While driving a larger-than-life bright orange chair through New York City recently, Newtown resident Douglas Calderone soon realized that its eye-catching qualities could do more than raise a smile.

He is now raffling off the chair with proceeds to benefit the Reach Newtown — a raffle at first set to conclude after the Labor Day Parade, but which Mr Calderone has extended through October 1. According to the organization’s website, Reachnewtown.org, “Reach Newtown is comprised of dedicated individuals who firmly believe in the power of creating meaningful and lasting relationships with our children to help shape the future.” Tickets are for sale for $10 at My Place Restaurant, and the winner takes home the chair.

Mr Calderone first built the Adirondack-style chair — a giant that dwarfs adults seated in it — for an event at Manhattan’s Conrad Hotel. The company Eventbrite had commissioned the work. An online ticketing service, Eventbrite also provides promotional and marketing tools to help make events such as a Tough Mudder obstacle course a success.

After the Manhattan event and in just a few city blocks, the fundraising idea bloomed. “I drove the chair through Manhattan and was blown away by the response it got from people on the streets,” he said. “At every intersection I was approached by people asking if they could sit in it and/or take a photograph of the chair. After seeing the response on my journey home, I had the idea of using it for a fundraiser.”

He then contacted My Place Restaurant owner Mark Tambascio who turned Mr Calderone’s attention to Reach Newtown. Although Eventbrite owned the chair, they chose not to keep it, and are “very happy with what it’s doing for the community,” Mr Calderone said.

Late last week the chair emerged on the corner in front of Mr Tambascio’s Queen Street restaurant, just a few days before the September 1 Labor Day Parade. Mr Calderone was soon at work repainting the big seat green.

Mr Calderone completed this work with his business partner James Maron. The two were at the Labor Day Parade where they and others sat in and around the chair. After the parade, Mr Calderone said, “People seemed to really like the chair itself. For some reason, when something we are used to seeing becomes skewed or displayed in an abstract way, people are tickled by the result.

“The chair is great for taking photographs because it makes the person sitting in it look like they are miniature.”

Mr Calderone welcomes this opportunity to do something beneficial. He said, “I was absent during the Sandy Hook tragedy and never got a chance to help out.” After spending several years in New York City, he recently came back to town. He wanted to “do something for my community.”

A Sandy Hook native, Mr Calderone said he “ just moved back to town after giving it a go in the city. I came back because I missed my community, family and friends.”

He said, “There is something very special about our little town. Sometimes you have to leave something to realize how much you appreciate it. I hope to grow my business here and to continue to support my community with similar projects.”

Mr Calderone works primarily with reclaimed materials to create furniture, and also works with corporate clients to produce scenes for events and photo shoots. According to his website, farmfreshreclaimed.com, “With a longtime passion for using recycled materials to give reclaimed wood a new life, projects include post and beam construction, furniture making and traditional finish carpentry.”