Sharon Connect Task Force celebrates

SHARON —The volunteer-led Sharon Connect Task Force completed a long-term project in conjunction with the efforts of Comcast Xfinity to ensure that 270 previously unserved homes and businesses in Sharon now have access to high-speed internet service. On Friday, May 17, Sharon Connect hosted a town-wide celebration, inviting Sharon residents to Veterans’ Field to mark the accomplishment.

“This has been a long process for all of you involved, the Sharon Connect Task Force, Comcast, and all the people who didn’t have fast, reliable internet before now,” said Sharon First Selectman Casey Flanagan. “You were without the internet for decades. Thank you for sticking with us and figuring a way through. The Sharon Connect Task Force is a group of volunteers who have dedicated many, many hours of their lives to help in the community.”

Sharon Connect Task Force Co-Chair Jill Drew also spoke at the celebration, remarking on how far the project has come since it was first conceived. “I am really happy that this project is complete. I don’t think I’ve ever known so much about construction, utility poles, conduits... It was a real learning opportunity for me. Sharon was forgotten about when it came to high-speed internet.”

She continued, “Comcast stepped up. I think [Sharon Connect Task Force Co-Chair] Meghan Flanagan and I were both very suspicious, you know, not very trusting at first. But working with Matt Skane and Liz Calabrese, our two project managers, not only have they been a pleasure to work with, but they have shielded us from a lot of craziness of a big multi-billion dollar corporation.”