Town of Old Lyme, CT - Local Organizations

The Post has been chartered in Old Lyme since 1919. All veterans are welcome to attend meetings on the fourth Tuesday of each month from September to June at 7:30PM in the Old Lyme Memorial Town Hall. The Post sends a monthly newsletter to members and prospective members. Youth programs sponsored by the Post include the annual Memorial Day Essay Contest for students in grades 5 & 6 and the "Drugs Destroy Dreams" poster contest for students in grades K through 4. The Post sends a student candidate to Boys' State, a mock government conference, and participates in Veterans' and Memorial Day ceremonies. American Legion Post #41 has participated for 8 years in a state program that assists veterans who are homeless or in need. Phone 434-9812 for membership information or application.

The Cable Advisory Council represents the interests of area citizens and subscribers in advising Adelphia on the operation of its cable television franchise. The Council meets bimonthly in one of the towns within the franchise area (Old Lyme, and Norwich). Minutes are available at each town hall.

To a child or adult with a physical, developmental or emotional disability, life can look a lot brighter on horseback. The power and warmth of the horse strengthens and tones muscles, improves balance, head control and coordination, builds self-esteem, and offers a sense of freedom and equality.

At High Hopes (Therapeutic Riding, Inc.), our year round programs incorporate physical therapy, unconditional love gained in the human/animal bond, and freedom and mobility that our riders cannot experience from a wheelchair. The feeling of achievement and control that comes from riding and maneuvering a 1200 pound horse is "strong medicine," replacing self doubt with self confidence. We offer weekly therapeutic riding lessons for more than 200 individuals at our 62-acre farm on Town Woods Road. And we need more than 200 volunteers each year to help with our programs. Please contact Alison Zack Darrell, High Hopes Executive Director, for more information.

The Lyme-Old Lyme Lions celebrated their 25th anniversary in 1996 marking a quarter of a century of work toward bettering the community. Such activities have included awarding scholarships to graduating high school seniors and helping to fund flu shots for the elderly by hosting such events as Superbowl Sunday Pancake Breakfast (held for the past 12 years), a spaghetti supper earmarked for the scholarship fund, and assisting the Lymes' Youth Services Bureau in running the Memorial Day Fair.

The Lyme-Old Lyme Lions Club was chartered on April 11, 1972 with thirty-one members. It was sponsored by the East Haddam Lions Club. Membership currently stands at sixty three members, with Dick Pettit serving his second term as president. The local group is part of the international organization that stands 1,200,000 members strong in 180 countries. In Connecticut, there are 600 members in approximately 180 clubs, with membership open to both men and women.

One of the Lyme-Old Lyme Lions' proudest accomplishments was being a driving force behind the formation of the Southeastern Connecticut Low Vision Center. This center, which opened in Norwich in 1933, was the local club's contribution to the Lions' District 23C. Annual donations from the local club go to the Lions' International Projects, such as Sight First, and to state and district projects, such as eye research at Yale, the Low Vision Center in Norwich, and Camp Rising Sun for children with cancer.

This club's main focus is local community support, such as donations of holiday food baskets, glasses, and hearing aids to the needy; sponsorship of Little League and Babe Ruth baseball teams; and support of the Council of Churches' Fuel Fund and programs at High Hopes Therapeutic Riding, Inc.'s center.

The MacCurdy Salisbury Foundation Awarded 98 scholarships to Lyme and Old Lyme high school graduates this year. Total amount awarded was $143,450, which was an average of $1,464 per student. A breakdown of the number of scholarships per class is: Class of 1997, 27 scholarships; Class of 1998, 20 scholarships; Class of 1999, 29 scholarships; and Class of 2000, 22 scholarships.

The Foundation is making plans to change from a Private Foundation to a Public Foundation. This change will not alter our purpose, supporting educational opportunities for Lyme and Old Lyme students. It will make it more attractive for donors to give the Foundation gifts other than cash. Currently gifts of securities or property only afford the giver a charitable contribution equal to the current market value of the gift, which is often far above the original cost.

We are undertaking this change because we feel the need to increase the size of our endowment. The awards we are able to give have not kept pace with the ever-increasing cost of college tuition. We hope the change in our status coupled with the generosity of local residents will enable the Foundation to grow, allowing us to provide more meaningful contributions to Lyme and Old Lyme students.

Having completed our first house in the summer of 1997 (at 1 Boggy Hole Road, the Kiernan christmas tree farm) we have moved to the second phase of our Community Land Trust Program. A modest capital campaign has been launched to raise just over $20,000 needed for access to the McCulloch lots at the end of Flat Rock Hill Road. Two houses are planned on these lots, each costing less than $85,000 - about the most anyone earning less than 80% of the area median income can afford.

