Fishbein balks at town’s different treatment of fireworks and ‘Celebrate’
As published in the Record Journal Thursday April 12, 2012
By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225
Dickinson Fishbein Zandri
Photos courtesy of the Record Journal
WALLINGFORD — One of the town councilors who helped launch a fundraising effort to save the annual Fourth of July fireworks celebration claims the town doesn’t treat all nonprofit organizations it works with equally.
Republican Town Councilor Craig Fishbein said that the fireworks are being treated differently from events such as Wallingford Symphony Orchestra concerts and Celebrate Wallingford, which is put on by Wallingford Center Inc., the downtown business advocacy group. The town budget allocates $8,500 for an outdoor summer symphony concert that Fishbein said draws only hundreds of people, while the fireworks celebration draws more than 10,000 and receives no funding. For Celebrate Wallingford, Wallingford Center Inc. is able to contract with vendors, Fishbein said.
Fishbein and Democratic Town Councilor Jason Zandri founded the nonprofit Wallingford Fireworks Fund in 2010 after the town dropped funding for the show from its budget. They’ve butted heads with Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. during the planning for this year’s celebration. Zandri and Fishbein raised several issues during a council meeting Tuesday.
For the last two years, Zandri has negotiated with vendors. He said the arrangement allowed a certain flexibility on costs, through discounts from the vendor, and room to accommodate last-minute donations that could improve the show. But this year that process is being handled by the Parks and Recreation Department.
“The town doesn’t contribute one red cent, yet the mayor feels the (donors) should have no part in the coordination,” Fishbein said. “We don’t want total control ... we’re willing to work with them.”
Liz Landow, executive director of Wallingford Center Inc., said the events are treated differently because the town, not the fireworks fund, ultimately puts on the show, even if the fund provides the money. She said Wallingford Center Inc. wasn’t getting special treatment.
“It’s a Wallingford Center production,” she said of Celebrate Wallingford. “It’s put on by Wallingford Center; we hold the insurance. We have the freedom because of the way it was established.”
Dickinson, a Republican, has maintained that the town must handle the purchasing process for the fireworks, and said that comparisons to Celebrate Wallingford aren’t fair.
“The fireworks are clearly put on by the town,” he said. “For Celebrate Wallingford, Wallingford Center provides insurance; they are the hosts of that. They are a separate entity from the town that provides all the groundwork.”
Several members of the Wallingford Center board have Republican ties, including Republican councilors John Le-Tourneau and Rosemary Rascati and former Republican Councilor Stephen Knight. Landow is Rascati’s daughter. But Zandri said he doesn’t believe politics plays a role in the perceived different treatment of the fireworks and Celebrate Wallingford.
“I like to look above and beyond that ... I think it’s not politically motivated,” Zandri said.
Zandri said that he hasn’t thought about the fund taking total sponsorship of the event, but said that if he is continually denied input, it’s an option he may consider.
“I suppose there’s ways to do it,” he said. “But it’s a manpower issue. Right now it’s just me, my father and Craig (Fishbein). It’s hard to say it, but if I have to go that route someday, maybe I will.” Jason Zandri’s father, Geno Zandri, a former six-term Democratic councilor, helps organize fireworks fundraising.
The fund would have to get permission from the town to use the school grounds and pay directly for the cost of the town services including police, fire and public works, and the fireworks. Currently, the town makes the payments and arrangements after receiving a check from the nonprofit.
Democratic Town Councilor John Sullivan said that he thinks Fishbein, Zandri and Dickinson need to sort out their differences, and not at a council meeting.
“We have two sides working toward a common goal,” he said. “They need to sit down, communicate and work together.”
Good morning everyone.
This week is going to be an exciting week for the Wallingford Fireworks Fund and all her supporters. Please keep an eye out on the blog this week for additional announcements.
Until then, totals are in from our week three collections are in and we collected an additional $1,194.68.
Our full 2012 campaign is to collect $30,000.00 before the Mayor’s deadline of 5PM on Friday May 25th 2012.
Our current totals for the event stand at $4,567.07 (oh for the want of an additional eighty two cents to make that a sequential total; had I known that was going to be the remaining balance ahead of time I would have thrown it in).
I am still waiting on Mr. Bowes, Wallingford’s Comptroller, to let me know what the costs to the town services are as that is the first of the totals we need to take care of before we can even consider paying for the fireworks themselves.
