Essex, Chester and Deep River students with Special Needs.
Our friend Joe Boccia is running a fund raiser to support students with special needs at the Essex, Chester, and Deep River Collaborative Preschool and Essex Elementary School. With the help of the Essex Elementary School Foundation, this fund raiser supports much-needed resources for students with special needs in the towns of Chester, Deep River and Essex.
Inspired by a child near and dear to Joe and his wife Liz’s heart who benefited from the Collaborative Preschool, Joe ran with an idea his friend Bryan Amenta conceived: build and raffle a replica 14′ Brockway Skiff as the focus of this fundraiser. The Brockway is a legendary fishing boat first built in the mid ’50s by on the banks of the Connecticut River by Earl Brockway.
Amenta, a teacher at Daniel Hand High School in Madison, has been teaching students to build these boats since 1998 and enlisted three of his students at the high school for this Brockway: Mike Halloran, Declan Palazzo and Xhoni Ulku, all who graduated in 2018. Joe also put countless hours into the project, including restoring the 1958 10 hp Johnson Seahorse motor which comes with the vessel (along with a new trailer).
Other local businesses donated boat supplies, food and promotional materials: Pettit Marine Paint, Marine Equipment & Supply, Essex Marine, LLC, Atlantic Outboard, Kellogg Marine Supply, Leon’s Pizza, Bill’s Seafood and Lighthouse Signs.
We here at Marine Special Products Group are inspired by what Joe is doing and want to help. Anyone who buys a raffle ticket between today and the drawing on May 4th will receive a credit for one hour of labor on any job we’re hired to do. All you have to do is take a photo of your raffle ticket and send it to us via email: [email protected]
The raffle tickets, which cost $20, can be purchased now through May 4th at: East Coast Trailer, 16 Hammock Road Westbrook, CT, Atlantic Outboard, 475 Boston Post Road, Westbrook, CT, or Essex Marine Group, 37 Pratt Street, Essex, CT.
The drawing for the winner will take place on May 4th at the Connecticut Spring Boat Show located at Essex Island, a Safe Harbor Marina. For more information, contact Joe Boccia at (860) 399-6120.
Good luck and thanks for supporting this special cause.