Jay Dempsey of the Army National Guard is coming home to Shelton for Christmas next week.
“He’s my secretary’s son. I believe he’s coming home the morning of Dec. 23, him and the rest of the 102nd Infantry,” said Shelton Police Chief Joel Hurliman, referring to Dempsey, son of his secretary, Trish Bruder.
Residents, the police department, Mayor Mark Lauretti, and the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce raised $4,100 to help bring the troops home for Christmas on buses.
Dempsey, two volunteers from the Pine Rock firehouse, Joe Giasullo and Tasheen Staples, and the rest of the 700 Connecticut troops of the National Guard now based out of Wisconsin and Indiana will be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in January, said Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who accepted the donation from during a chamber breakfast event at John J. Sullivan’s restaurant in Ansonia.
The citizen soldiers are at bases in the midwest preparing for the tour of duty in the middle east, but had no way of getting home to enjoy Christmas with their families, Rell said. So she led an effort to raise several hundred thousand dollars to pay for the buses and other costs involved.
The fundraising began in October. A total of $295,000 was raised, Rell said.
She accepted an oversized check, four feet wide, from Hurliman and Lauretti.
“I’m not sure how we’re going to get this through the ATM machine but we’ll find a way,” Rell joked.
The community pitched in to donate to the cause, said Michael Niedermeier, principal of Blum Shapiro and Co., the accounting firm that the chamber called upon to help raise the funds.
“Give first and don’t expect to get back. That’s what makes community,” Niedermeier said.
He said proceeds were the chamber’s annual holiday party, held last week at the Center Stage Theater, were included in the gift.
The police department called Lauretti a few weeks ago for a donation, and the city pledged to match whatever funds the police department raised, Lauretti said.
“I know I’m preaching to the choir when I say this, that our respect for the American military is first and foremost. We owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude,” Lauretti said. “I’m happy to do this. It’s the right thing to do, and we’re proud to give this.”
The state also raised donations to buy toys for the children of troops.
Those toys were given at a holiday party called Operation Elf, earlier this month. Rell said Connecticut people are very helpful in these causes.
“People in Connecticut are the most loving and generous. Everyone we ask, people step up to the plate,” Rell said.