In 2011 those costs were:
Police Dept. Overtime $7,750.00
Fire Dept. Overtime $1,900.00
Port-o-lets $990.00
Fire Marshall $850.00
Public Works $330.00
Board of Ed $330.00
Town Services 2011 total $12,150.00
I am sure that amount is probably 2 to 5 percent higher this year so I am planning for about $13,000.00
So that is where we are right now.
Today is Tuesday the 20th and my father is supposed to be out at the Yalesville Dunkin Donuts on Main Street (Route 150) to collect for us. Stop by and see him.
I am working all this week in New York City (I am on the train as I write this) so I am unavailable to help until the weekend. Over the weekend we are again planning to be at the Wallingford Landfill and the Wallingford Recycling Center.
We are always looking for additional volunteers to stand out and collect donations.
We have slots available at the Dunkin Donuts here in town on most mornings. While we like to cover a full morning rush hour shift from 6:30AM to 9:30AM if all you have is an hour to spare and want to help we’ll take it.
We’ve also sent out the letters to all the donors from the past two years and we have gotten a few checks to date (they are already deposited and in our running total).
If you’re a newcomer and want to donate you can by sending your tax deductible donation to:
Wallingford Fireworks Fund
c/o Jason Zandri
35 Lincoln Drive EXT
Wallingford, CT 06492
As always, if anyone has any questions of me please feel free to reach out by calling 860 614 6069 or via email at Jason@Zandri.net. (Generally speaking, I can answer email faster than a phone call because of my work schedule).
PLEASE – stay tuned this week for a major announcement here on the blog and I would expect in the Record Journal as well.
NOTE: The Wallingford Fireworks Fund will meet at Gaetano's Tavern on Main (40 N Main St Wallingford) on Wednesday February 8th at 7:30PM in the dinning area.
The meeting will be to recruit volunteers to work as part of the fundraising committee for the 2012 fundraising season which will kick off on March 1st.
For more information contact Jason Zandri at 860 614 6069 or via Jason@Zandri.net. You can also contact Craig Fishbein at his law offices - (203) 265-2895
As published in the Record Journal on Tuesday January 31, 2012
By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225
WALLINGFORD — If Jason Zandri has learned one thing in his past two efforts to raise money for the town’s Fourth of July fireworks celebration, it’s that you can never start too early.
Zandri, a Democratic town councilor, has headed the effort to pay for the fireworks since the town dropped the festivities from its budget in 2010. He’s already started a blog to promote this year’s fundraising efforts, and will be holding a meeting soon, looking for people to join a fundraising board to oversee the operations.
“We’re looking this year to get a formal fundraising committee established,”Zandri said. For the past two years, Zandri, his father, Geno, and Republican Town Councilor Craig Fishbein have collected most of the donations. But Jason Zandri said it can’t continue with just the three of them.
“It can’t just be the Jason, Craig and Geno show,” he said. “We lucked out doing it twice like that.”
The first year the money was raised, Jason Zandri worked from his Wallingford home and his flexible schedule allowed him time for fundraising outside Stop & Shop and Dunkin’ Donuts. But last year, Zandri took a job in New York City and had to restrict his efforts to the weekends.
“For 16 weeks that’s all I did on the weekends,” Jason Zandri said.
With his new responsibilities as a councilor, putting in the same effort this year will be “impossible.”
“I’m just too involved,” Jason Zandri said. “I have to tend to my council duties, and the majority of the fundraising comes during budget season.”
Fishbein agreed, noting that he too became busy in 2011 and didn’t help out as much as he did the year before. “We need all the help we can get,” Fishbein said.
Jason Zandri said he hopes more of the people who come out to the show will help pay the costs associated with it. Many of the donations in the past two years have come from large businesses and not individuals.
Fishbein said he was disappointed that two fundraisers scheduled last year — a matinee movie and a concert at Zandri’s Stillwood Inn — drew small numbers of people.
“It was very discouraging,” Fishbein said.
Fundraising efforts at the show last year also didn’t garner as much money as was expected, Fishbein said.
Jason Zandri will once again ask the mayor if the town can pay a portion of the costs, such as the police and public works overtime, but he said he wasn’t optimistic the town would put money toward the project. The fund has about$1,000 left over from last year to put toward the 2012 show.
Last year the $24,150 for the show was raised with little time to spare. Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. said the check was delivered to the town at 2:30 p.m. on May 27, 2011, only hours before his 5 p.m. deadline.
A $2,500 donation from New Life Church helped the charity reach its goal in 2011. Similarly, a $5,000 gift from Choate Rosemary Hall in 2010 pushed the fund past its $30,000 goal.
