouse restaurant about how the entire restaurant community is stepping up to help families in need.”

Boccuzzi said he thought the April 15 forum was wonderful.

“Lots to learn from other local businesses, including Michelle at Farmhouse,” he said. “I think everyone on the call agreed that small businesses need to quickly adapt to changes in the market to ensure survival. The other key highlight was how important hiring is and having outstanding teams ensures outstanding customer service. Especially during the tough times like this. Finally, it was great to hear how all of us are really focused on a super clean environment to protect our amazing customers.”

Boccuzzi said he firmly believes Newtown as a community will make it through this pandemic.

“Like we always do, we need to support our neighbors and the overall community we call home,” he said. “This includes all the amazing local businesses in town.”

As a representative of the Economic and Community Development office, Deputy Director Christal Preszler said she and her staff are “pleased to see this group providing a way for Newtown/Sandy Hook businesses and residents to stay in touch during a time when we cannot physically gather. Sharing ideas can help each other, and allow us to feel more connected when we might otherwise feel somewhat alone.”

The weekly webcast is another way for Preszler’s team to continue reaching out to the town’s businesses.

“And we encourage them to reach out to us,” she added.

Preszler can be reached at Christal.Preszler@Newtown-CT.gov or 203-270-4282. Her assistant, Kim Chiappetta, can be reached at Kimberly.Chiappetta@Newtown-CT.gov or 203-270-4271.