Vote — and vote for Theresa Ranciato Viele

Are you busy? Short on time? Unbelievably overloaded? When you feel this way, and someone asks you for help, how do you respond? How is your life going? Are you surrounded by blessings everywhere you turn, or have you suffered some gut-punching sorrows that no one should have to? When you feel this way, and someone asks you for help, how do you respond?

When time gets short or life turns dark, most of us shut down or turn away when we’re asked for more. Not so with Theresa Ranciato Viele. After suffering the cruelest loss life can deal — the loss of a child — she and her husband John opened up not only their hearts but their homes and their lives to co-host exchange students, two boys they had never met from countries and cultures they had no experience with.

Hosting an exchange student is an enormous commitment and risk. Find it hard to live with your kid? Try living with a stranger’s. Alejandro was Bolivian and thrilled by American culture and fashion. Chyngz grew up in Krygystan, with no Internet, running water or other “basics” we take for granted. His father was a shepherd. Imagine the transition for Alejandro, even more for Chyngyz. And for Theresa. Imagine the leap of faith she took to share her life, time, and love with two vulnerable boys. Not because she had to, but because she could.

Now imagine having someone like Theresa representing you as our State Representative. She’ll be crazy busy, torn in multiple directions, working for thousands of people she’s never met, whose lives and interests are diverse, and whose needs and hopes are boundless. People who have suffered and are suffering. Theresa knows what we’re going through. She’s not just a survivor, she’s a thriver. She’s someone who doesn’t ask for help, she asks how she can help. That’s what we need right now. She’s who we need right now.

Vote. And vote for Theresa Ranciato Viele. Susan Grajek North Haven