For more information on fireworks fundraising, visit http://wallingfordfireworks.blogspot.com.
As published in the Record Journal Sunday July 3, 2011
By Dan Brechlin
Record-Journal staff
dbrechlin@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2266
WALLINGFORD - Mirin Scassellati had an expensive birthday party Saturday night. Her family had to pay for the cupcakes and presents, but luckily various organizations, businesses and residents pitched in the $24,150 for a fireworks celebration.
The fireworks were not just for her, but the 9-year-old and her family enjoyed the early Independence Day show. She blew out a candle, unwrapped presents and bit into a red, white and blue frosted cupcake.
"I like having fireworks on my birthday," Mirin, a Cheshire resident, said.
As for the $24,150 tab for the fireworks and police and other emergency services overtime, for the second consecutive year the town was not able to pay. And for the second straight year, Jason Zandri stepped up to organize the fundraising efforts.
"They said the money was not there," Zandri said. "Nobody said they were going to step up and do anything or fundraise, so I felt I had to."
And raise money he did. Last year, the money came in faster, Zandri said, with a big help from Choate Rosemary Hall, which pitched in $5,000.
The same check did not come this year, which Zandri had no problem with. But when his May 27 deadline, handed down from Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr., was quickly approaching, Zandri got a big bonus. A check worth $2,500 came from New Life Church, helping to save the day and show.
Thousands gathered at Sheehan High School, Moran Middle School, Highland School, nearby businesses and parking lots, and even from their front lawns to watch the fireworks.
"It's important people come out," Zandri said. "This is their show. They're watching a show they helped create."
Sarah Park, a Wallingford resident, said she felt proud to have helped out with the fundraising efforts and put the show on.
"I gave a few dollars the other day," Park said, noting that Zandri had been standing outside a local Dunkin' Donuts collecting anything he could get. "They should have this every year no matter what. The kids love it and deserve to see some fireworks."
Zandri has already gotten a jumpstart on next year's collections, as he walked around asking for help in putting on the show next year.
Before the fireworks could begin, children were running around, playing games, waving glow sticks and using sparklers. Miniature hot air balloons ascended into the sky, with the crowd cheering and clapping in approval.
As the clock reached 9:30 p.m., the first few fireworks shot off into the sky, provoking "oohs" and "aahs" from the crowd.
"I'm sure people will want something similar next year," Zandri said.
As published in the Record Journal, Friday July 1, 2011
By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225
WALLINGFORD — The weather forecast has improved for the town’s Fourth of July fireworks celebration Saturday, but should it rain, organizer Jason Zandri says the event is unlikely to be rescheduled.
Zandri said he was told this week by Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. that rescheduling the fireworks on such short notice would be impossible, but Zandri believes it can be done.
“You pick another date, you work it out with the vendor and publicize the new date,” Zandri said. The logistics are difficult, but not impossible.”
Dickinson said Thursday that the trouble with rescheduling the event has to do with scheduling overtime for the police officers needed to safely run it.
“I think it’s primarily because of difficulties in scheduling the kind of manpower that is needed,” Dickinson said. “People are called in for service who would normally be off in order to have enough people to provide the public safety.”
The town had long funded the annual fireworks show, but budget cuts threatened to cancel it last year. Zandri, Town Councilor Craig Fishbein and other volunteers managed to raise enough money to save it and have since set up a nonprofit fireworks fund. This year, they needed to raise $24,150 by May 27.
Dickinson said the money for the display had to be collected well in advance so the Police Department would have enough time to find officers to work the event.
“The Police Department needed to know by the beginning of June to get the word out,” Dickinson said. Scheduling the same number of officers for another day would be difficult.
“It becomes impossible to do that over multiple days,” Dickinson said.
Another part of the concern over potential cancellation of the event is the overtime that could still have to be paid. If the event is called due to weather after police, fire and public works employees report for duty at the site — 5 p.m. — Zandri said $12,000 worth of overtime would still have to be paid.
“There’s the possibility we have the show with a chance of thunderstorms, it starts pouring at 6 p.m. and we call the show when they’re already out there,” Zandri said. “That’d be the perfect storm.”
He added that the fund has $1,000 lined up for next year, but not enough money to cover a second day’s worth of overtime.
If the event is canceled earlier in the day, the overtime won’t have to be paid, but it’s up to the town to set a new date and find available personnel. If the town doesn’t have to spend the money for the overtime, Dickinson said, it would be returned to the fund.
