Connecticut Distributors, Inc. (CDI), held dual community events on May 20 to raise money for the Youth Mental Health Project of CT and to help clean up public parks. Led by CDI’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) team of Manny Gutierrez, Samantha Dinihanian, Michael Forbes, Jon Fredyna, Nadine Gengras, Tamara Hengen, Brittany Johnson, Lynette Lamberti, Shabashe McIntosh, Chris Rundstrom and Sterling Vaughn, two locations were chosen for cleanup: Sigourney Square Park in Hartford and Edgewood Park in New Haven. The CDI team and their families spent the afternoon on park cleanup followed by lunch and a raffle at each location to benefit the grassroots nonprofit organization. Youth Mental Health Project of CT’s mission is to educate, empower and support families and communities to better understand and care for mental health, chosen as the recipient by CDI’s DE&I team in honor of May’s Mental Health Awareness Month. The raffle raised $1,000 for the nonprofit, matched by CDI for a total of $2,000. “I’m very grateful to be part of CDI, a company that takes DE&I and giving back to the community very seriously and makes sure to give each one of us the room and opportunity to actively participate and follow what we are passionate about,” Gutierrez said. “Also, I am thankful for the DE&I team we have in place; they make all these efforts possible. They are always looking for ways to continue to push forward our DE&I initiatives and make positive changes around us.”

Photos courtesy of Connecticut Distributors, Inc. (CDI).