Hits For Harmon Fundraiser

Closing Out At Parade

Anyone looking to support a communitywide fundraiser in memory of The Newtown Bee’s former sports editor Kim Harmon will have a final chance to do so at the Labor Day Parade. The “Hits for Harmon” program, being handled primarily by his former teammates on the Newtown Sandy Hook Vintage Base Ball Team, involves pledging any amount from a penny on up for every run the team scored in its 2008 season.

Mr Harmon died in December 2007 from a heart attack at the age of 45, leaving his wife and three children.

As the season closes out, the team has compiled 200 runs. Anyone participating in the fundraiser can turn in their pledges at two separate locations during the Labor Day Parade to be qualified for several drawings taking place Tuesday, September 2.

Newtown Savings Bank, one of the sponsors of the “Hits for Harmon” program, will have pledge forms and collection stations set up at both the upper and lower reviewing stands, where the bank will also be distributing water to parade attendees, while supplies last.

On Tuesday, representatives from the vintage base ball team, the bank, The Newtown Bee, and invited guests from the American Heart Association will gather at noon at the Newtown Savings Bank main office on Main Street to receive the final tallies and draw several prizes for those who pledged to the fundraiser.

Among the prizes are tickets to an upcoming New York Yankees baseball game and a Bridgeport Sound Tigers hockey game. Other prizes were being solicited at press time.

An interim drawing held at an August 17 vintage base ball game awarded Scott Goodrich of Waterbury with tickets, parking, and clubhouse passes to a Yankees-Red Sox game. The final drawing includes tickets and parking for a September 12 Yankees vs Devil Rays match-up.

Anyone looking to donate last-minute prizes to the final drawing is asked to contact John Voket at The Bee via e-mail before 5 pm on Labor Day, September 1. E-mail: john@thebee.com.

Proceeds from the promotion, with pledges topping $4,000 to date, will be equally divided between the American Heart Association’s Connecticut Chapter, and the Harmon Family Fund being administered by the Newtown Savings Bank.