Our Community Land Trust Program keeps the property forever affordable by removing the cost of land from the selling price. The Old Lyme Affordable Housing Corporation (OLAHC) holds title to the land and sees that homes are sold and, where necessary, resold at an affordable price to qualified families. A 99-year land lease gives security to the homeowners, and they are always represented on our board.

The OLAHC is an independent, nonprofit, community-based organization created in 1993 to help citizens and government satisfy Old Lyme's affordable housing needs and responsibilities. The Corporation grew out of several years' work by the Lyme\Old Lyme Council of Churches.

We urge citizens of Old Lyme, as they are able, to help us provide affordable homeownership for the young families and workers in our town. Our books are open and available to anyone interested in our goals.

preservation of Old Lyme’s rural character and quality of life. Our primary concern is the preservation of Old Lyme’s natural resources through the purchase of open space, conservation easements, and the receipt of land donations for conservation. OLCT presently owns, manages, and preserves over 70 parcels in Old Lyme.

The Old Lyme South End Volunteer Ambulance Association, Inc. is an independent organization that exists to provide emergency medical services to the Town of Old Lyme and mutual aid emergency medical services to other area towns when requested. We operate two ambulances - a primary unit from the Cross Lane station and a secondary from the Boughton Road station. A paid technician is on duty from 6 a.m. to 6 p. m. Monday through Friday to respond to calls during the period when the fewest volunteer personnel are available. In the past year the Association responded to approximately 600 fire and medical emergency calls.

The Catchment Area Council (CAC) #10 of the Region II Mental Health Board (RMHB) (Advocacy for the Mentally Ill) has concluded another anxious year due to the Governor's politically popular tax cuts. The new state budget has resulted in budget cuts and restructuring of the Mental Health and Addiction Services Department. This has resulted in decreasing rather than increasing various programs designed to assist recovering patients back into the mainstream of life.

The year was spent in many meetings and focus groups and testifying at the state level. Hundreds of letters have been written and phone calls made to State Legislators to advocate for the budget of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), the parity bill (to require insurance companies to treat mental illness an a parity with cancer, diabetes, AIDS, etc.), housing issues, police training, etc.

Region II CAC and RHMB work has expanded to include contact and dialogue with the region action councils, substance abuse providers, and the CEO of Cedarcrest Hospital as well as our traditional relationships with the Community Mental Health Center (CMHC) and the Connecticut Valley Hospital. We have talked to private providers, department of social services, managed care companies, all sorts of consultants, and many more people in recovery (consumers) who use the current service system and sometimes those who do not have good access to the system.

RMHB is changing; we have forged new alliances. Planning and advocacy work are done creatively, ad hoc, with other groups,. Review and evaluation is also changing. We push the DMHAS for data the are usable and learn from their long-range studies question-and -answer activities. We are working more and more with the other regional boards and groups like the Connecticut Legal Rights Project, the Mental Health Coalition, and the Mental Health Association to coordinate advocacy with the DMHAS, the State Board, and the Legislature.

Our members hold key positions on important local and statewide advisory groups from the DMHAS managed care work groups to the Connecticut Valley Hospital Oversight Council grappling with the Middletown injunction to limit real estate locations the will be available for mental health support.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars organization is made up of men and women who have served our country honorably overseas in time of war. That spirit of service continues to exist as the Lyme/Old Lyme Post membership works to fulfill projects aimed at our community and schools. In addition to updating all veterans on current health screening and benefits, the goal of the Post is to provide patriotic, historical, and educational events to maintain the institution of our American freedom.

The Post can be proud of its ninety members, thirty of whom actively participate in scheduled town events. Private donations and money-earning projects enable the organization to proceed with meaningful programs through the year.

Our Lymes' Post sponsors the elementary school "Freedom is Not Free" Veteran's Day poster coloring contest, the middle School "My American Hero" youth essay contest, and the senior high school "Voice of Democracy" program. Among the community service projects completed were presentation of a flag pole for the new Gloria Maddox baseball field, building a stone barbeque pit for the Lymes' Senior Center, and distribution of 10,000 tubes of toothpaste to the New England area VA hospitals, shelters, and social agencies.

The November VFW "Buddy Poppy" Program, which is conducted for our Post Relief Fund, again helped several needy town veterans and their families. We continue to thank all residents of Lyme and Old Lyme for their contributions to this annual appeal.

Lymes' Post schedules its dinner meetings the fourth Monday of the month at the Lymes' Senior Center at 5pm. . For membership information and the opportunity to join in the Veterans of Foreign Wars comradeship and service, call (860) 434-5800 .