Community News

The Lions have identified 239 veterans buried in Norfolk’s five cemeteries and will mark the graves with wreaths, beginning at noon on December 13, National Wreaths Across America Day. Anyone who would like to volunteer to help with the placement should call Sandy Evans at 860-866-7923.

Donations are being sought to help pay for the wreaths, which cost $17 each. Checks to help support the project can be made out to Wreaths Across America and left at the National Iron Bank. Local groups such as the Lions can register with Wreaths Across America to become a “Sponsorship Group” and receive a portion of the cost of each wreath that can be used for local programs.

More than 5,000 groups participate in in Wreaths Across America. This is the first year the Norfolk Lions Club has taken part.

Haystack Woods has planned a second community open house for Sunday, November 9, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. to allow prospective homeowners another chance to view the 10 two- and three-bedroom homes now under construction.  

The affordable homes, being erected by the Foundation for Norfolk Living, are highly energy efficient and will be available for sale to first-time buyers. They are priced between $159,000 and $261,000 for households that earn less than Litchfield County’s median income. To qualify, for example, a three-person household would have to have income of less than $83,300.

Visit norfolkliving.org for more details about the homes, the pre-application process and the Foundation for Norfolk Living.

Haystack Woods is located a short distance from the intersection of Old Colony Road (now one way) and North Street/Route 272. Guests should drive up Haystack Woods Road to the top of the hill.

It may seem early to think about holiday décor, but the very popularity of the holiday wreath workshops at Great Mountain Forest urges us to tell you about the event so you can make reservations. The workshops always sell out.

Participants craft a holiday wreath that’s uniquely theirs while enjoying hot cider, tasty seasonal snacks and plenty of laughter and conversation. 

The four workshops will be held at the Mountain House Barn, 200 Canaan Mountain Road, Falls Village, on December 6 and December 7, in both the mornings and afternoons. Bring your favorite pruning shears and imagination.

Registration is $40.

It’s the time of year when we begin to pull out our winter clothing and there it is—that button you forgot to replace, the hem where some stitches have let go, or a simple repair that is needed before the garment can be worn again.

Help is at hand. A Mending Café will be held Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Norfolk Hub where volunteers from the Clothes Closet will tend to small mending tasks. 

The service is offered free of charge but donations to the Church of Christ will be accepted to support programs such as the Clothes Closet and Food Pantry. 

Volunteer menders will take on the tasks on a first-come, first-served basis. The Clothes Closet will also be accepting gently use clothing and linens, as well as textiles to recycle.

“I’m super-excited about this,” said Jennifer Pfaltz, one of the organizers. She said the Clothes Closet now operates under the auspices of the Church of Christ’s Green Team and one of its goals is to encourage people to reduce, reuse and recycle.

“The Clothes Closet is really for everyone,” said Pfaltz. “This is a grass roots group that is starting to think about ways to educate people about textiles and clothes and how to upcycle them.” 

Sweaters that have been repaired, sometimes in imaginative ways to give them a new lease on life will be for sale at the event. “It’s fun to do and nice to see something that might have ended in trash that is new again,” Pfaltz said.

“We’ve never done a mending café, so we have no idea what people will bring in,” she said. “If it’s something that can’t be done at the café, maybe people could leave [the item] and we could work on it. My hope is that we try different things like this to try to reduce the amount of waste in the textile industry.”

Social Services Director Tara Yard is worried. With SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits due to stop November 1, she foresees increased pressure on both the selectman’s discretionary fund and the Norfolk Food Pantry as people are deprived of the governmental food assistance.

SNAP funds will remain unavailable until the federal government shutdown ends. Benefit cards will not be loaded with new purchasing power and any unused benefits left on them will not be available until the government resumes operation.

Governor Ned Lamont has announced $3 million in emergency funding for Connecticut Foodshare to expand its capacity to help those in need, according to the state website.

“Norfolk has a lot of people who need help and are quiet about asking for it,” said Yard. “The saddest part is older people living alone. The amount they receive is not enough to buy groceries for a month. I worry, and I see who people come in and they are worried.”

She said that SNAP benefits, which can only be used for certain kinds of foods, are based on income rather than assets. “A lot of people on SNAP are living in their own homes, but a lot of older people are finding it much harder. It’s a terrible time for this to happen and will put a huge strain on the food pantry.”

Town officials and volunteers at the food pantry have been discussing how to fill the gap for a month, she said. “We’re going to rely more on the Food Bank in Torrington. But they are in the middle of moving and working to get open as soon as possible. 

“Lynn Deasy [head of the food pantry operated out of Battell Chapel] is amazing and she has the most dedicated group working with her,” Yard continued. But with demand already high, the food pantry has had to cut back from four to three open days and on the geographical area it serves, limiting itself to people from Norfolk, Canaan, Colebrook, Falls Village, Winchester and Winsted starting November 11.

“They had to scale down the radius of the area they serve. Food banks just couldn’t keep up with the demand [when inflation soared]. Food pantries are going to be invaluable now,” Yard said.

She suggested that those who wish to help families in need during the governmental shutdown make donations to the Norfolk Food Pantry or send donations to the Selectman’s Discretionary Account, PO Box 592, Norfolk CT 06057. The discretionary fund, administered confidentially by Yard and the first selectman, is designed to help people who can’t afford food or who are in danger of having their power shut off.

