Many organizations are sending please-help, end-of-the-year fundraising appeals.
All are worthy of consideration.
One is especially important for Westporters.
Most residents have no idea that Westport Volunteer Emergency Medical Service relies almost entirely on donations.
That’s right: The men, women (and teenagers!) who respond to over 2,300 calls a year, providing outstanding care to people who live here, work here, visit here and pass through here (that’s you, accident victims on I-95 and the Merritt), must also spend time raising nearly every penny they need.
What do your dollars pay for?
● Replacing their 10-year-old ambulances with state-of-the-art vehicles — and stocking it with crucial medical equipment. It’s true: EMS pays not only for ambulances, but for everything from the heart monitors and gurneys to the Band-Aids in them.
● Continuing to educate thousands of citizens in CPR – and certifying them as Emergency Medical Responders/Emergency Medical Technicians.
● Ensuring that EMS is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year (366, in 2024).
Westporters are very generous to EMS. Many (though certainly not all) donate after appreciating the calm, compassionate — and extremely professional — care they receive after a 911 call. Others contribute, knowing that if they ever do need EMS, their dollars will help.
But despite that support, EMS is still short of its goal.
That’s why they’re appealing for tax-deductible funds before the end of the year. They welcome one-time contributions, or monthly sustaining gifts. Click here to help.
It’s a cliché to say “have a happy, safe and healthy new year.” EMS wishes that for all Westport residents, visitors and passing through persons.
But if you don’t have one, they’ll be there for you.
Providing, that is, that you help provide for them.
Westport Volunteer Emergency Medical Service pays for all the equipment in their ambulances — and the vehicles themselves.
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It’s not quite flood conditions.
But Deadman Brook downtown was higher than usual this morning, following a steady rain.
(Photos/Sal Liccione)
The rain will end soon. Showers may return late today.
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Today’s intriguing “Westport … Naturally” photo was taken by Michael Chait, at Burying Hill Beach. The view is toward Sherwood Island State Park.
(Photo/Michael Chait)
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And finally … Tom Smothers, the older, seemingly ditzier but actually more politically minded half of the Smothers Brothers comedy duo, died Tuesday at his home in Santa Rosa, California. He was 86, and had recently been diagnosed with cancer. Click here for a full obituary.
Click below for a typical routine:
Click below for Pete Seeger’s 1968 performance of “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy,” on the “Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour” — in the midst of the Vietnam War — that got them canceled by CBS:
