Wallingford Teen Thanks Health Care Workers During Coronavirus

WALLINGFORD, CT — Wallingford’s Mitchell Wollen has been making the most of a difficult situation and spreading a lot of love in the process. Wollen, a sophomore at Xavier High School in Middletown, is supporting health care workers during the new coronavirus pandemic by making wooden heart-shaped "Thank you" signs and raising funds to provide them with meals and snacks.

Wollen, 16, is a competitive swimmer who would swim three hours a night, six days a week — but that all changed in March when the school transitioned to distance learning. Wollen is a member of the Xavier boys’ swimming team and never got the chance to finish the winter season. The CIAC canceled the Class L championships and the State Open due to the coronavirus.

"I went from having an extremely hectic and chaotic schedule to having tons of free time," Wollen said to Patch. "I would watch the news each morning and see more and more bad news from businesses closing to more and more COVID-19 cases. I wanted to find a way to spread positivity as well as kindness during these trying times. My family and I began to brainstorm and noticed that people had begun to put up hearts in their windows in support of health care workers. We figured that building these signs would be a great idea as well as an easy way for people to share their gratitude. Also, this project follows the guidelines of social distancing."

Wollen’s efforts were highlighted on Xavier’s Facebook and Twitter pages and he was also featured on FOX 61 and in the Hartford Courant.

"This experience has been truly amazing and heartwarming," Wollen said. "I have received countless emails and phone calls from people saying that they love their sign and that they are extremely proud of me."

However, he said that things did get a little overwhelming once his April school vacation was over and the sign orders began to pile up. He said he’s heard from people from all over the state who wanted to donate and get signs.

"To date, we have built upwards of 400 total signs," Wollen said. "This includes cutting, sanding, and painting each and every sign. At the start, we were delivering each sign to everyone who placed an order. Now, we still deliver, but it is preferred that the sign is picked up. We had to institute this in because we were receiving orders from as far away as Winsted and Manchester. We quickly realized that it is not efficient to be driving an hour to deliver a $15 sign. We even had someone down in New Jersey order a sign."

Wollen and his family have raised about $3,500 and donated sealed snacks to five different nursing homes and hospitals in the Wallingford area. The nursing homes and hospitals include Regency House, Skyview, Genesis, Masonic and Midstate.

Wollen said they also sent a coffee truck to the workers at Gaylord Hospital and provided the staff with 150 high-quality coffees, lattes and more. The truck will be returning to Gaylord May 4 to serve the other shift, he said.

Wollen said they are still accepting orders for the "Thank You" signs. There is a minimum donation of $15 and a minimum $20 donation for delivery. Anyone interested in ordering a sign can visit the link here.