Middlesex United Way 75th Anniversary

From the Middlesex United Way


WHAT:  Middlesex United Way 75^th Anniversary Celebration and Annual Meeting

WHERE: The Riverhouse at Goodspeed Station, 55 Bridge Road, Haddam

WHEN: Tuesday, Jan. 26; breakfast, 8 a.m.; program, 8:30 a.m.

Middlesex United Way will launch its 75^th anniversary year Tuesday at its 2010 annual meeting. Middlesex United Way began as Middletown Community Chest on Feb. 6, 1935, morphed into the War Chest during times of war, later became the United Fund and finally became United Way.

Community Chests were established to answer a growing frustration of competing appeals for funds, demands for volunteer time, and the fragmentation of human services, a mission United Ways continue to carry on today. The original headquarters of Middletown Community Chest were located at Middletown Savings Bank, which is now Liberty Bank, and the first fundraising campaign raised nearly $52,000 for twelve original member agencies. Middletown Community Chest’s original member agencies, some of which remain Middlesex United Way partners today, will be honored Tuesday. They include: St. Luke’s Home, now known as St. Luke’s Eldercare Solutions; The Boys Scouts and the Girl Scouts; the YMCA; Middlesex Hospital; and The Salvation Army.

Middlesex United Way’s prestigious Community Service Award will be presented to former Middlesex United Way Executive Director Patti Anne Vassia of Haddam for more than 40 years of volunteer service to Middlesex County.  A longtime Middlesex United Way volunteer, Vassia is also a founder of the Middlesex County Community Foundation and served as the first female president of both YMCA of Connecticut and YMCA Camp Hazen in Chester.

About Middlesex United Way Today

Middlesex United Way is a locally based organization dedicated to strengthening lives, helping people and improving community conditions in Middlesex County. United Way is advancing the common good and is creating real, lasting change by focusing on the building blocks for a good life – education, income, health, and housing. United Way also funds a Volunteer Center, to support the volunteer needs of the community, and 2-1-1, a 24-hour, toll-free information and referral helpline.

Middlesex United Way serves the towns of Chester, Clinton, Cromwell, Deep River, Durham, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Killingworth, Middlefield, Middletown, Old Saybrook, Portland, and Westbrook.