Litchfield officials grill up lunch for seniors left in the dark from storm [Waterbury Republican-American]

LITCHFIELD – After being without power for more than five days, the senior citizen residents of Wells Run received a much-welcome delivery from three elected officials on Sunday.

First Selectman Denise Raap, state Sen. Craig Miner, R-Litchfield, and state Rep. David T. Wilson, R-Litchfield, prepared hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken for the 30 residents of the housing community on East Street.

“We have to make sure they’re taken care of,” Raap said of her elderly constituents. “Craig, David and I are problem solvers and we’re trying to help where we can.”

The Wells Run residents were among the 1,536 Litchfield utility customers still without power late Sunday afternoon. The number represented 32.5 percent of the total number of utility customers in town.

Miner and Wilson did the grilling behind Town Hall and delivered the food to Wells Run with help from Raap’s husband, Greg, and Dave Vigeant, their business partner at the Village Restaurant.

While Miner and Wilson paid for the hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken, the restaurant donated macaroni and cheese, corn on the cob, coleslaw and watermelon.

The two state officials and Raap decided to take action when it became clear that Wells Run’s residents would have to wait for their power to be restored.

The well-being of Wells Run’s residents has been a priority during the outage, according to Raap, who said she has been in regular contact with Jim Simoncelli, executive director of the Litchfield Housing Authority, to make sure the community’s needs were being met.