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Valley United Way Is Moving
 | | 54 Grove Street, Shelton |
Valley United Way is pleased to announce that it will be moving to the new nonprofit community center in the former Lafayette School in Shelton after signing a lease with the City of Shelton for the space. In making the announcement, Fred Ortoli, Board Chairman at Valley United Way said, " We are excited about this new location being made available to us by the City of Shelton. It provides us with an economical option for our offices as well as for the communal space that we will share with other nonprofits in the Valley. This is a creative adaptation of the former school that will benefit the entire community". He said that he was especially pleased with the assistance provided by Mayor Mark Lauretti and the Board of Aldermen to make this possible.
Mayor Lauretti said that the City of Shelton has always been supportive of the nonprofit community and the services that they provide in the community and the use of Lafayette School as a center for nonprofit activity benefits all the residents of the community as well as the nonprofits who will use the space. "We are pleased that Valley United Way will be the first agency to move into the second floor space, and we anticipate others will be following soon. This will bring new life into a building that has been a cornerstone of our community since the first wing was opened 100 years ago this year".
Jack Walsh, President and C.O.O. of Valley United Way said that the move should take place during the next two months. He noted that United Way had received grants from the Katharine Matthies and Raymond P. Lavietes Foundations to help cover the costs of renovations to the space that will be occupied by United Way. United Illuminating's parent organization UIL Holdings and Better Packages of Shelton have also contributed to the project. The furniture for the new space is also being donated by HealthNet.
 | | Fletcher Thompson Volunteers |
Walsh said, "We'll also be putting a great deal of sweat equity into this project as a large number of volunteers will be utilized for much of the work. We are particularly grateful to Michael Marcinek and his team at Fletcher Thompson who have been providing the design work and supervising the renovations". Volunteers from Fletcher Thompson and members of Valley United Way's Youth Leadership Program worked over the weekend on the renovations, and they will be joined by many other volunteers in the next couple of weeks to help complete the work.
If you have a group of volunteers who would like to volunteer for one of our "holiday painting parties", give us a call at 203 926-9478 or e-mail us.
The space will contain the United Way offices as well as conference rooms for nonprofit meetings and events. It is anticipated that as many as six other nonprofits may move into the additional classroom space still available in the building.
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Click here to see additional photos from inside the space as the work begins. |
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 Our Neighbors - Center Stage Theatre
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Jack Walsh also said that United Way is especially pleased that the Center Stage Theatre is already operating on the first floor of the building and in their newly created theatre in what was the gymjnasium of the former grammar school. He said, "Gary and Fran Scarpa have defined community theatre for the entire Valley for decades and their standards of excellence are incredible. We are very happy to be sharing this great community space with them". As a bit of Valley trivia, he noted that he and Gary were teammates on recreation league basketball teams in Shelton years ago.
This is an especially good time to experience the wonder of a Center stage Production as the current offering is It's a Wonderful Life, the perfect holiday play. For information and ticket reservations click here. |
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New Home is VUW's Fourth |
| The new site will be the fourth home for Valley United Way since the organization was created from the merger of smaller organizations serving Derby/Shelton, Ansonia and Seymour/Oxford in 1968. The first home was in a small office on Kingston Drive in downtown Ansonia. In 1987, the organization moved to the Ansonia Copper & Brass office building on Liberty Street in Ansonia. The move to the current location at 3 Corporate Drive took place 2006. |
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