Zandri said he remembered fireworks being rescheduled when he was younger, but said he can’t remember a rain date being used recently. Dickinson said to his knowledge the town has never needed to shoot off its Independence Day fireworks on a rain date. Since the Wallingford Fireworks Fund delivered the check to the town, Zandri said that the town has been handling the planning of the event. Dickinson said that the decision of whether to call the event due to weather would be up to the police, fire marshal and parks and recreation.
The fireworks begin at 9 p.m. Saturday, with viewing available on the grounds of Sheehan High School, Moran Middle School and Highland School. Weather forecasts on Thursday were predicting a very low chance of rain Saturday, compared to forecasts earlier this week of intermittent thunderstorms.
Looks like we’ve lucked out on the weather again this year. What was looking a little shaky earlier in the week on the long range forecast has now turned out about as perfect as we could have hoped for.
The Wallingford Fireworks celebration takes place this year after 9PM on Hope Hill Road. The best view is from the Highland Elementary and Sheehan High School lawns.
Parking is available at both of the schools as well as over at Moran Middle School. After that, there is parking on public streets unless otherwise posted.
Please remember as well to take care as you park in the neighborhoods around the schools and walk over to the school grounds. The neighbors there, especially the ones that are indifferent to the show, have to put up with a lot of cars, people and inconvenience for that night.
Please be mindful of all of this as you are a guest in their neighborhood. Take care as you would in your own neighborhood and take away with you anything you brought to the show.
We will take up a collection for the 2012 event on the grounds before the show starts and on the way out after the show ends; if you can support us early for 2012 please consider donating a few dollars.
Thank you again for all the support and we’ll see you at the show!
This week’s “FROM WALLINGFORD” is written by my counterpart on the column – Stephen Knight
“ I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” — James Madison, 1788
The tradition of a fireworks show in the Town Of Wallingford will continue this year due to the efforts of Jason Zandri, Craig Fishbein and others who solicited donations from hundreds of residents. And the only obstacle all along that had to be overcome was financial. Never was there any other reason not to continue the tradition. The money having been raised, we now take for granted that the show will indeed go on. After all, who doesn’t love a fireworks display?
With this as a backdrop, I would like to take you to San Diego, California, where I was last weekend attending a family event. As I am wont to do when traveling, I picked up the local newspaper, the San Diego Union-Tribune. In it was an article about their fireworks event, and it is a cautionary tale that I think you will find alarming.
For the past twenty-seven years, San Diego has had a fireworks display put on by the La Jolla Community Fireworks Foundation. But this year, an envirokook outfit named the Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation took the group to court, contending the display was a violation of the 1970 California Environmental Quality Act. On May 27th, a superior court judge agreed, ruling that any function that required a permit from the city had to undergo an extensive environmental review — a review that takes up to a year and can cost tens of thousands of dollars. The ruling was so sweeping that it would have applied not just to fireworks displays, but block parties, birthday parties and weddings held in city parks, charity runs and thousands of other events. Last weekend, after an incredible public outcry and nationwide ridicule, the judge stayed implementation of her order for 90 days in order that the fireworks show could be held. But after ninety days, unless the ruling is appealed, this ludicrous judicial overreach will be in force.
It has been observed by many that, in the United States, cultural, political and legal changes very often begin in California and then move east. Californians pride themselves on being the leading edge of societal change. If that is indeed so, then what now appears to be just an odd ruling pertaining to one city three thousand miles from here may eventually become the prevailing groupthink everywhere, certainly including the People’s Republic of Connecticut.
The vast and ever-expanding web of environmental laws, rulings and regulations being formulated and carried out by myriad bureaus, commissions and agencies on every level of government used to have a narrow purpose of actually improving the environment. No longer. Those in power still claim this to be the goal, but it is becoming increasingly obvious to even a casual observer that the real purpose is an exponential expansion of the nanny state.
Everyone knows the anecdote about the frog and boiling water, wherein a frog placed in a pot of boiling water will jump out, but one placed in cool water that is then heated to boiling will sit in it and die. For the most part, we live our daily lives, too busy to notice that government is intruding in our existence more and more. But once in a while, we are handed a warning of that encroachment. By sheer accident, Judge Linda Quinn of the Superior Court of California has done just that. It was John Adams, writing to his wife, that suggested we Americans celebrate our independence from an oppressive British government with fireworks every 4th of July. And so we do. What a terrible irony it is, then, that our own government seeks to extinguish such celebrations through the oppression of a crushing, burdensome and intrusive regulatory regime.
