Helping Hands

The Minute Men are a part of the history of our region and a national treasure. They were the original first responders, even before we were a country. In the two and a half centuries since we declared our independence, we've had minute men and women of every kind for every challenge. Be it in response to attacks of war through economic calamity, to catastrophic acts of nature, their response has always been immediate and unquestioning.

Perhaps we should put some time back on the clock to see if there are still minute men among us. If we start at our local level, we can be a partner for those in the state capitol, and then together with other states, across the country, we can go national.

Here in Norwich, we have a target-rich environment for those wishing to extend a helping hand. There isn't a neighborhood that doesn't have a household in need of a shoveled walkway or a friendly face to visit with a snow-bound senior citizen or to read a child an after-school story, so a caregiver has fifteen minutes of 'me time' before starting supper. None of that costs any of us anything, but its worth is incalculable and its impact beyond measurement.

Speaking of children, the Board of Education has regular monthly meetings at Kelly STEAM Middle Magnet School. Here's your chance to see how far along the construction and renovation have come, to learn more about where the Norwich Public School system is heading, and to hear firsthand about what our children and teachers are involved in. Perhaps, most importantly, it's your opportunity to make your voice for informed choice heard.

We spend so much time talking about downtown economic development, we forget it's also where people live and work. Too many of us use the Chelsea District as a shortcut to get us from one place to another. Too late, we discover we're nowhere at all.

And sometimes, we're so focused on just downtown, it's hard for someone who lives on Jail Hill or in Taftville (to name just two places) to believe anyone, anywhere cares about his street or her neighborhood. Sometimes we really are ten villages in search of a city. And other times we get tired of trying to carry everyone on our back and forget we don't have to do it alone-that's why we've chosen to live in our city so we can help one another.

A lot of what needs to be done takes resources we don't have (yet), and figuring out how to acquire them will be part of that job. Many others cannot happen overnight but will take months, or in some cases, years. But other things in the immediate here and now only take a minute, if we have the time and the desire to help.
-bill kenny