Standing from left to right: Tyler Buchanan, Devon Drewniany, Craig Diodati, Valentin Covileac, Sebastian Bannish, Michael Marsian, Christopher Tylenda, Daniel Rust, Jonathan Vandall, Kneeling from left to right: Homeowner- Dick Carbonneau, Homeowner’s Son- Rich Carbonneau, C.J. Wood (Photo submitted)
SOUTHWICK – Santa’s “Nice List” just added 10 more good boys due to their act of kindness this holiday season, when Westfield Vocational Technical High School (WVTHS) Construction Technology students lent a helping hand to some unfortunate reindeer.
Every year Southwick Resident Richard Carbonneau sets up a display of over 12,000 lights and holiday decorations. On the morning of Sunday, December 9, Carbonneau found his gigantic reindeer, one of which stands over 16 feet tall, vandalized.
The vandalization to this attraction became the talk of the town, and many neighbors and residents reached out to offer anything they could in order to get these reindeer standing again.
Brian Falcetti, a Construction Technology shop instructor at WVTHS, drives past this holiday display, known to some as the “Bright Nights display of Southwick.” After hearing and seeing what had happened to this beloved display, Falcetti went into school and asked his senior group of about 10 students if they would be interested in taking on the project of rebuilding these reindeer. With the senior groups eager approval, they drove over to Carbonneau’s house where they asked him if they could lend a helping hand and reassemble the two reindeer. After being asked, Carbonneau said he would be happy even if only one reindeer could be put back together but the senior group insisted that they would finish both.
It took the students about 3 and ½ hours to reconstruct the 10 damaged parts, make templates, build new legs for the reindeer, and put the first coat of paint on them. Falcetti said the group “worked like they were on fire” and “couldn’t get back from lunch fast enough” to reassemble the reindeer and put them back up at the Carbonneau residence.
Carbonneau said it was truly “amazing” what these students did and also added that it shows that “even though there is just one ‘scrooge’, there are a lot more nice people out there”. He also would like to say thank you to not only the students but to “everyone that came forward to help”.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik was able to see the students working on the project on Tuesday when he stopped by the carpentry shop at WVTHS, and said that “to hear that Brian and the kids took that initiative to fix such a terrible deed, certainly made me proud and speaks volumes of our staff and kids as to their devotion to our community”.
Southwick Police Department have not yet caught the person responsible for the destruction of the reindeer, but anyone with information is urged to call Southwick Police at (413) 569-5348.
