Bristol

Farmington Girl Collects Donations, Buys Helpful Items for Local Veterans

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Several veterans in central Connecticut will have an extra reason to be thankful this year thanks to the efforts of one little girl. Avery Esposito, 9, took her school project to new heights. She is a 4th grader at East Farms School in Farmington and a member of the student council.

“They [the student council] suggested things like interviewing a veteran or writing a letter to a veteran, but since Avery is very close to her grandfather, who is a veteran of the Vietnam War, she wanted to do something a little bigger,” said Scott Esposito, Avery’s dad.

“She wanted a picture of me in Vietnam. So we sent a picture and then it kind of snowballed after that,” said Dominic Farina, Avery’s grandfather. Farina served in Vietnam for the U.S. Army from 1967-1968.

Avery took that picture from her grandfather and wrote up a letter. She passed it out to neighbors asking for donations for veterans here in Connecticut. Avery suggested a list of items that the Newington VA Medical Center said would be of great use. One by one, the donations poured in.

“She was pretty excited to go shopping with all the money that was donated and she’s a real bargain hunter. We went to three or four different stores and she wanted to make sure the money went as far as it could so we could get the most for the donation,” said Esposito.

On Wednesday, Avery and her family dropped off nearly $2,000 worth of new items for local veterans to the medical center.

“It makes me feel really good because at first I thought I would just get like five or six, but then I ended up getting a lot,” said Avery Esposito, who spearheaded the donation.

“Oh it’s fantastic. When people get together and do something for veterans, it’s always a good thing,” Farina said.

The Newington VA Medical Center will distribute the items to veterans in the area.

“I hope they feel really happy that they have all these things that they could use to make their house or get them a better life,” said Avery.

Her family says they couldn’t be prouder of the nine-year-old little girl with big ideas.

“Avery is a very special girl as you can see and to do something like this, I’m really proud of her,” said Farina.

“I think it’s fantastic. We’re obviously extremely proud of her and we think it’s so great that she wanted to help others,” Esposito said.

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