Ansonia Seeking Marching Units

Foundation donates bikes to Boys and Girls Clubs of Ansonia, Shelton

The Foundation for Life, Inc., a charitable organization supported by employees of Barnum Financial Group, an office of MetLife, is donating bicycles and helmets to 60 children during the Boys and Girls Club Annual Back-A-Kid Campaign Event. 

At this event, First Niagara Bank will be providing the children with vouchers to the Sports Center of Shelton.

Barnum Financial Group employees will help raise the funds for the bikes and helmets. Each organization will surprise the children with their bikes and helmets. 
The bikes will not only allow the children to get out into their communities but also provide a fun way to stay physically fit and healthy.

Paul Blanco, Managing Director of Barnum Financial Group and Founder of the Foundation for Life, Inc., was introduced to Bikes for Kids by the founders of the Bikes for Kids program, Bill and Debbie Pollakov. 
Since 2007, the Foundation for Life, Inc. with the support of the Barnum Financial Group employees has donated over 1,500 bikes and helmets to underprivileged children throughout Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island. 

The children are typically invited to a free day of family fun where they are given the additional surprise of a bike to take home. 
This year alone they have enjoyed events at the Rockland Boulders Baseball Game; a Jets football game, an afternoon in the Giants' field house as well as a baseball game with the Rhode Island Pawtucket Red Sox. 
Many of these children may not have ever attended a baseball game or owned a bike; which is what makes this program so special.

"At Barnum Financial Group, we are committed to making a difference in the communities we serve,” said Paul Blanco, Managing Director.

“My wife Mindee and I started the Foundation for Life as an avenue through which we and our employees could improve the lives of children and families.”  

Barnum Financial Group, an Office of MetLife, provides a full range of investment and risk management products and services to over 220,000 clients including individuals and their families as well as small businesses, corporations, government entities, not-for-profit organizations and their employees. 

Offices are located in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. 

For more information visit www.foundationforlifeinc.org or www.barnumfinancialgroup.com.

This is a press release from Barnum Financial Group.

Benefit car and bike show planned at Emmett O'Brien Tech in Ansonia

Re-posting as a reminder ~ car show this Saturday

ANSONIA - The sixth annual car and bike show to help needy students will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the field at Emmett O'Brien Technical High School, 141 Prindle Ave.

'The Conn Men,' professional stunt riders, will perform.

There will be music, food and door prizes. The first 50 cars and 50 bikes to arrive will receive a prize bag.

Participants will receive a free door prize ticket with the $10 admission fee. Rain date is June 22.

Vendors are needed. For information contact Vickie, 203-231-4249.

I spotted this 1950 Crosley at a car show earlier this spring. 
Will it make an appearance at Emmett O'Brien?

Blessing of riders and bikes slated at Ansonia church

ANSONIA - Christ Episcopal Church, 56 S. Cliff St., will co-host a Blessing of Riders and Bikes May 5 after the 10 a.m. Service of Holy Eucharist.

At about 11:30 am, riders and passengers (and other interested persons) will gather in the parking lot around the Holy Water Pot and participate in a Liturgy to prepare for the Blessing of Riders and Bikes.

 
Blessings will be offered by the Rev. Dick Beattie, Interim Rector, Christ Episcopal Church, and Chaplain of Star Touring & Riding Chapter 293, New Haven.

Participants are encouraged to wear Chapter Colors for the event. It will run until 3 p.m.

Riders are welcome to attend the Celebration of Holy Eucharist at 10 a.m.

There will be coffee and light refreshments available.

This information is taken from a press release.

Bikes headed to Toys 4 Kids program today

Neopost USA donates bikes to TEAM Inc.'s Toys 4 Kids

During the past 12 holiday seasons, Neopost USA and TEAM, Inc have enjoyed a unique partnership to provide smiles to children. 
Employees of Milford-based Neopost USA raise money through a variety of year long events at the company to allow for the purchase of bicycles for area children.
 “The success of this program year after year demonstrates the generosity and commitment to the community by our engaged and results- oriented employees. The spirit of giving runs throughout this organization from raising the money to actually building the bikes,” says Neopost USA President and CEO Dennis P. LeStrange. 

“Our employees have a long tradition of generosity and a strong sense of giving all year round through this and many other charities that benefit our community.”

“Neopost employees are an extraordinary group of socially-conscious residents. Their continued philanthropy has endeared them to the region’s families and our staff at TEAM,"  said Richard Knoll, President and CEO of TEAM.  
Today Neopost USA will coordinate two truckloads of bikes for delivery to TEAM for the Toys 4 Kids program.  The bikes will be distributed Dec. 17 and 18 in Seymour.  

Bicycles are distributed through a lottery program for families and individuals who registered for the annual Toys 4 Kids program. 

 
From the start of this partnership, Neopost USA employees have donated more than 2,000 bicycles to needy children.
For information on Neopost USA, visit www.neopostinc.com.  

This information was taken from a press release from the Derby-based TEAM, Inc. Its programs serve the communities of Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Derby, Milford, Orange, Oxford, Shelton, Seymour, and Woodbridge.   

 
 

Was the Pierre Lallement Festival of Bikes a success? Oui!

Since I covered several of the planning meetings for the second annual Pierre Lallement Festival of Bikes in Ansonia I must say I was geared up for it.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.
  

Some of the folks who pedaled from the New Haven Green to downtown Ansonia.

Onlookers cheer their arrival.

On Sunday the months of hard work and planning by members of the Economic Development Commission and the Cultural Commission paid off.

Vinnie Scarlata, chairman of the Economic Development Commission, said he was pleased with how the festival turned out. "We achieved what we wanted to achieve," he said. "We planted our flag. We are the home of the bicycle."

Lallement, a Frenchman, was living in Ansonia in 1865 when he invented the pedal bicycle, for which he received a patent.

The festival featured live entertainment by the FB Lilly Band, activities for children, bike demos, obstacle courses, and food.

Three eighth graders read their winning essays about Lallement. The Ansonia Historical Commission sponsored an essay contest and the students were awarded cash prizes.

Ansonia Middle School eighth grader Ryan Amato reads his essay, "Ride of the Wooden Horse."

Assumption School eighth grader Raymond Hagan's essay said Lallement drew crowds anxious to see him pedal the invention.

 Assumption School eighth grader Adam Derbyshire also wrote about Lallement's two-wheeled "contraption."

This lad on an antique bicycle looks like he wants to join the boys on the sidewalk.

I enjoyed myself at the festival and am looking forward to an even bigger event next year.

Did you attend the event? What are your thoughts?