Yankee Staff

Woodbridge residents William Wang, an undergraduate student majoring in biomedical computation, and his father Frank Wang have designed a face shield for medical workers and organized volunteers from the local Chinese American community to create. Despite severe shortage of materials and critical delays in shipment, a concerted effort by the community enabled the creation of a design utilizing ingenuous materials to replace those normally needed in face shields. Hairbands and pins from local beauty stores served to secure the shield to the head; anti-fog spray for car windows was pretreated across the shield to prevent misting during usage; the distance of the foam to the edge of the plastic board was meticulously tested to ensure the shield would bend correctly under strain. A myriad of technical challenges regarding the utility and effectiveness of the design were painstakingly addressed through such methods of trial and error. Additionally, the Wangs built their own cutting board in their basement to cut the plastic board and foam board to shape, providing step-by-step drawings and instructions for general assembly and production.

Hearing about the severe shortage of surgical masks, Madison resident, Bob Stefanowski was able to locate a manufacturer in NJ that had them in stock. He and Stamford firefighter, Patrick Sasser drove down to New Jersey and loaded up a trailer with 110,000 masks and delivered them to first responders and hospitals throughout Fairfield County.

The COVID-19 pandemic has rightly led to high praise and support by lawmakers and state officials for hospitals that face potentially overwhelming numbers of infected patients and for small businesses that have been forced to close their doors to the public, but that support comes after years of policies that ...

Amy Stefanowski, from Madison, wanted a way to support local business through these challenging times so she went online buying gift cards. She then, turned to Facebook Live, and encouraged her friends to do the same. This idea quickly snowballed into The Gift Card Project

Local Wilton resident, Monty Du, coordinated an effort with the Chinese American community to import N95/KN95 and surgical-grade face-masks from relatives living in China. The effort has been so helpful to the Wilton community, given the masks shortages Connecticut community are facing.

“Calls for raising Connecticut taxes and increasing the size of state government ignore twelve years of Connecticut’s economic and fiscal history. We have seen three major tax increases – including raising taxes on the wealthy and businesses — since the 2008 recession, and since that time our state has experienced ...