Fireworks show must go on in Wallingford
As published in the Record Journal, Saturday, May 28, 2011
By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225
WALLINGFORD — For the second year in a row, private donations will fund Wallingford’s Fourth of July weekend fireworks display after the town dropped the celebration from its budget.
Jason Zandri, who successfully led the fundraising charge last year, came up with the $24,150 needed only hours before Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr.’s Friday afternoon deadline.
Zandri said the group was about $6,000 short of its goal at the beginning of the week, but made the final push thanks in part to a $2,500 donation from the New Life Church in Meriden (http://www.InNewLife.com).
“It’s very gratifying to know that we made the deadline,” said Republican Town Councilor Craig Fishbein, who helped Zandri on the fundraising effort.
Fishbein said he had some doubts about a month ago that the money could be raised in time, but Zandri was confident the money would come.
“I wasn’t able to help as much as I did last year,” Fishbein said. “For Jason, this is a labor of love. His confidence and work ethic should be heralded.”
As of 11 p.m. Thursday, Zandri had posted on his blog that the group still needed $1,288.
Zandri took off from work Friday and started collecting money at the Dunkin’ Donuts on North Colony Road at 7 a.m. while his father collected at the Dunkin’ Donuts on South Colony Road. Jason Zandri said that he was able to raise nearly $200 Friday morning before he collected the $2,500 check from the Rev. Will Marotti. Zandri said additional donations were collected at the Stop & Shop in town.
Dickinson said it was good that Zandri raised the money in time and applauded the successful effort. Dickinson said the town would begin to appropriate the money and plan for the show. He said the check was delivered to Town Hall about 2:30 p.m. Friday.
While Zandri has made the deadline each of the last two years, it hasn’t been easy. In 2010, Choate’s $5,000 donation pushed the fund past its $30,000 goal. This year, the money wasn’t raised until the eleventh hour. Even though fundraising efforts started earlier this year — and the group earned 501(c)(3) status, making its donations tax deductible — Zandri said it wasn’t until the last few weeks that the checks started rolling in.
Zandri said he hopes to get more volunteers next year, and that the current group of himself, his father and Fishbein “isn’t sustainable.” He said he hopes to form a committee next year to help better coordinate the effort.
Fishbein said that the group’s three fundraisers — a dinner, a concert and a movie matinee — didn’t draw many people from the community. Fishbein attributed the success to a number of small donations and “grassroots fundraising and going door to door.”
Fishbein said he doesn’t foresee the town providing taxpayer dollars for the event in the near future, and that residents should get used to chipping in for the fireworks.
“I’ve said all along, this event is for the people, by the people,” Fishbein said. “If the residents of the town want this event, then they should volunteer.”
The fireworks are scheduled for July 2 at 9 p.m.
Craig and I stopped by New Life Church this morning at 10:30 to meet with Will Marotti Senior/Founding Pastor who was happy to hear that we had crossed the matching grant level.
When we arrived he already had the check ready for us saying “we knew folks would come forward to help get you over the grant threshold where we were able to donate.”
With that grant given and the money from this morning in we are sitting at about $600.00 short of our goal to get the check cut and over to the Mayor for the 5PM deadline.
The mail has yet to arrive with possible donations and I am going to see about standing at Stop and Shop to collect so we still have time to get the funds to the town.
| Fireworks Show | $12,000.00 | |
| Police Overtime | $7,750.00 | |
| Fire Department / Overtime | $1,900.00 | |
| Port-o-lets | $990.00 | |
| Fire Marshall | $850.00 | |
| Public Works | $330.00 | |
| Board of Education | $330.00 | |
| Total | $24,150.00 |
$600.00 in six hours? Piece of cake Wallingford, we know we can do this.
I am writing this blog post after 11PM on Thursday night; it’s scheduled to automatically post on Wallingford Politico and it’ll appear on From the Mind of Jason Zandri at 7AM on Friday.
We need to collect just $1,288.00 more and the show will be on. This assumes the matching grant from New Life Church in Meriden (http://www.InNewLife.com) comes in (their current total is $2,360.00 against our recently collected total of the same amount). I am supposed to meet with Founding Pastor Will Marotti at 10:30 tomorrow morning to pick up their matching grant check.
My father will be at Dunkin Donuts on South Colony Road collecting donations after 7AM and I will be at the Dunkin Donuts on North Colony Road at the same time.
