www.berlincitizen.com
Volume 23, Number 39
Thursday, September 30, 2021
Honored for service
Boxes to Boots preparing for next mission
Lewandowski enters firefighters Hall of Fame Former Kensington Fire-Rescue Chief Mark Lewandowski was inducted into the Connecticut State Firefighters Association Hall of Fame during a Sept. 23 dinner at the Aqua Turf Club in Southington.
By Nadya Korytnikova The Citizen
Boxes to Boots is currently preparing for its annual Christmas shipment — the A local non-profit is at it biggest one of the year — again, sending care packages and is seeking help from the to U.S. troops serving overcommunity. Socks, energy seas. bars, hygiene products, cards and small games are Berlin-based Boxes to Boots is dedicated to mailing needed for the care packlove and thanks to troops in ages. the form of cards, goodBoxes to Boots also hopes to ies and supplies. Last year, receive monetary donations, Boxes to Boots sent 700 as it costs $20 to ship a sinChristmas packages along gle package. with an additional 350 There are other ways to help, throughout the year. as well. Gauvin is looking to “Sometimes our care packrecruit volunteers for a packages are the only connection aging event on Nov. 6 at New that some of our military Britain Bees stadium. personnel have,” Boxes to Boots president Kristen Gauvin stated. See Boxes, A6
Boxes to Boots president Kristen Gauvin holds a flag and certificate from the Combat Talon II mission in Qatar. It was presented to her by Sgt. Steven Frauenheim of the U.S. Air Force, who received a care package from Boxes to Boots during his deployment. Photo courtesy Kristen Gauvin
Sports training company opens By Nadya Korytnikova The Citizen
The town recently held a ribboncutting ceremony for the sports training company Northeast Performance Institute. NPI is a research-level performance company for the advancement of technology-based player performance and athletic development.
The Town of Berlin held a ribbon cutting ceremony for Northeast Performance Institute at 1400 Berlin Turnpike on Monday, Sept. 13. Nadya Korytnikova, The Citizen
NPI is currently focused on golf and baseball, but plans to expand into lacrosse and other sports soon. See NPI, A7
Lewandowski joined Kensington Fire-Rescue as a volunteer firefighter in 1980, and moved quickly up the Lewandowski ranks. He served as lieutenant, captain and assistant chief, before being named chief, a position he held for 24 years. Lewandowski retired in 2017. Soon after, he told The Citizen: “It was the appropriate time to step out.” The longtime chief said it’s important to move people up in the department. “We’re planning for the future,” he said. In 2018, Lewandowski’s successor, Jeff Pajor, told The Citizen: “There has been a wonderful legacy of chiefs, both in Kensington, and town-wide. I hope to follow in their footsteps and continue moving the department forward as Chief Lewandowski had done during his 24 years leading the department.” Lewandowski’s Hall of Fame biography lays out many of his accomplishment as chief, including forming Kensington Fire-Rescue’s Cold Water Rescue Team and Special Operations Unit, making the department’s 9/11 memorial a reality, and obtaining $750,000 in Fire Act funding for Berlin’s fire departments. The biography states: “At the time of his Hall of Fame Induction, Mark Lewandowski had devoted 41 years to the Connecticut Fire Service, in multiSee Firefighter, A4