By John Murray
Day #5 of Nemo and inspirational stories are beginning to emerge from the fog. While some frustrated city residents ranted about the lack of snow plows on their street, other city residents decided to take matters into their own hands. A group of ten men formed a snowblower brigade on Woodcrest Drive in the Bunker Hill neighborhood and cleared their road themselves. One of the men, Anthony Engala, told Waterbury Mayor Neil O’Leary, “after this, we’re going to have a block party this summer.”
While the snowblower brigade was toiling away in Bunker Hill, a shovel brigade formed in the South End of Waterbury with nearly 100 people joining together to dig out their neighbors. “They were mostly Hispanic, but it was people from all races joining together to help the community in crisis,” O’Leary said. “They weren’t asking for money. They were just helping out. I saw it with my own eyes, and it was awesome. Unbelievable.”
We strengthen our community fiber when we spend more time focusing on what’s positive in Waterbury, and celebrating the strength and resilience of her people.