We have until the close of business at Town Hall on Friday to get the $24,150.00 to the Mayor.
Please consider stopping by and making a donation and helping us get over that finish line.
Hi Gang – I am sure you read the news in the Record Journal as well as my blog post from the other day; we are about $5,000.00 shy of our goal and New Life Church in Meriden (http://www.InNewLife.com) has pledged to grant up to $2,500.00 to the funds as matching funds to the fireworks effort.
What this means is all the donations that are coming in over the next two days will be matched by them, dollar for dollar, up to $2,500.00.
Yesterday’s donations from Wednesday the 25th also applied and here’s where we are:
Donations received on Wednesday May 25th - $1,273.00
Donation to be made as part of the grant - $1,273.00
Total due to the Town of Wallingford for the show – $24,150.00
Total cash on hand in the Fireworks Fund – $19,415.00
When you add together the cash on hand in the fund and the donations to be made from the New Life Church matching grant our new total is $20,688.00; we are now just $3,462.00 short of our goal with 35 hours to go.
My father will be collecting at Dunkin Donuts in Yalesville today from about 7AM to about 9:30AM or so – if you’re in the area please consider swinging by and making a donation; New Life Church will match all of these donations and double the impact.
On Friday I am taking a day off from work to collect as well; I am going to be at the Dunkin Donuts on North Colony in the morning to about 10AM and I will call Stop and Shop as well to see if we can stand out there in the mid afternoon.
If you’re considering mailing a donation please do it this morning – it has to reach me by tomorrow to be considered part of the match.
Checks can be mailed to The Wallingford Fireworks Fund, c/o 35 Lincoln Drive EXT, Wallingford CT 06492.
You can also make a donation via PayPal to the fund via our website - http://www.wallingfordfireworks.org/
We can do this Wallingford – effectively we are talking about $60.00 an hour or so over the next 35 hours when you add in the effects of the matching grant.
Let’s roll.
As published in the Record Journal, Thursday May 26, 2011
By Russell Blair
Record-Journal staff
rblair@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2225
WALLINGFORD — With help from the New Life Church and the Rev. Will Marotti, fundraising efforts for town’s Independence Day weekend fireworks display may reach the amount needed.
Jason Zandri, who has coordinated the event since the town dropped financing for it last year, said the New Life Church agreed Tuesday to match up to $2,500 in donations Zandri receives before Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr.’s Friday afternoon deadline.
“They reached out to me and said they wanted to do something,” Zandri said.
“We’ve been in Meriden for 11 years and we’re always looking for ways to add value back to the community,” Marotti said. “We’ve been having weekly services in Wallingford for a year, and we thought this was a good way we could do something to bless the community.”
Wednesday afternoon, Zandri said the group was still about $5,000 short of the $24,150 needed, including $7,750 of overtime pay for police officers to work the event, which draws around 10,000 visitors.
Zandri said he asked Dickinson for an extension to Tuesday, but the mayor wouldn’t budge. Dickinson said last week the town needed to know by Friday to allow time for securing state permits and scheduling employees from the Police Department, Public Works and the Fire Department.
Despite the looming deadline, Zandri is optimistic that the money will be raised in time. Last year, Choate Rosemary Hall donated $5,000 to fund the show.
“I’m pretty optimistic, we’re pushing hard to get this,” Zandri said. “I know checks are coming, I’ve had some people call and say they were sending more money in. It’s going to be a photo finish, but we’ll clear the line.”
Our cash on hand total is currently $18,230.00 and there is a $900.00 pledge from my former employer Microsoft still outstanding.
You might have already seen from my post yesterday - WALLINGFORD FIREWORKS FUND – Closing the gap with a grant from New Life Church – New Life Church (website - http://www.InNewLife.com) has made a pledge to match all new donations dollar for dollar up to $2,500.00 from now to the end of collections on Friday.
This means, effectively, if we can raise just $2,500.00 more in new donations we can clear the total amount due and have the show paid for by the close of business on Friday.
My father is out collecting at Dunkin Donuts this morning and he’ll be out there on Thursday and Friday as well. I am taking Friday off myself to collect additional donations. All of these cash donations will be part of that matching grant from New Life Church so every dollar you give now counts twice.
You can also make a donation via PayPal to the fund right off our website at http://wallingfordfireworks.org/. Donations there will also be applicable to New Life Church’s matching grant as well as all monies mailed and received by Friday. If you want to mail in your donation please try to do it today or Thursday morning the latest so that we might receive it in time to apply it against their matching grant offer.
