By Sarah Opdahl

Regine (Reggie) Lambrech was recently, and deservedly, named the Outstanding Senior of the Year by New Fairfield’s Commission on the Aging. A steadfast and very active volunteer in town for decades, Reggie was a shoe-in when the Commission considered recipients. Chair Ms. Maureen Salerno said, “Reggie was chosen because she has enriched the lives of many people in New Fairfield through her many years of volunteer service.”

“I enjoy giving back to my community because it is fulfilling to see the difference that we can make in our town,” Reggie shared regarding her philosophy on volunteerism, which she encourages everyone to take part in. “Volunteering is never time-consuming. It can fit into anyone’s schedule, and we get back much more than we give!”

Reggie and Ron Oliveri founded the Youth Commission in 2001, which was created by town statute and was very active at the time. Chairing the Commission for a dozen years, Reggie described organizing chess tournaments, a Halloween party called Spooky Friday, a Youth Leadership Program, and more. A member of the New Fairfield Lions Club since 2006, Reggie has twice served as President and chaired multiple committees, including Education, which considers scholarships applicants, the car show, the carnival, senior citizen picnics, and more.

Remarkably, since 2012, Reggie has led a team conducting pediatric vision screenings in New Fairfield and Sherman. “We screen children pre-K through 5th grade and between the two towns, over 12,000 students have been screened since 2012.  I love this particular service to our children because, many times, parents do not perceive that their children are not seeing properly and our screenings can detect thirteen different eye anomalies,” she said. Reggie went on, “We provide printouts of the screening results to all the families of children who we screen.   In some cases, children could be labeled as learning disabled when it is really only an issue that could be corrected with glasses. This is especially important for the younger children since eye problems can affect their ability to learn to read.  We really make a difference in the lives of some children and the gratitude of parents gives us a great sense of purpose.”

Most recently, in 2021, Reggie began New Fairfield’s FISH program  (Friends in Service Here). She explained, “I began to see many of my parents’ friends who could no longer drive and had to move out of New Fairfield to be close to their adult children. It broke my heart to see people have to leave their long-time homes, their friends, their doctors, and the Senior Center and in their 80s and 90s and have to start all over in different surroundings.” She said, given that “we do not have public transportation here, I saw a way that we could help these people stay in town. Friends who were very involved with FISH in Sherman gave me a lot of background on how they function and I had some ideas of my own for New Fairfield.”

Reggie approached Pat Del Monaco and Khris Hall with her ideas and said “they were very supportive.” FISH obtained 501(c)(3) status in 2021, though it took some time to get it started given the pandemic. They began in earnest in March of 2022 and “we have not stopped ever since. To date, we have driven over 28,000 miles taking townspeople to medical appointments in a 16 miles radius of our Senior Center.  The gratitude of the people we drive is what motivates us (drivers, ride coordinators, and board members) to continue this work. The FISH family is a wonderful group and we are always looking to add volunteers to our team.”

Reggie has deep roots in New Fairfield, spending summers and weekends in town from early childhood. “I was on the very first swim team, the Blue Raiders, that swam for the New Fairfield Town Park; I continued with the team until I aged out at 16.” She went on, “In 1965 my parents began building our home here in New Fairfield and we moved up here permanently in 1968 after I graduated from high school.” Though schooling and career took her away from New Fairfield for periods—from earning a B.A. from Ladycliff College (now closed) and an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Penn State to serving as the Head of International Relations at the Ecole Centrale de Lyon, a top-ranked engineering university in France —she was always drawn back. Eventually moving here permanently, New Fairfield was made better for it. Senior Center Director Kathy Hull summed it up, “I have known Reggie for more than 30 years and always in the role of helping others, both her family and her community… and always with a brilliant smile.”