Time To Start Looking For Another Beautiful Baby

Lois Barber, in conjunction with the Northern Fairfield Blue Star Mothers, would like to remind proud parents, grandparents, and other family members that entries are being accepted for the 2012 Newtown’s Beautiful Baby Photo Contest, a fundraiser for Homes For Our Troops.

The contest is open to all babies, newborn to 4 years of age. To enter the contest, write the baby’s name and a contact phone number for his or her parents on the back of a nonreturnable 4-by-4-inch photo or a wallet-size photo. Mail the photo and a $10 check made payable to Homes for Our Troops to Baby Contest c/o Lois Barber, 33 Zoar Road, Sandy Hook CT 06482. Space is limited to the first 54 submissions.

Voting will open June 8 at Sandy Hook Fire & Rescue’s annual LobsterFest. Voting will continue for two weeks after that, with a booth relocated to Stop & Shop in Sand Hill Plaza. Voting will be done through the donation of money, with each vote costing $1. A locked presentation case will be set up to receive the donated votes.

The baby whose photo raises the most amount of money wins the title of Beautiful Baby 2012, and will ride in a chauffeur-driven convertible donated by Mercedes Benz of Danbury during the Newtown Labor Day Parade. The family of the winning baby will also receive a fun-filled family prize basket, and their photo will be printed in The Newtown Bee.

The baby should live locally enough to attend the parade and to use and enjoy the local gift certificates.

Homes For Our Troops is a national nonprofit that builds free handicapped-accessible homes for severely wounded military personnel.

Mrs Barber is organizing the contest in conjunction with the Northern Fairfield Blue Star Mothers. As in past years, 100 percent of the money raised through the contest will go to Homes For Our Troops. This year’s collection will be put toward building a home for Army Staff Sergeant Earl Granville of Lackawanna City, Penn., who lost his left leg in a roadside bomb incident four years ago and continues to need treatment for his right, which was also  injured in the blast.

Homes For Our Troops has benefited from Mrs Barber’s friendly competition — and the generosity of those who have “voted” for a Beautiful Baby — annually since 2009. Northern Fairfield County Blue Star Mothers began working with Mrs Barber on the project last year.