Checks can be made out to the Wallingford Fireworks Fund and mailed to “c/o 35 Lincoln Drive EXT Wallingford CT 06492.”
This is the home stretch Wallingford so let’s do what we do best – pull together and get it done!
As published online via the Post – Chronicle, Tuesday May 24, 2011
New Life Church pledges to match new donations
WALLINGFORD - The Wallingford Fireworks Fund, a recognized 501(C)(3) organization as designated by the IRS, has been collecting donations all spring to supply the town with the needed funds to operate the annual Independence Day weekend fireworks celebration.
The event was dropped by the town in 2010 and saved by two residents. This year the collections for the $24,000.00 event — which is the costs for the municipal services and the fireworks themselves — is presently $5,000 short of the amount needed with a deadline of Friday, May 27.
New Life Church in Meriden (http://www.InNewLife.com) contacted Jason Zandri, President of the Wallingford Fireworks Fund, and has offered to match all donations to the Wallingford Fireworks Fund (up to $2,500.00) over the next 72 hours.
Donations can be made on the fund’s website at http://www.wallingfordfireworks.org/ via PayPal or they can be mailed to The Wallingford Fireworks Fund, c/o 35 Lincoln Drive EXT, Wallingford CT 06492.
I’ve had my conversation with the Mayor; the money is due on Friday May 27th – end of story. I made the case for a couple more weeks but I was unable to convince him to change his mind on the matter.
So from there we more forward, about $5,900.00 short as of today.
I have two pledges outstanding at $900.00 so that means, technically, we are $5,000.00 short IF (BIG “IF”) the pledges come in.
I have to work all week in New York City so I am effectively unavailable but I am putting every moment of time I can spare to the effort. (I am writing this post to Wallingford Politico from the train on my ride home. It’ll be cross posted to my other blogs on Tuesday). I do have Friday off and my Dad is collecting as much as he can at Dunkin Donuts this week. I am going to try to see if I can stand at Stop and Shop on Friday (it will depend if I can get permission and if no one else has the time booked).
The bottom line at this point is that it is highly unlikely that we can collect everything we need from individual donors by the deadline.
We will continue to do so anyway; I am working on something that may get us a bridge for a couple of additional weeks beyond the Mayor’s deadline. That would allow us to both get the money in to the town on time AND to continue collecting for the next two or three weekends into June.
In the meantime it is always possible that one of the larger businesses I solicited might come through for us.
A lot can happen in four days and I am driving full bore to the finish.
As published in the Record Journal, Saturday May 21, 2011
By Robert Cyr
Record-Journal staff
WALLINGFORD — The annual Independence Day-weekend fireworks display, dropped by the town and saved by two residents last year, is $6,000 short of the amount needed to hold the half-hour celebration, attended annually by about 10,000 people.
Event coordinator Jason Zandri said it costs $24,000, half for the display and the rest to pay overtime for police and fire personnel. The deadline to raise the money is Friday, and Zandri said he’s going to ask Mayor William W. Dickinson Jr. for an extra three or four days.
“I am unfortunately overwhelmed doing this, and can’t mail letters to everyone I’d like to,” he said. “I’m not really thinking I can’t get that money over the next 10 days — it will materialize.”
Dickinson, who hasn’t yet heard from Zandri about an extension, said the town will need to know by the end of next week whether or not there’s enough money for the entire show, to allow time for securing state permits and scheduling employees from the Police Department, Public Works and the Fire Department.
“We’ve indicated we do not have money in the budget for this kind of purpose, so the money has to be raised by outside means,” he said. “It’s a showing of community support for it, or not. If there aren’t funds sufficient to do it, we certainly need to understand that.
”The fireworks show, which would be held July 2, could get some last-minute support, the way a late push made it a reality last year. In the last week of fundraising in 2010, Choate Rosemary Hall made a $5,000 donation. That allowed Zandri and his fundraising partner, Town Councilor Craig Fishbein, to meet their goal, and it gave them a $4,000 head start on this year’s drive.
In November, the Wallingford Fireworks Fund Inc. won nonprofit status from the Internal Revenue Service after being rejected twice. Fishbein and Zandri rewrote the application with help from the secretary of the state’s office, and the fund was accepted as a 501(c)(3) organization, allowing people to claim the gifts as charitable donations on their tax returns.
