Chris Poulos

Today, on behalf of Southington’s legislative delegation, State Representative Francis Rexford Cooley and I were honored to present an official state citation to the Friday Morning Breakfast Club in recognition of Plate It Forward Southington Week. The Plate It Forward (PIF) initiative, celebrating its first anniversary, is a food-sharing project based upon the pay it forward model of giving: When you buy a meal for yourself in a participating restaurant, you may also make a second purchase for someone else.

The project has support from The Community Foundation of Greater New Britain, Bread for Life, Southington Community Services, and numerous small businesses from Southington and the surrounding towns, and I am proud to add my name to the list of PIF supporters. Special shout out and thanks to the participating Southington restaurants: Paul Gregory's Bistro Café, Fancy Bagels, Chick-fil-A, Fancy Bagels Xpress, The Lion's Den Coffee Shop, and Saint's Restaurant and Catering. 

Congratulations and thank you to all involved!

Please continue reading below for other noteworthy items, and thanks as always for taking the time to read them!

This week I attended the 2024 YMCA Annual Awards Recognition Dinner at the Aqua Turf Club and was privileged to present a citation from the Connecticut General Assembly to Dan Daigle in recognition for being named YMCA’s Person of the Year. Dan’s volunteer contributions span numerous organizations, including the YMCA, Rotary Club, Main Street Community Foundation, among many others. I left the event inspired to do more by Dan’s example of leadership and commitment to service.

Best wishes to the other award recipients honored at the event including Stephen Pintarich for the Youth Development Award, Southington Behavioral Health and Social Services Stakeholders’ Group for the Healthy Living Award, Tony Micacci for the Social Responsibility Award, and Ava Egan and Cassidy Plourde for the Youth Leadership Awards.

Congratulations to all and thank you for making Southington a better place.

It was great to attend the Connecticut Education Association (CEA) legislative breakfast this week. At the event I was able to speak with fellow World Language teachers from Southington High School, Megan Martin and Kristin Stevens, along with retired educator, Dan Hart, and others. They shared their concerns, and we discussed solutions to the challenges we as teachers face in public education. Thank you to CEA for hosting this annual breakfast, which provided us the opportunity to meet.

We had another great turnout for the Blue Dog Legislative Q&A at the Lions Den Coffee Shop in Plantsville this week. Thank you to fellow Moderate Caucus members State Representatives Jill Barry and Michael DiGiovancarlo for joining me at the gathering.

The Moderate Caucus (“Connecticut Blue Dogs”) is a coalition of 24 Connecticut House Democrats who advocate within the House Democratic Caucus for fiscal responsibility, transparency, and good governance while making common-sense policy for all State of Connecticut residents. Blue Dogs work towards bipartisan consensus, rather than conflict with Republicans.

Due to the success of these Legislative Q&A Sessions, I am working to schedule additional events in the upcoming months, so please be on the lookout for more information.

Do you have a child entering kindergarten in the Fall of 2024 or 2025?

The Early Childhood Collaborative of Southington and Southington Public Schools want you to come learn about what children should know about literacy, numeracy and social-emotional learning skills on Thursday, March 28 from 6-8 p.m. at DePaolo Middle School. Learn more and register at southingtonearlychildhood.org/events.