Six-year-old Lucia St. Lorenzo has always been one for acts of kindness. As long as she can remember, the Head O'Meadow student has been drawn to helping others in any way she could.
So when Lucia and her father — Boot Camp Farms CEO Antonio St. Lorenzo — were driving past the police station one day, she asked her dad if they could perform a random act of kindness for the officers.
"Thanksgiving was coming up, and I heard they might not get Thanksgiving dinner," Lucia says. "So I asked daddy if we could make them a dinner."
Together with Linda Antignani of Newtown's Adopt A Cop program, Lucia and her father approached Rob Ryder and Susan Anzalone of ROR Restaurant Group, the owners of the Inn at Newtown, with a proposition: cater a meal for Newtown's finest.
And it worked. Next Thursday, on Thanksgiving evening, eight Newtown officers will enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner on the house, courtesy of the Main Street dining institution.
"When we got in touch with Linda, she was like, 'Wow! Let's see what we can do,'" Antonio remembers.
Antonio was ready to pay out of pocket for the officers' meals — expecting to spend up to $100 per officer — but was surprised when he heard back that the Inn at Newtown would waive the fee and let the officers eat on the house.
Lucia takes a lot of her helping spirit from her dad. Antonio has worked with homeless veterans for three decades, often through fundraisers. His organization, Boot Camp Farms, works with the University of Connecticut's College of Agriculture on sustainable hydroponic farms often staffed by returning veterans.
When she was five, Lucia rode her bike 23 miles to support the Wounded Warrior project. She's even started helping out on her father's barbecue fundraisers.
"She just has a heart, and she's always looking to help somebody," Antonio says. "When we got home [after driving by the police station], she went upstairs, got money and said, 'I'll pay.'"
The dinner will take place from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. Thursday night at the Newtown Police Station. Officers will enjoy a turkey dinner delivered to their door by the Inn at Newtown, and Lucia will be on hand to help. It'll be the first chance for Lucia, who recently brought a surprise coffee cake to the station (while the officers weren't there, dispatchers welcomed her and accepted the cake, pictured above), to spend time with the officers directly.
"They always help me at school — they stand and make sure nobody brings bad things to the school," Lucia says. "But this will make them happy. Because they know somebody helped them."
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