Thank You, Tolland

Tolland has power, heat and water again, and Tolland Patch is thoroughly enjoying a fast and reliable Internet connection. These things seem more valuable after the town's long ten days in the Dark Ages.

But before the most recent power outage is forgotten in Thanksgiving feasts and holiday shopping, Tolland Patch would like to thank a resource even more valuable than power for the town of Tolland: its hard working staff, volunteers and residents who gave selflessly of their own time and resouces to sustain Tolland during such a difficult time.

Personally, I need to the thank the staff of the Tolland EOC, who gave me power, Internet, heat, food, and perhaps most importantly, coffee. Volunteers and employees such as Amy Bassett, AJ Fichera, Joe Duval, Doug Racicot, John Kosciw  and many, many more were there to offer a helping hand, answer a question and share a laugh between numerous calls, endless work unloading and distributing supplies, answering phones and the million other tasks that consumed their time.

Leaders like Emergency Management Director John Littell, Director of Public Works Clem Langlois, Jr., Director of Human Services Beverly Bellody and Town Manager Steven Werbner offered all that and more: they were endlessly generous and open with their time and information, essentially enabling me to do my job: get information out to a public who were without a source of constant Tolland news.

For that, and their patience with my endless questions, I cannot thank them enough.

And, on a side note, I have to thank Mr. Werbner for still granting interviews with Tolland Patch after his meteoric rise to fame on media sites throughout the country, from the Hartford Courant to the New York Times. He has remained very humble and hardworking!

I thank the Department of Public Works employees for their long hours plowing, clearing and identifying the dangerous downed trees and wires throughout town. The line crews of CL&P and various other crews from around the world also deserve a huge thank you for doing what seemed to be impossible: giving Tolland power.

Local businesses like and , as well as residents, offered up their services to get the town through until power was restored.

Tolland Patch readers, I thank you for your patience and your assistance during such a difficult time. It was amazing seeing a virtual community gather on the Facebook and Twitter; I thank you for answering each other's questions where my knowledge stopped and for your unending support and camaraderie during the outage.

And, to save the most essential thank you for last, a huge thank you to Betsy Tanner and Shannon Gallo for basically keeping the EOC and our sanity running. Tolland Patch would have been lost without all of your assistance.

Now, let's enjoy the power!