Danby's

New Life Church Offers $2.99 a Gallon Gas to Community

4/7/2012

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MERIDEN — For one hour Saturday, people in Meriden received more than chocolate Easter bunnies and eggs for Easter. Cars lined up hours before Danby’s Gulf Express started offering $2.99-a-gallon gasoline, the price difference courtesy of New Life Church.

“It’s amazing,” said Beth Woodard, of Meriden. “We need it; you know it’s hard times.”

There was no shortage of people looking for cheap gas. About 150 cars showed up for the event, but some had to be turned away because time ran out. Between 1:00 to 2:00 p.m., New Life Church subsidized 1,350 gallons of regular gas from the normal price of $4.04 a gallon for 102 vehicles, said the Rev. Will Marotti, pastor.

“What a great way to say ‘Happy Easter’ and give back a little to the community,” he said.

The long lines of cars was reminiscent of scenes common during gas shortages during the 1970s, said Middletown resident Al Buonanni, who came to the station around 12:30 p.m.

“I figured I’d be the first, but it was already crowded,” he said.

Danby’s eight pumps kept the gas flowing as many people came to the station ready to fill up their near-empty tanks.

“It’s been empty, you know, because gas is expensive,” said Yvette Nontesdeoca, of Meriden.

Danby’s co-owner Kevin Curry, who started working at the station in 1979, said that he had never seen the station as busy as it was yesterday.

“We did a 99-cent-a-gallon one time a while back and they lined up, but it’s not like this,” he said.

New Life Church members helped direct traffic into the station. Cars were lined up all the way down Parkway Place, which is a dead-end street that intersects East Main Street. Meriden police kept traffic moving at a slow but steady place on East Main.

Six-year New Life Church member Jean Sandoval, of Meriden, said he anticipated the large turnout but he was still amazed.

“Man, this is awesome,” he said. “This is incredible; I mean, I knew it was going to be pretty wild.”

The last person to pull away from the station with $2.99 gas was Mohammad Khan of Meriden, who filled up his car with 13.7 gallons of gas.

The New Life community had wanted to subsidize gas for awhile, but wasn’t in a financial situation to do so until now, Marotti said.

“We just want to say, ‘Hey, we love you and we love Meriden,” Sandoval said. “We want to tell the city, ‘We are on board with you and God loves you.”

by Rich Scinto, Meriden Record Journal


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