12/03/2022
In case some of you don’t get the Cheshire Herald, we wanted to share our Letter to the Editor this week ~
A Final “Thank You” From LOH
We don’t know where to begin to thank the thousands of individuals and businesses who have supported Cheshire’s Lights of Hope for the past 18 years. Since 2005, the streets of Cheshire have been lit up with luminaries in solidarity and to bring light into a world that can be dark at times. Our goal was to bring neighbors and their neighborhoods together while helping each other. We feel we have achieved this.
Never did we expect to have raised $1.25 million. Never did we think it would last 18 years. Never did we expect the support we received. Yet here we are looking back at an amazing accomplishment thanks to the hard work of awesome committee members, board of directors, and volunteers.
The one thing that will stay with us about Cheshire’s Lights of Hope is how we taught the younger generation the importance of giving back to our community. We had thousands of kids volunteer for our organization and this really made an impact on Cheshire. We are excited that we will be able to continue giving out our two $2,000 scholarships to Cheshire residents based on their volunteer work within the community.
This year’s event was bittersweet for us. We look forward to finally having some extra time, but we are still concerned about the charities that we supported. We know we made the right decision, and we can understand some people’s disappointment. We just felt with the time commitment involved, it was time to move on.
We have had many ask if someone was going to take over for us. The answer is, not currently. Despite some people’s very good intentions of wanting to carry on Lights of Hope, we just feel it isn’t the right time to turn it over, the time commitment involved in training someone is something we don’t have right now.
We are asking people to continue to support the Cheshire Community Food Pantry, Cheshire Youth and Social Services, the Petit Family Foundation, and the Cheshire Food Drive. These are the groups that are working directly with our neighbors in need and need your support.
It is our hope that someone will pick up the gauntlet and create a new way to support these charities so that we can continue to be known as the town where neighbors are helping neighbors. If nothing else, find a worthy cause and volunteer.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the love, hope and support you have given to us for all these years.
Don and Jenifer Walsh Cheshire
