Celebrate Southington! Award Recipient Known for Compassion, Energy
Lorraine Stanton To Be Honored March 24
Residents, staff and management alike all agree: The week just doesn’t begin at Southington Care Center until that special moment when Lorraine Stanton walks through the door.
“Every week has a start point, a time when there is a calmness and when everything becomes focused,” says Steven McCarty, Therapeutic Recreation Director at Southington Care Center and the person who nominated Lorraine for the award. “For most, it is the Monday morning coffee break. For us, it’s the arrival of Lorraine Stanton.”
Lorraine, an 86-year-old volunteer, has been providing companionship to hundreds of residents of Southington Care Center and its companion community, The Orchards at Southington, for years. Her long-time dedication to community volunteerism and to faithfully bringing joy and comfort to the lives of others has earned Lorraine the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain’s 2006 Celebrate Southington! Award for community service.
Lorraine will be honored next Friday, March 24, at the United Way of Southington’s Community Stakeholders Breakfast. The 7:30 a.m. event at The Orchards will feature remarks by State Senator Chris Murphy (D-Southington) as well as the Celebrate award presentation.
“Lorraine epitomizes the kind of unsung community hero for which the Celebrate awards were created,” said the Reverend Victoria Triano, co-chair of the Selection Committee, member/past chairwoman of the Southington Town Council and Director of Pastoral Care at Southington Care Center. “Our committee considered a number of outstanding, deserving nominees, and we are so pleased to be able to recognize Lorraine for the important work she does for others.”
Other nominees, all Southington residents with track records of extensive community service, included the Reverend David Stroshal, pastor of First Baptist Church of Southington; Joe LaPorte, a volunteer with the Town’s Parks and Recreation Department and elsewhere; Gloria Amenta, who performs volunteer work for First Congregational Church, the Apple Harvest Festival, Bread for Life program and elsewhere; Rosemary Champagne, an integral supporter of Southington’s Relay for Life; and Attorney Louis Martocchio, who performs extensive pro bono legal work in town and is president of the Arc of Southington.
Pastor Triano’s co-chair on the Selection Committee was Andrew Meade, retired President and CEO of Lori Lock, Inc., in Southington and a member of the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain Board of Directors. Also on the Committee were Richard M. Corcoran, Executive Director, United Way of Southington; Erin R. King, Managing Editor, The Southington Citizen; John Myers, Executive Director, Southington-Cheshire YMCA and Chair, Southington Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors; and Patricia M. Walden, Vice President of Bradley Healthcare, Inc.
A retired nurse and lifelong resident of Southington, Lorraine has been volunteering at Southington Care Center since the facility’s opening in 1990, coordinating the Monday bingo, delivering the mail and visiting with residents. On Wednesdays, she visits The Orchards at Southington and organizes bowling.
“Our residents look forward to her tender smile and willing ear. She knows everyone and if something isn’t right, she picks up on it,” said McCarty. “Her encouragement, experience and energy are welcomed, anticipated and contagious. Everyone feels very comfortable with her because, after all, she is probably older than they are. She is an inspiration – residents look at her and say, ‘If she can do that, I can do something.’ At age 86, you wonder where she gets all the energy.”
Lorraine is thankful for the recognition but says others are more deserving. “I really think someone else should win this award,” she says modestly. “I enjoy my work and I get as much back from the residents as I give. I really love it.”
The Celebrate Southington! Award is part of the Foundation’s four-town Celebrate Our Communities community service awards program in Berlin, New Britain, Plainville and Southington. The Celebrate Awards have four objectives: To raise awareness of the importance of volunteerism and community service; to offer recognition to deserving volunteers who have made a difference in their communities; to provide financial support to local charities; and to raise awareness of the important work that the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain does in its four service communities.
The Southington Citizen is a co-sponsor of the Celebrate Southington! Award.
As the recipient, Lorraine earns the right to designate a $2,500 grant award from the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain to a Southington charity or community service organization of her choice. That selection will be announced at the March 24 presentation.
For more information on the Foundation, please call (860) 229-6018.
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