It promises to be a dark and stormy night tonight (Friday) with clouds obscuring the moon, cool temperatures and a brisk breeze blowing in Norfolk on Halloween.

Once again, trick-or-treating will be confined to Maple Avenue and the streets immediately off it, so residents who are availing themselves of early voting are asked to approach and leave the Town Hall from the Route 44 end. The Town Hall will be open for voting until 6:00 p.m.

As in the past, members of the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department will be on the street from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. to hand out candy and to help keep pedestrians safe.

The firefighters will also be handing out treats at their fire station (20 Shepard Road) during those hours, and all are encouraged to stop by.

Veterans will be recognized through the town this year, with Veterans Trees set up at the National Iron Bank, 12 John Curtiss Road, and at the Norfolk Hub, 2 Station Place. Residents are invited to add a tag to the trees making a donation to the Torrington branch of the American Legion Sailors, Soldiers and Marines Fund, which supports both active service people and veterans.

Donations can be made in cash, by personal check or through Venmo.

The Church of Christ Congregational will honor veterans with a Chapel Coffeehouse  focused on “The Ways We Served, Veteran’s  Service Stories” Saturday, November 8, at 7:00 p.m. in Battell Chapel. The evening will feature stories presented by Chad Gomez, Neil Normann, Jamie Robinson, Bill Eckert and Lisa Sullivan.

Coffee and desserts will be provided and a free-will offering or donations of coffee will benefit the Food Pantry.

Finally, Botelle School will again stage its veterans’ assembly on November 11, beginning at 10:30 a.m. All veterans have been invited to attend, and a luncheon will be served after the program.

Botelle students’ performance in math not only outstripped the statewide average for its non-high-needs students, as measured by the Smarter Balanced Assessment of Academic Progress, but also reflected a significantly higher percentage of all students who met or exceeded growth rate targets.

Smarter Balanced testing looks at two areas of achievement, performance and the students’ rate of growth. Statewide, 63.1 percent of all students met or exceeded the performance standards. 

When Botelle’s high-needs students are factored into the 2024-25 performance results, the school achieved a 57 percent rate. More than half of the students at the school are considered to have high needs, defined as those with a disability, who are English as a Second Language learners, or are eligible for free- or reduced-price meals.

Last year, Botelle was recognized as a School of Distinction for the growth its students achieved and this year the results were even better. The testing showed that 74 percent of Botelle School students met or exceeded growth standards on the math portion of the assessment compared to a 60 percent average statewide, school principal Lauren Valentino recently told the Board of Education.

“I don’t think that growth was accidental,” Valentino said after the meeting. “We made an outstanding amount of growth from the previous year. Overall, we are below the state average, but if the students’ skills are growing, they are going to close the gap.”

An additional six students out of the 55 pupils attending the school were “very close to meeting the benchmark,” said school Superintendent Kevin Case. “Our goal now is to move them into the ‘meets standard’ band.”

“A high percentage of the students were right on cusp of meeting performance standards,” agreed Valentino, “and we expect their performance will continue to rise. If they had each answered one or two questions differently, we would have been at an overall performance rate of 71 percent.”

Case said the school staff is excited about the improving math scores. “Last year we put a laser-like focus on math, working with students in small groups or individually based on their needs. We gave specific feedback [about their work] and collaboratively set goals. It proved to be a great increase due to the teachers and students working hard.”

Botelle’s English/language arts assessment remained flat, however, with no upward trend. Reading scores have typically been higher than math in Connecticut schools and Case said the staff will now take part in professional development through ReadConn, a free state Department of Education professional learning series for K-3 teachers.

The Smarter Balanced Assessments performance results are useful, but the Botelle staff particularly focuses on the growth of the individual in a tiny school where small changes can easily sway percentages. “We look carefully at the goals for each student’s growth,” Case said. “Many of our students exceeded those goals. For Lauren and me, that is what is important. Hypothetically, when you have four sixth graders, three with special needs, and one has bad day on the day of the test, you can imagine the test results will not be an accurate reflection.” 

The bridge on Ashpohtag Road damaged in an accident earlier this month will be fully repaired today (Friday). “It looks fantastic,” said First Selectman Matt Riiska. Even more fantastic is the price tag—fully paid for through insurance held by the employer of the driver who struck it.

The Fire House Committee approved final bids totaling $9.3 million for a new firehouse Wednesday night. There will be approximately another million dollars in soft costs—insurance, contingency funds and the like, some of which may not be used.

“We’re very close to our maximum,” said First Selectman Matt Riiska, referring to the $10.4 million spending cap approved by a town meeting. “But we are working with our vendors to trim off at least another $300,000. We’ll be making choices along the way and [our construction manager] has already told the subcontractors to expect that. Then, we have to do our part to ensure that everything is on track and that no money is wasted anywhere.”

He said going out to bid yet again would probably only result in higher prices and predicted that contracts will be signed and funding in place for a late November groundbreaking.

Riiska is preparing to leave office after the November 4 elections but has promised to continue to work on the firehouse project to ease the burden on the incoming administration.