TRUMBULL, CT — Suspense hung in the air among the guests gathered on the patio of Prime One Eleven restaurant Sunday night, as Chris Eigenrauch reached inside the ticket tumbler on one table to pull out the winning Trumbull Rotary Club raffle ticket to reveal the winner of the $10,000 grand prize.
The goal of the Heroes for Heroes Raffle was to raise the remaining amount of the club’s $50,000 pledge to the Veterans and First Responder Center building project, benefitting area first responders and tens of thousands of military veterans hailing from Monroe, Shelton, Trumbull, Easton and Redding.
Eigenrauch handed the ticket to Rotary President Kathi Eigenrauch, who stood in the midst of the crowd, microphone in hand. “Matt Caron,” she announced. “Congratulations!”
The Trumbull resident, who was notified via a phone call, later joined the revelers.
The Rotary Club had raised $28,000 from a wine tasting event two years ago, and Kathi Eigenrauch said members voted to increase its pledge to $50,000, before agreeing Sunday’s raffle was the way to go about it.
“We are deeply concerned about supporting veterans and this center provides access to resources for veterans in our town and the region as well,” Eigenrauch said.
Trumbull Rotary Club members volunteered, selling tickets outside Stop & Shop, at Trumbull Day and during the Memorial Day Parade, which had a big response.
On Sunday, guests bought tickets right up to a half hour before the 7:30 p.m. drawing. Eigenrauch said they sold over 3,500 tickets for $10 a piece over the duration of the fundraiser.
“It’s absolutely exceeded our expectations,” she said. “We couldn’t be happier with the response from the community.”
Eigenrauch said local restaurants had table top signs advertising the raffle and it was widely promoted online, appearing in posts on Rotary members’ Facebook pages and the civic organization’s website, as well as “Keep Trumbull Real” and “Trumbull Talks.”
Eigenrauch praised the work of the raffle committee members, who are herself, Chair Holly Sutton-Darr, Jay Kiley, Cindi Penkoff, Susan Stonoha, Nancy Kuhn and Faith Douglass.
The foundation is laid
VFW Post 10059’s building, which was once an old ice house, was condemned in 2017 and the post had to find other places for its meetings. But it sparked plans for a brand new building at 1 Veterans Circle in Trumbull.
The Veterans and First Responder Center will be a 5,500-square-foot multi-use facility for Trumbull and the region’s veterans, first responders, small businesses, civic groups and residents. The $4.2 million building project will have a memorial gallery just beyond the entrance, a conference room, grille area, gathering room, two meeting rooms, a deck and a fire pit.
Once completed, the building will house programs offering access to jobs, healthcare, workforce training and other services to over 30,000 veterans in the region. And first responders will use the facility for workforce training needs including dive and water rescue training.
However, Building Committee Chairman Raymond Baldwin Jr. said the bids for construction came in higher than expected on June 12.
Rina Bakalar, Trumbull’s director of Economic and Community Development, said she applied to the state for a $500,000 supplemental bond to handle increased construction costs, but after the bids provided more solid information, she increased the request to $1.8 million.
If the funding is approved, Preston Merritt, a member of both the building committee and the Trumbull Rotary, said it would be enough to complete the project, which he said will provide a place between veterans agencies in Stamford and New Haven.
“If we get the funding this year, we hope to open the center by March of next year,” he said. “The foundation is in for the building, just the bricks and mortar are needed.”
Bakalar said she, First Selectman Vicki Tesoro, Baldwin and Trumbull’s state delegation will continue to follow up on their funding request with the Governor’s Office and the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management.
To that end, she said State Sen. Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, D-22nd, and representatives, Tony Scott, R-Monroe, Sarah Keitt, D-134th, David Rutigliano, R-123rd, and Ben McGorty, R-122nd, signed a joint letter of support.
“We need everybody’s support to get this done and we will get this done,” Bakalar said.
The first selectman attended Sunday’s raffle drawing. “This is a great event for a great project in our community and we’re going to get this over the finish line,” Tesoro said. “We’ve got great backing.”
She praised Bakalar, expressing confidence she will secure the needed funding, and Tesoro thanked all involved in the project, which she called a group effort.
Baldwin expressed his appreciation to the Trumbull Rotary Club for its support of the project.
“The Rotary’s been phenomenal,” he said. “From the very first time we showed them the concept of this project, they’ve been onboard.”
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