Pride Day in Putnam was a Great Success

Northeastern Connecticut’s Pride Day, hosted in Putnam on August 9, 2003, 
was a great success despite a threatening cloud cover and humid weather.

Wet roads didn’t deter almost four hundred and fifty people from walking in 
the 13th Annual Deary Fun Walk, which kicked off the day’s activities at 
8 a.m. The walk, shepherded by policemen on bicycles, went smoothly, and 
streets were dry by the time the walk ended. Volunteers served water at 
rest stops along the way, while residents on Grove Street cheered from 
porches and sidewalks.

Close to three hundred runners left the start line at J.D. Cooper’s at 9:00
a.m. Chad Johnson, 27, finished first, with a time of 25:21, 
shaving 22 seconds off of his fifth place finish time of 25:43 in 2002. 
Bryce Lindamood, 32, came in second with a time of 26:30 and 
Josh Kennedy, 18, placed third, with a time of 27:17. 
Cindy Pomeroy, 42, led the women, finishing 15th overall at 31:09.


Tori Weigand, from Day Kimball Philanthropy and Corporate Communications,
reported that the Fun Walk and Race raised $43,000.00 for the Deary Charity.
Virginia Army, the chaplain at Day Kimball, was the top individual collector,
while her team, Pastoral Care and Volunteer services, was the top team
collector. Team donations totaled $2,430.00, and Reverend Army ran in the race.

Suzanne Franklin, a walker, a survivor, and last year’s ambassador, is 
the team leader and owner of The Healthy Lady.  Her team came in second
with $2,162,00 in revenues. The Mammogramers, led by Sandra Dean, 
Supervisor of the Mammography Department, came in third with collected
donations of $1,307.00.

Pauline Tetrault, a volunteer and an ovarian cancer survivor, has benefited
from money raised by the Deary Race/Walk, and she thinks that the event 
needs all the publicity it can get “because it helps local people”.

Tetrault said that she was unable to work when she was diagnosed with ovarian
cancer in 2001.  “I had no money, but I did get help from the Deary fund. 
There are a lot of poor people in this area, and people need the money”....
raised by this annual benefit.

Tetrault works full-time at Brooks Distributors now, where she has adjusted
well to the physical labor, and she’s feeling great. She is not able to 
volunteer for the Deary charity as much as she did when she wasn’t working, 
but she did want to help with the race.

Later in the day, at Rotary Park in Putnam, more than 3,000 ducks raced in 
the 5th Annual Arc Rubber Duck Race at 4:30 p.m., on the Quinebaug River. 
Lorna Wade, president of ARC, thanked contestants for their great turnout. 
The event raised $15,600.00 for people with disabilities, and part of the 
money will be used to help finance transportation in the Danielson area.
   
Prizes for the fifty-one winning ducks ranged from a first prize award of 
a cruise for twelve to Block Island, valued at $2,500.00, to $25.00 gift
certificates donated by local merchants. Clarisse Pakues, from Brooklyn, 
won first prize, second prize went to Cynthia Stewart of Canterbury, 
and Dwight Cutler of Dayville was the third prize winner.