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ARTHUR B. POOLE
AWARD
2004 Honoree
TERRANCE
FERRAROTTI
Terry Ferrarotti
has spent most of his life endeavoring to make things
better for people. Although only 32 years old, he has
already racked up a lifetime’s worth of service
in his hometown of Harwinton and this year is being
honored as the youngest recipient of the Town’s
prestigious Arthur B Poole/Harwinton Outstanding Citizen
award. “I was very surprised” a modest Mr.
Ferrarotti said. Its kind of something I looked at as
a Lifetime Achievement award.” “I thought
it was 20 or 30 years away.”
Not so according to members of the Award’s nominating
panel. Committee member Dale Cagenello said that any
doubt about giving the award to someone so young was
vanquished after looking at Mr. Ferrarotti’s bio.
“We’ve never given the award to anyone this
young, but whats age got to do with it?” she asked
rhetorically. “We just really wanted to give it
to someone who exemplifies volunteerism, and that’s
Terry.” She said. “He’s always out
doing something for somebody.”
She’s not exaggerating.
In addition to his job at Campion, Mr.s Ferrarotti is
a Lieutenant with the Harwinton Volunteer Fire Department,
the secretary and an executive board member of the Harwinton
Ambulance Association, a member of the Republican Town
Committee, and a founding member of the Bronc Callahan
Community fund, an organization that provides anonymous
aid to Harwinton citizens in need.
Born in Torrington, but reared in Harwinton since the
age of 2, Mr. Ferrarotti said that volunteerism was
instilled in him and his two brothers and two sisters
through example.
“Our parents never pushed it on us,” he
recalled. “My father was very active in the ambulance
association and the Red Cross and my mother was very
involved in church activities. I just grew up into volunteer
service. It was just something I found really interesting.”
Ms. Cagenello paints a similar picture of the Ferrarotti
family.
“His whole family was very into community service,”
she said. “I think that’s why he’s
so modest about it. He just doesn’t see it as
such a big deal - and how nice is that?”
she exclaimed with a laugh.
Indeed, rather than sing his own praises, Mr. Ferrarotti
expounds upon the benefits of volunteerism.
“I get a lot of enjoyment out of it,” he
said. “I enjoy helping people and it’s a
great part of being a citizen in a small town. I’ll
drive down Route 4 and I’ll know who everyone
is. I don’t want to say it’s like a bar,
but it’s kind of like Cheers, you know, where
everyone knows your name.”
By way of example, Ms. Cagenello relates this vignette:
“My husband Brad, saw him at a Bronc Callahan
Community Fund meeting one Saturday morning a couple
of years ago. Later that day, Brad was at home and was
going to find the minutes from that meeting to show
them to me when he tripped on a rug and fell and broke
his hip socket. The ambulance came to pick him up and
who was driving it but Terry Ferrarotti!”
For Photos
Soures:
Harwinton Historical Society Scrapbook
Register Citizen Newspaper
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