(ROANOKE) Denise "Nessie" Benefield, a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and sister, passed away peacefully at her residence on July 6, 2023. Born on Oct. 6, 1967, in Roanoke, Nessie was
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OBSERVER Photo by Anthony Dolce
From left are Julius Leone, Fredonia Volunteer Fire Department president, Kurt Maytum, acting chief, and Chuck Ortolano, fund drive chairman.
As the months of May and June roll around, village of Fredonia and the town of Pomfret residents can typically expect members of the Fredonia Volunteer Fire Department to come around for their yearly fund drive. But last year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the fund drive was canceled entirely, and while the fund drive is back on for this year, it will look different than it has in the past.
“We typically conduct our fund drive door to door in the month of June, but because of COVID there was no way we were going to ask our firemen to go door to door last year, and people shouldn’t be opening their door for somebody strange,” said Julius Leone, the president of the Fredonia Volunteer Fire Department. “We decided moving forward, because of COVID, that we wouldn’t solicit funds