The fireworks are launched from a knoll near Moran Middle School, and Zandri said he’ll be mailing requests for donations to that part of town.
by Jason Zandri
If you’re a regular reader of “From Wallingford,” you’re probably keenly aware of the efforts to restore Wallingford’s annual 4th of July Fireworks celebration. Back in 2009, funding for the decades-old celebration was pulled from the town budget. The sitting Town Council at the time restored the funding from surpluses so that the event could still be held.
In 2010 it was a different story. Funding was cut and there was no ability to restore it — the show was cancelled.
At that time, I decided to take the effort out to the people to fundraise the entire amount for the cost of the fireworks themselves and all the city services — police, fire, public works, etc. I was quickly joined by Councilor Craig Fishbein and a short list of other volunteers.
Donations came from John and Jane Wallingford almost immediately. Some families that could went way above and beyond the call. Kim and Christopher Dellaselva contributed $1,000 in honor of their unborn child. Toby and Susan Rhodes held a tag sale and donated all of the proceeds raised, $500 in total, to the cause.
These large donations were important, but so were every single dollar and all the loose change given by everyone. Nothing alone was going to matter by itself but all of it together made a difference.
Donations also came in from local businesses large and small. There were a couple of major sponsorships, and the largest donation came in at $5,000 from Choate Rosemary Hall. There was also a huge publicity push by the Record-Journal, which, when combined with everything else, contributed to the desired end result — the 2010 celebration was saved.
Once provided to the residents of Wallingford “free” of charge (actually, funded by tax dollars at the rate of about $1 per taxpayer) the Wallingford Fireworks Celebration of the birth of our great nation was now and forever more going to be a grass roots effort.
The Wallingford Fireworks Fund is now a recognized 501 (C) (3) organization as designated by the IRS. Our Tax ID number is 27-2576599. We are fast approaching our 2011 deadline and time is of the essence. Funds need to be supplied to the town by the end of May — basically a week from the time you read this, on Sunday morning.
We have a good portion of the money already collected, but we are still about $6,000 short for the 2011 event as of May 18th. If we are to have the show for this July 4th holiday, we will need to collect the remaining funds before the month is out. If not, the funds will stay parked and we’ll keep them set aside for 2012. I know Wallingford can do it. We did so last year with less lead time, so I know we can this year.
If you have any capacity and/or desire to help us with the efforts in keeping this grand Wallingford family tradition alive, please do not hesitate to contact us directly. Any donation, big or small, is going to help us close the gap to this goal. Every dime collected matters, and is as equally important as every $20 bill collected. If you can and wish to donate, you can do so directly via PayPal on our website at wallingfordfireworks.org. Alternatively, you can send us your donations made out to the Wallingford fireworks Fund at: Wallingford Fireworks Fund c/o 35 Lincoln Drive EXT Wallingford CT 06492
Thank you for supporting our efforts.
Thank you as well for doing your part in making Wallingford more than just a great New England town. By getting involved, you’re adding your own character to Wallingford’s personality as a great New England community. That cannot be bought nor paid for — that can only be freely given, and Wallingford residents do so in great abundance.
So the totals are in for this weekend and we picked up an additional $1,150.00 (and the loose change still needs to be counted).
This brings our real total (cash on hand) to $16,035.72.
We now need only to raise $25,000.00 in total funds for the cost of the town services (police, fire, public works, etc.), our bills due, and the cost of the fireworks themselves.
We have a new low bid in for our customized fireworks show at $13,500.00 which is further discounted to $12,000.00 as the vendor in their proposal is offering us that additional discount as a Platinum Sponsor of the event. I assume the town will go with this vendor but I do need to speak with the Mayor on this first. I am hoping to get a meeting with him for this Friday; I’ve taken a vacation day from work to fundraise and I’ll get over to town hall if I can book time on his schedule.
So before our additional costs / bills (e.g. advertising in the news paper for the fundraisers) we need to get to $24,000.00 in order to donate that to Wallingford so the show will go on.
That is the cost of the fireworks at $12,000.00 and the costs of the town services (as we have them):
Police Overtime
We also have a pledge for a $1,000.00 donation that I am waiting on from one local business as well as an additional $900.00 due from Microsoft Corporation.
That puts our effective total at $17,935.00.
Yes, we still have to raise and additional $1,000.00 to pay our bills and the additional pledges listed above are not yet collected.
Call me an optimist but I’ll count them into our effective totals.
That means at this moment we still need an additional $6,065.00 between now and the end of May.
We can do this; Wallingford CAN do this. 17 more days IS enough time.
Let’s roll.
