By Dan Gilbert
The Kiwanis Club of Weston’s food and healthcare products drive last Saturday was an outstanding success, with the support of Weston High School’s Key Club and Senior Connections Club. and volunteers from the Weston Food Pantry.
While Mother Nature didn’t honor my request for a dry day with mid-30s temperatures, our volunteer team showed up big time. On a cold, wet Saturday morning with a steady snowfall, our volunteers helped Westonites help their neighbors in need. Our team was composed of: Key Club President Alice Sullivan and Edhen Young, Abby Aulenbach, and Hailey Samuels; Weston Food Pantry President Anne Bigin, Weston High School Senior Connections Club Co-founder Ryan Bigin; and Weston Kiwanians Reed Ameden, Dave Burns, Karen Chrisley, Phyliss Gary, Barbara Gross, Steve Haas, Harvey Luft, Jim McMorris, Harry Spencer, Steve Thomas, and Lauren Traum.
Anne Bigin, appreciating the success, noted:
“I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the Kiwanis Club of Weston and our Weston High School’s Key Club and Senior Connections Club for making the recent food drive for the Weston Food Pantry such a success. Despite braving the elements and the holiday weekend, our amazing volunteers and supporters came together to collect over 60 full bags of shelf-stable food, along with$266.30 in generous cash and Venmo donations.
This event would not have been possible without the leadership and continued support of Weston Kiwanis and Dan Gilbert. Thank you to the Kiwanis members for your ongoing commitment to our town, especially to the Weston Food Pantry. A special thank you goes to our Weston High School Key Club volunteers this morning. I’m also incredibly grateful to the Weston High School Senior Connections Club, and especially to Ryan Bigin, who is always there to help load, transport, and unload the bounty from our food drives. Because of all of you, families in our community will have access to much-needed food and support. Thank you again for showing what true community spirit looks like.”
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Last Updated: January 21, 2026 by Robert Uzenoff
Kiwanis Food Drive a Success
By Dan Gilbert
The Kiwanis Club of Weston’s food and healthcare products drive last Saturday was an outstanding success, with the support of Weston High School’s Key Club and Senior Connections Club. and volunteers from the Weston Food Pantry.
While Mother Nature didn’t honor my request for a dry day with mid-30s temperatures, our volunteer team showed up big time. On a cold, wet Saturday morning with a steady snowfall, our volunteers helped Westonites help their neighbors in need. Our team was composed of: Key Club President Alice Sullivan and Edhen Young, Abby Aulenbach, and Hailey Samuels; Weston Food Pantry President Anne Bigin, Weston High School Senior Connections Club Co-founder Ryan Bigin; and Weston Kiwanians Reed Ameden, Dave Burns, Karen Chrisley, Phyliss Gary, Barbara Gross, Steve Haas, Harvey Luft, Jim McMorris, Harry Spencer, Steve Thomas, and Lauren Traum.
Anne Bigin, appreciating the success, noted:
“I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the Kiwanis Club of Weston and our Weston High School’s Key Club and Senior Connections Club for making the recent food drive for the Weston Food Pantry such a success. Despite braving the elements and the holiday weekend, our amazing volunteers and supporters came together to collect over 60 full bags of shelf-stable food, along with$266.30 in generous cash and Venmo donations.
This event would not have been possible without the leadership and continued support of Weston Kiwanis and Dan Gilbert. Thank you to the Kiwanis members for your ongoing commitment to our town, especially to the Weston Food Pantry. A special thank you goes to our Weston High School Key Club volunteers this morning. I’m also incredibly grateful to the Weston High School Senior Connections Club, and especially to Ryan Bigin, who is always there to help load, transport, and unload the bounty from our food drives. Because of all of you, families in our community will have access to much-needed food and support. Thank you again for showing what true community spirit looks like.”
###
Category: Blog Post
Upcoming events
Breakfast meeting. Program: From Woodstock to Wisdom: A Boomer's Journey to 80, Vicki Thomas
Weston Kiwanis meets most Saturdays from September through June at Norfield Congregational Church parish hall. Doors open at 8 a.m. for coffee and conversation, with the breakfast meeting beginning at 8:30 a.m. and ending no later than 10 a.m. After breakfast, we have a speaker or community service activity.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Super Bowl Feast for Veterans Experiencing Homelessness Food Drop Off
Kiwanis 2026 Super Bowl Lunch Feast
Steve ThomasContact
Kiwanis Lunch Feasts for
Homes for the Brave (34 men)
Madaras Home for Women Veterans (12 women)
Signup: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F44ABA72BABFFC16-55294229-kiwanis
Instructions:
By signing up, you are signing up to bring your selected food item(s) to Norfield Congregational Church parking lot between 8:30 a.m. and 9:15 a.m. on Super Bowl day, Sunday, February 8, 2026. You are not committing to traveling to Bridgeport. If you are also interested in traveling to the Homes for the Brave, please note this in the comments box when you sign up to claim your item(s).
