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Valley United Way is now open for business in its new location at 54 Grove Street in Shelton - the old Lafayette School. The move was completed just last week after two months of hard work and "sweat equity".

Valley United Way joins Center Stage Theatre as a tenant in a creative readaptive use of the former elementary school as a new community nonprofit center made possible by the City of Shelton. Fred Ortoli, Chairman of the United Way Board of Directors said that the project was a tribute to cooperation among the government, nonprofit and business communities to make the project a success. He thanked Mayor Mark Lauretti and the Board of Aldermen for making the effort viable by providing United Way with an affordable lease that also helps to ensure the success of the building - parts of which have served the City of Shelton since 1911.

Jack Walsh, President & C.O.O. at United Way noted that the project was made financially feasible by grants, in-kind donations and the tireless efforts by volunteers who did most of the work on the project. He said that the new facility could not have been completed if not for grants from the Katharine Matthies Foundation, the Raymond P. Lavietes Foundation, the Pitney Bowes Foundation, the Valley Community Foundation, United Illuminating and Better Packages.

Walsh went further in saying, "It was Mike Marcinek and his wonderful employees at Fletcher Thompson who really put the whole project together by taking a vision and making it a reality. They did all the design work on the project, and then volunteered to do most of the work. They were here nights, holidays and weekends since December 1, moving the project to completion." He said that they had also secured donations of the carpeting and ceiling tiles throughout the facility. "Quite frankly, this project could not have happened without Mike and his team at FletcherThompson," said Walsh.

The office furniture for the new facility was donated by HealthNet with the incredible assistance of Debbie Lewis, Manager of Facilities Services, who coordinated all of the logistics.

Students from the carpentry shop at Emmett O'Brien Regional Technical School were also involved in building new walls as part of the project.

The new facility contains not only United Way's working space, but also two conference rooms which will be used by area nonprofits. The very first meeting in the new facility was a Valley Council for Health & Human Services breakfast with area legislators held on January 24.

A formal grand opening and recognition of everyone involved is being planned, but stop by and visit at any time.

An earlier video


The Valley Council for Health & Human Services met with state Senator Kevin Kelly, State Reps Jason Perillo and Leonard Green and Derby Mayor Anthony Staffieri on 1/24 in the new Lavietes Conference Room, and the Board of Directors met in the new Matthies Conference Room on 1/25! Click on the pictures for larger views.

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Valley United Way is pleased to announce that it will be moving to the new nonprofit community center in the former Lafayette School in Shelton after signing a lease with the City of Shelton for the space. In making the announcement, Fred Ortoli, Board Chairman at Valley United Way said, “ We are excited about this new location being made available to us by the City of Shelton. It provides us with an economical option for our offices as well as for the communal space that we will share with other nonprofits in the Valley. This is a creative adaptation of the former school that will benefit the entire community”. He said that he was especially pleased with the assistance provided by Mayor Mark Lauretti and the Board of Aldermen to make this possible.

Mayor Lauretti said that the City of Shelton has always been supportive of the nonprofit community and the services that they provide in the community and the use of Lafayette School as a center for nonprofit activity benefits all the residents of the community as well as the nonprofits who will use the space. "We are pleased that Valley United Way will be the first agency to move into the second floor space, and we anticipate others will be following soon. This will bring new life into a building that has been a cornerstone of our community since the first wing was opened 100 years ago this year”.

Jack Walsh, President and C.O.O. of Valley United Way said that the move should take place during the next two months. He noted that United Way had received grants from the Katharine Matthies and Raymond P. Lavietes Foundations to help cover the costs of renovations to the space that will be occupied by United Way. United Illuminating's parent organization UIL Holdings and Better Packages of Shelton have also contributed to the project.

Fletcher Thompson volunteers have already completed most of the work on the new space

Walsh said that, “We’ll also be putting a great deal of sweat equity into this project as a large number of volunteers will be utilized for much of the work. We are particularly grateful to Michael Marcinek and his team at Fletcher Thompson who have been providing the design work and supervising the renovations”. Volunteers from Fletcher Thompson and members of Valley United Way's Youth Leadership Program have worked over the last week on the renovations, and they have been joined by the carpentry class from O'Brien Tech in Ansonia this week.

The space will contain the United Way offices as well as conference rooms for nonprofit meetings and events. It is anticipated that as many as six other nonprofits may move into the additional classroom space still available in the building.

Valley United Way Has Moved

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