Gail Smith Awards Celebrates Progress In Services, Community Connections

By Larissa Lytwyn

Humanity was what Newtown Youth Services’ co-founder Gail Smith stood for, according to current Director Anthony Tozzi.

It is also, he said, what Newtown Youth Services stands for today.

The Gail Smith Awards, created in honor of Ms Smith shortly after she lost her battle with cancer in the early 1990s, each year recognizes a youth, adult, and business that exemplifies the humanity Newtown Youth Services champions.

After a round of applause “recognizing,” Mr Tozzi said, “past Gail Smith Awards recipients and those yet to be honored,” NYS Board member Kathleen Burns Hart introduced the nominators for each of the 2004 honorees.

Program Services coordinator Roseanne Loring began her nomination of Parent Connection founders Dorrie Carolan and Donna DeLuca with a quote from the book Simple Abundance.

“In order to hear your calling and answer it,” she quoted, “you must generously give yourself the gift of time. It’s not how fast you make your dream come true, but how steadily your pursue it.”

Ms Carolan and Ms DeLuca reestablished Newtown’s Parent Connection, a grassroots organization dedicated to preventing and raising awareness of substance use and abuse, last summer.

Over the past six months, they have held a number of community forums on subjects including alcohol and prescription drug abuse that drew audiences of up to 300.

“They successfully brought many different factions into the discussions,” Ms Loring said, “town officials, education personnel, law enforcement, and social service agencies.”

They also began a Monday night “Hope and Support” group in conjunction with Newtown Youth Services.

“We are absolutely humbled and honored by this recognition,” said Ms Carolan, accepting the award on behalf of Parent Connection. “What began as a crusade 11 years ago, in an effort to save my oldest son and many other young people who were struggling with addiction, has finally come to fruition.”

She continued, “Through the generosity of Newtown Youth Services, we were afforded the opportunity to fulfill the first part of our mission, which is to educate and empower our community in the prevention of substance abuse.”

She thanked First Selectman Herb Rosenthal, “who has had the courage to address Newtown’s drug problem, although, at times, this is not a popular stance,” as well as the support of the Newtown Police Department, Health District Director Judy Blanchard, school psychologist Pam Crowcroft, and Board of Education Chair Elaine McClure, as well as John Hamilton of LMG Services, a Fairfield County-based agency dedicated to substance abuse education and treatment.

“The biggest thank you goes to our families, especially our husbands, who support us when we go way out there on the limb, and to our children who continue to challenge and inspire us,” said Ms Carolan.

“And last, but certainly not least,” she said, “the community, who has supported us in this effort by attending our forums and participating in the discussions of this tough topics.”

She continued, “We have communicated with more than 500 families over the last year.”

The heartfelt speech drew thunderous applause and even visible emotion from many of the attendees.

NHS Senior Honored

Next, the Gail Smith Youth Award was bestowed upon Newtown High School senior Matthew Salvatore.

His nominator, Laurie Petrasanta of NYS’s family support services, described the youth as being “unaware of how special he is.”

“Matt is a real humanitarian,” she said. She described his deep friendship with Daniel Foehrenbach, an autistic student Matt has known since third grade.

Now they have been students together at Newtown High School.

“Some youths might be embarrassed to be seen with Dan,” said Ms Petrasanta, “but that does not stop Matthew from spending time with him. They interact every day.”

Matthew, she said in closing, “is a role model for everyone, old and young.”

An explosion of applause sounded as Matt, smiling shyly, rose to accept his award.

Business Award

Lastly, Michael Ronan, who was among the 2004 NYS board members thanked for “their dedication and service” to NYS, introduced the 2004 Gail Smith Business Award recipient, Kevin’s Community Center, Inc.

“If you live or work in Newtown, you know that in memory of his son, Kevin, Dr Z. Michael Taweh founded and opened a free medical clinic for Newtown residents who have no medical insurance and limited income,” Mr Ronan said. “One had only to look into his eyes to understand the depths of the love of a father for his son and to realize, as Dr Taweh often said in the beginning, with a steady and absolute confidence, regardless of any obstacle that arose: ‘This will happen.’ And we believed it.”

The same goodness that allowed volunteers to come together to work at the clinic, for “strangers to become friends,” also inspired youth, said Mr Ronan.

“[It] inspired a local youth group to jump at the chance to paint the clinic examination rooms on a Saturday morning,” he continued. “This same goodness encouraged a high school student to choose community health care as her project, then assemble and package foodstuffs for sale to raise money in her church [Newtown Congregational], donating the entire proceeds to Kevin’s Community Center.”

Friends, family, and supporters of Kevin’s Community Center accompanied Dr Taweh, his wife, Jocelyne, and son, Jason, to accept the award.

“There has been a need here for his kind of service in well-to-do Newtown,” said Dr Taweh. “There are those with no medical insurance and limited incomes. Since opening ten months ago, we have made mental health referrals, identified previously undiagnosed cases of hypertension, diabetes, and other illnesses. We have helped refer people who are struggling with substance abuse to the appropriate places.”

The award, he concluded, “is a celebration of the services we have aimed to provide to those in need here in Newtown.”

His acceptance speech was met with a powerful round of applause.

“I believe this entire evening has been a real celebration of progress,” noted Mr Tozzi, “of everything we have accomplished and will accomplish in the future.”

A Busy Year For NYS

The awards ceremony followed the NYS annual meeting, which highlighted its busiest year yet.

Events included the first annual Newtown Organization to Stop Underage Drinking’s (NO SUDS) awareness week themed “You Can Choose Not To Use.”

Prevention Services coordinator Nina Allred thanked the community, including district schools and businesses, for its support during the special week’s multiple events.

“We had our high school-aged peer educators discuss the dangers of underage drinking with sixth and eighth grade classes,” Ms Allred said. “Sixth and eighth grades are transition years, and very important times to discuss the consequences of underage substance use. In addition, our sixth graders presented the high school seniors with messages and pictures urging them not to engage in underage substance use and abuse.”

Newtown’s Parks and Recreation Department also sponsored an activity night at the Teen Center in support of NO SUDS week.

Director Anthony Tozzi then presented a preview of Newtown Youth Services’ future during the 2004-05 school year.

“We are excited about our move [to 10 Glen Road in Sandy Hook] this June to an environment we believe will be the perfect spot for the warm and welcoming atmosphere we are committed to fostering in this community,” he said.

The move seems to culminate a year of change for Newtown Youth Services, which four months ago welcomed Mr Tozzi as the organization’s new director.

“We are about 25 percent counseling and 75 percent positive development programming,” he said. “I would like to see more focus groups addressing a variety of subjects.”

He also emphasized Newtown Youth Services’ open-door policy.

“We welcome the community to stop by and comment, make suggestions or suggest changes,” he said.

He likened NYS to a tree that needed consistent pruning to stay healthy and fresh.

“I would like to see even more support services and programming,” Mr Tozzi said. He paused. “I know 2010 sounds far off, but it really isn’t that far off into the future. The more we ‘prune’ our trees, the more fruit we can produce. The more effort we put into continuing our services, the more support they — and we — will receive.”

Environmental Education and Media Support specialist Jonathan Argones presented a slide show of images highlighting NYS’s 25-year history. He also arranged a compilation of photographs commemorating a variety of events, from Independent Living Day to the Youth Talent Show.

The slide show was first viewed during the 2004 Youth Talent Show, held earlier this month.