Week in Review

The first week of October in Darien was a week of Philanthropy. Here’s a recap at the top stories:

Monday:
We brought you photographs from the weekend’s fifth annual Darien Sport Shop ITPMAN Triathlon, where over 300 athletes from across the country gathered at Weed Beach before sunrise. The Community Fund of Darien’s purple ribbon campaign marks another town-wide philanthropic effort, in recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. For the first time in a long time, there were no car burglaries to report in the police blotter. Monday evening’s general RTM meeting saw a ban on discussion following an "Informational Update" on the Option to Lease at 35 Leroy Avenue.

Tuesday:
Tuesday brought lots of health news. We posted an updated list of Darien’s flu vaccination clinics, and two important community notices from the Office of the Superintendent: one on the H1N1 Survey and another on Ed-Alert. Superintendent Fiftal and Health Director David Knauf announced the introduction of GloGerm to Darien elementary schools, a product that shines a light on proper handwashing techniques. In other health news, the Health Department is enforcing a new policy, which requires all local food service facilities in Darien to publicly display their health inspection ratings.

Wednesday:
The Darien Land Trust shared the story of Brendan’s Meadow, a vibrant wildflower meadow brimming with biodiversity. We previewed the Feed My Starving Children mobile packing event, a team effort of all Darien’s churches and schools, in what may be a historically unprecedented display of community-wide philanthropy. We also spoke with the Pink Ladies of the weekend’s “Mile of Pink,” who shared their stories of how breast cancer had influenced their lives. And on Wednesday afternoon, it was for the three, undefeated Blue Wave girls sports teams.

Thursday:
The Darien Police and high school administration initiated the Drive Home Safe Campaign, to motivate students to obey the rules of the road. One week since the program’s initiation, we met with DHS seniors to hear what they really think about the crackdown. Governor Jodi Rell signed an expansion of the state's bottle bill, to include a 5-cent deposit on bottled water; and State Representative Bob Duff reported that municipalities in Darien have raked in over added to parking violations.

Friday:
Congressman Jim Himes left Washington D.C. for Darien, where he visited the seventh graders at Middlesex Middle School to talk about health care. And in other not-so-healthy news, Darien Patch went out in search of the yummiest Thai take-out in town.

Weekend:
Breast cancer survivors, their friends and families joined in a "Mile of Pink," a rally through downtown Darien, Saturday. Later in the day, the Darien Republican Town Committee held the Grand Opening of its Campaign Headquarters. Over at Middlesex Middle School, hundreds of volunteers gathered to pack thousands of meals at the Feed My Starving Children event (stay tuned for video from Sunday’s shifts). On Saturday night we headed up to Trubull to watch the Blue Wave football team take on St. Joseph's. We spent Sunday morning at Opus for Person to Person's Seventh Annual Big Rig Gig; and we spent the afternoon at the Noroton Heights Fire Department, where the volunteer firemen kicked off fire prevention week with their annual Open House and pumpkin sale.