Members of the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association (CFDA) continued their 12-year holiday tradition of collecting for the Connecticut National Guard Service Member & Family Support Center’s Operation ELF (Embracing Lonely Families) program. In addition to encouraging donations from the funeral directors and suppliers, CFDA recruited 39 funeral homes across the state to serve as community collection sites for toys and gift cards in November and early December.
“The Connecticut Funeral Directors Association collected close to $6,500 worth of gift cards, toys and cash this holiday season, and that is more than any other year we have been involved so far,” explains John F. Cascio, Executive Director of the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association. “It is an honor for our association to support Operation ELF, assisting military families with a loved one in the deployment cycle who may suffer financial hardship as a result of the call to active duty.”
Funeral directors and their suppliers carried hundreds of unwrapped toys and gift cards for Operation ELF into the CFDA’s 129th Annual Convention at the Radisson Cromwell in December. The association then brought all of the items to the Gov. William O’Neill State Armory in Hartford in time for the Connecticut National Guard Service Member & Family Support Center’s annual holiday party.
Below are the 39 funeral homes that served as 2017 Connecticut Funeral Directors Association Operation ELF collection sites (listed in alphabetical order of town/city):
Avon: Carmon Funeral Home & Family Center at 301 Country Club Rd., 860-673-8610;
Bristol: Funk Funeral Home at 35 Bellevue Ave., 860-583-4107;
Cheshire: Alderson-Ford Funeral Home at 615 S. Main St., 203-272-7209;
Danbury: Cornell Memorial Home at 247 White St., 203-748-4833;
Derby: Edward F. Adzima Funeral Home at 253 Elizabeth St., 203-735-0111;
East Hartford: D’Esopo East Hartford Memorial Chapel at 30 Carter Street, 860-568-9420;
Enfield: Leete-Stevens Family Funeral Homes & Crematory at 61 South Rd., 860-749-2244;
Fairfield: Shaughnessey-Banks Funeral Home at 50 Reef Rd., 203-255-1031;
Fairfield: Spear-Miller Funeral Home at 39 South Benson Rd., 203-259-0824;
Greenwich: Castiglione Funeral Home at 544 Old Post Rd. #3, 203-869-0894;
Manchester: Holmes-Watkins Funeral Home at 400 Main St., 860-643-2441;
Manchester: John F. Tierney Funeral Home at 219 West Center St., 860-643-1222;
Manchester: Manchester Funeral Home at 142 E. Center St., 860-643-6226;
Meriden: John J. Ferry & Sons Funeral Home at 88 East Main St., 203-235-3338;
Middletown: Doolittle Funeral Home at 14 Old Church St., 860-346-6464;
Mystic: Mystic Funeral Home at 51 Williams Ave. (Rt. 1), 860-536-2888;
New Britain: Duksa Family Funeral Homes at Burritt Hill at 332 Burritt St., 860-229-9021;
New Britain: Erickson-Hansen Funeral Home at 411 South Main St., 860 229-5676;
New Haven: Howard K. Hill Funeral Service at 1287 Chapel St., 203-624-4477;
New London: Thomas L. Neilan & Sons Funeral Home at 12 Ocean Ave., 860-443-1871;
Newington: Duksa Family Funeral Homes at Newington Memorial at 20 Bonair Ave., 860-666-0600;
Newtown: Honan Funeral Home at 58 Main St., 203-426-2752;
Plainville: Bailey Funeral Home at 48 Broad St., 860-747-2295;
Rockville: Burke-Fortin Funeral Home at 76 Prospect St., 860-875-5490;
Rocky Hill: Rose Hill Funeral Home at 580 Elm St., 860-529-3381;
Seymour: Ralph E. Hull Funeral Home at 161 West Church St., 203-888-2538;
Shelton: Riverview Funeral Home, Inc. at 390 River Rd., 203-924-6800;
South Windsor: Samsel & Carmon Funeral Home at 419 Buckland Rd., 860-644-2940;
Stafford Springs: Introvigne Funeral Home at 51 East Main St., 860-684-2538;
Stratford: Adzima Funeral Home at 50 Paradise Green Place, 203-375-2200;
Torrington: Cook Funeral Home at 82 Litchfield St., 860-482-4456;
Torrington: Gleeson-Ryan Funeral Home at 258 Prospect St., 860-489-4104;
Vernon: Ladd-Turkington & Carmon Funeral Home at 551 Talcottville Rd., 860-875-3536;
Wallingford: B. C. Bailey Funeral Home at 273 South Elm St., 203-265-1111;
Wallingford: Wallingford Funeral Home at 809 North Main Street Ext., 203-269-7777;
West Hartford: Sheehan-Hilborn-Breen Funeral Home, 1084 New Britain Ave., 860-561-3800;
Wethersfield: D’Esopo Funeral Chapel at 277 Folly Brook Blvd., 860-563-6117;
Willimantic: Potter Funeral Home at 456 Jackson St., 860-423-2211; and
Windsor: Carmon Community Funeral Home at 807 Bloomfield Ave., 860-688-2200.