Why Community Matters in New Canaan: Meet Kristen Mitrakis and Rachel Lampen

Why Community Matters

Local creativity is overflowing in communities as moms, dads, small business owners, nonprofit leaders and volunteers are finding new ways to communicate in this new world of social isolation. Their coping strategies and ingenuity is beyond inspiring! 

We are proud to introduce you to these innovators in “Why CommunityMatters”, a series made possible by LIFEWTR.

Meet Kristen Mitrakis and Rachel Lampen, mompreneurs and founders of Rock Paper Scissors Custom Events.

With the new norm of practicing social distancing, how are you finding creative ways to connect with family and friends? 

It would be so easy to become completely isolated in this surreal situation we all find ourselves in, so we’ve adapted our Rock Paper Scissors trivia nights to work online to help stay connected socially. We livestream on our YouTube channel Monday through Saturday and it’s free for all who want to play. It’s quickly grown to a nice sized group of enthusiastic players which makes it so much fun! Some days, planning trivia for the evening is about the only thing that keeps us going in a positive direction.

To play you need a device to login into Zoom and have that up on a screen just before 7:30pm. With a separate device (phone, iPad) go to KAHOOT where you enter the PIN and a fun username of your choice. The PIN changes for each game and can be found on the Rock Paper Scissors Facebook Page each night at 6pm. 

Can you tell us if you or any of your colleagues are doing creative things at home to find joy and inspiration? 

Kristen: at my house, we’ve got a huge garden that has needed a lot of preparation. It’s been a wonderful way to be outside while staying home. I’m also nurturing a sourdough starter which should be ready in the next day or two to start baking loaves of fresh bread — can’t wait! Rachel: Taking time to sit outside and read a book has been truly rewarding. Planning the trivia is a real test of creativity – I can spend hours searching for current news. We have planned topics but can get as random as we like with the questions and are always open to suggestions! We’re also very inspired by other local businesses and are happy to collaborate and give them a plug when we can.

If you are a parent, have you found creative ways to engage kids at home? 

Rachel has installed a dartboard at their house and is teaching her teenage son to “rule” at darts. And we are both next to hopeless when it comes to the tech side of things, so our teens have been helping us set up the livestreams. Beyond our families, our online trivia games are a fun way all ages can enjoy time together — a great alternative to watching a movie after dinner! 

Learn more about local creatives Kristen Mitrakis and Rachel Lampen and Rock Paper Scissors Custom Events here.

Community matters - now more than ever. We are thankful to LIFEWTR for helping us to connect and stay strong.

The views and opinions expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of HamletHub or LIFEWTR. 

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Submitted by New Canaan, CT

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