Why Community Matters in New Canaan: Find Out How Laura MacMaster Danforth is Staying Inspired and Connected

Why Community Matters

Local creativity is overflowing in communities as moms, dads, small business owners, nonprofit leaders and volunteers are finding new ways to communicate in this new world of social isolation. Their coping strategies and ingenuity are beyond inspiring! 

We are proud to introduce you to these innovators in “Why CommunityMatters”, a series made possible by LIFEWTR.

Laura MacMaster Danforth, lifelong New Canaan resident, mom, and realtor with William Raveis Real Estate and manager of events and communication for Staying Put in New Canaan.

With the new norm of practicing social distancing, how are you finding creative ways to connect with family and friends?

My friends have turned to the Zoom platform for our get-togethers!  We have had Zoom "enjoy a cup of tea" and Zoom "Happy Hours". Sue Benko, acts as our social chairperson and sets up all our "meetings".  I have also started setting up Zoom events with friends from High School (NCHS class of 1980!) as well as college friends. My daughter Kendall is working for an Advertising firm in Santa Monica and also just became a yoga teacher.  She is going to offer a Zoom Yoga class for my entire family tonight, we will all be connected on our devices. It will include my siblings, nieces, nephews and my other children.  

My daughter, Julia and I are also taking walks and keeping our distance from other walkers.  We wear scarves over our mouth and nose and sunglasses. We cross the street whenever needed. This is a challenge because there are so many out walking!  I do think it is so important for people to get outside. Even just sitting in the sun for 15 minutes can improve someone's mood. 

Can you tell us if you or any of your colleagues are doing creative things at home to find joy and inspiration?

Many of my co-workers, agents at William Raveis Real Estate, are following Marie Kondo [Tidying Expert], trying to get our homes well organized.  I have given up on rolling my clothes but spend the weekends trying to purge my basement and organize closets. I do strive to have . . . a place for everything and everything in its place! That would make me very happy!

What really brings me a spark of joy is gardening.  Since I can not go out and buy plants, I decided to start off by planting seeds.  It is amazing how many packages of seeds I already had. With the help of Amazon, I ordered trays to start them in.  Every sunny window in my house has a tray of little plants, which I will transplant to bigger pots when they are ready.  As you may know, I am a realtor in town and have a new listing that has a beautiful greenhouse and they are allowing me to fill it!  This makes me so happy! I can move plants over as they are ready. There is so much room for my vegetables and flowers! Plus, the view is amazing!

I do believe the most important thing to do at this time is to think about all that you are thankful for.  We have so many blessings and should concentrate on positive things. We should remember that we are not, "stuck at home", we are "safe at home" and by doing this, we are saving lives!

Do you know of any local businesses or nonprofits innovating to serve communities during this difficult time? How?  

I also have been working at Staying Put in New Canaan helping with their event planning and social media.  It is such a great organization! I have really enjoyed getting to know the members, what a great group! Since I can't plan fun events to attend, my April newsletter is filled with virtual events that members can enjoy from their computer, iPad or phone.   If anyone has ideas that I may share with our members, I would love to hear about them. I also have been posting daily on Facebook other things to keep our followers entertained. 

As soon as we realized this was going to happen, Barb Achenbaum, Executive Director, Nicola Holzberger, Director of Member Services and Cathy Fitzpatrick, Director of Finance and Operations of Staying Put, Lyn Bond and Aggie Aspinwall at the Lapham Center and the New Canaan Human Services Department spearheaded an effort to identify seniors in New Canaan over the age of 75 to make sure that they were personally contacted and helped if necessary.  

This developed into a “COVID-19 Community Outreach Team” under the leadership of Bethany Zaro at Human Services, consisting of representatives from Staying Put, Lapham, Getabout, faith-based organizations, Silver Hill Hospital, Waveny Life Care, service groups, the Chamber of Commerce, and other non-profit organizations, with wonderful cooperation from Walter Stewart's.  Town Hall employees are now calling this group of seniors to let them know of the volunteers who can shop for them, that the New Canaan school nurses are available to call anyone who has basic health questions and that Lapham will do friendly calls for anyone who feels the need. If you know of anyone who is not a Staying Put member who might need any help, please have them call Human Services at 203-594-3076.  There are about 250 volunteers ready to help.