Dozens of Waterbury teens used their snow day Wednesday to help their community. One shovel scoop at a time.
For the seventh straight year, youth involved with the Waterbury Police Activity League, are using their snow days to help shovel for people who can’t do it themselves
“I appreciate it because I’m diagnosed with Parkinson’s so it’s getting extremely hard for me to do any shoveling,” said Lou Desanto, one of the recipients of the PAL work.
Those involved said they enjoy doing the work.
“It’s fun actually,” said 15-year-old Elena Cuapio. “We have people to work with so it’s not like it’s boring either.”
The Waterbury PAL had three van loads of kids working Wednesday. In total, they had 35 homes on their list. By lunchtime they were almost done and barely even broke a sweat.
“It’s pretty simple,” said Cuapio. “We work as a team which is why we work fast and get it done.”
Local
Mary Jackman’s husband recently passed away and chores like shoveling have become hers. She says she can barely shovel a few feet herself and was is thankful for the help.
“It means a whole lot. It means that I’m gonna get out of the house,” said Jackman.
Waterbury police said this program is open to elderly, disabled people and people who can’t shovel for themselves.
“We come out free of charge and help out the community,” explained Waterbury PAL organizer, officer Chuck Collini. “Let the kids do some work and do some good.”
As for the kids, they make $11 dollars an hour but their true reward is knowing they’ve helped other people.
“They talk to us all the time. They come out and they’re like, ‘thank you so much!’ It’s heart-warming hearing it.” said Cuapio.