*The Kiwanis Club of Bridgeport is supplying all beverages.
The Kiwanis Club of Norwalk is supplying snack packs for all residents.
Valentine's breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Board Meetings with Committee Chairs
Breakfast meeting. Program: Faces of Freedom, Walter Schuppe
Before launching this project, Schuppe had a 30-year career in banking and finance, most recently serving as a Senior Vice President/Managing Director at Pacific Western Bank until his retirement in early 2024. In addition to his work with Faces of Freedom, he serves as the treasurer for SEALKIDS, a charity that supports the children of U.S. Navy SEALs.
Weston Kiwanis meets most Saturdays from September through June at Norfield Congregational Church parish hall. Doors open at 8 a.m. for coffee and conversation, with the breakfast meeting beginning at 8:30 a.m. and ending no later than 10 a.m. After breakfast, we have a speaker or community service activity.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Breakfast meeting with speaker Toni Boucher, entrepreneur, philanthropist, politician
In the private sector, Boucher has been a trailblazing business leader, managing billion-dollar budgets for major corporations and recently retiring as director of a $30 billion asset management company. A serial entrepreneur, she has founded multiple start-ups and held Series 7, 63, and 31 investment licenses.
As a philanthropist and education advocate, Boucher is transforming entrepreneurship programs at the University of Connecticut School of Business and serves on numerous nonprofit boards funding groundbreaking research and initiatives. She is the author of The Husky Effect: How UConn Is Creating the Entrepreneurs of the Future and has been inducted into Marquis Who’s Who.
Boucher holds an MBA from the University of Connecticut and has called Wilton home for forty years, where she raised three children and now enjoys six grandchildren. Her life’s work continues to focus on creating opportunities for others to achieve their own American Dream.
Weston Kiwanis meets most Saturdays from September through June at Norfield Congregational Church parish hall. Doors open at 8 a.m. for coffee and conversation, with the breakfast meeting beginning at 8:30 a.m. and ending no later than 10 a.m. After breakfast, we have a speaker or a community service activity.
Stone Doll
An Immigrant’s Memoir from War-Torn Italy to the American Dream
From a dirt floor in Italy to the halls of American power, this is one woman’s incredible journey.
In 1955, five-year-old Toni Boucher and her family left their primitive stone farmhouse in war-torn Italy and boarded a ship for America with nothing in their pockets and no understanding of the English language. But they had hope.
Stone Doll is the stirring memoir of an immigrant girl who turned away hardships, determined not to let challenges place limits on what she could achieve. She arrived in a country that promised everything but guaranteed nothing, and Toni grew up seeing her illiterate parents battle to create a new life when tragedies seemed destined to rip the family apart. Instead, through heartbreak and obstacles, she found her indomitable spirit—first nurtured by her father and brother, and later elevated through her loving partnership with her husband.
From those meager beginnings, Toni found herself to be a leader who exceled in all she took on: entrepreneur, politician, philanthropist. Boucher has run seventeen political campaigns and won fifteen. She reached the highest levels of Connecticut state government. With her husband, she rode the entrepreneur’s roller coaster—complete with devastating failures and formidable achievements, never losing faith in the power of an idea worth fighting for.
Today, Toni is a benefactor of the University of Connecticut and voice for society’s most vulnerable, She shows that the American Dream isn’t just about where you end up—it’s about lifting others as you climb.
This is her American story.
More info:
https://
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
St. Patricks's breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Board Meetings with Committee Chairs
Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Passover breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Board Meetings with Committee Chairs
Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Green Up Day breakfast meeting. Program: Millie Best Environmental Award
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Community Service - Green Up Day
Annual Club Meeting for Elections Breakfast Meeting
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Mother's Day breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Board Meetings with Committee Chairs
Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Memorial Day Weekend Fair
Memorial Day Weekend Fair
Memorial Day Weekend Fair
Memorial Day Weekend Fair
NO MEETING
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Youth Service and Leadership Award and breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Board Meetings with Committee Chairs
High School Awards and Father's Day breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
NO MEETING
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Weston Celebrates America 250 Field Day
NO MEETING
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Board Meetings with Committee Chairs
NO MEETING
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
NO MEETING
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
NO MEETING
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
NO MEETING
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Board Meetings with Committee Chairs
NO MEETING
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
NO MEETING
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
NO MEETING
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Board Meetings with Committee Chairs
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Installation breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Board Meetings with Committee Chairs
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Board Meetings with Committee Chairs
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Board Meetings with Committee Chairs
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Board Meetings with Committee Chairs
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.
Club Meeting. Breakfast meeting.
Meetings are open to all, drop-ins are welcome, and your first breakfast, normally $10 for a full breakfast or $5 for a continental, is on us.