WILTON – The story of how Sam Elowitch and Leah Binder came to be husband and wife is one written in the stars.

Both originally from Portland, the two attended the same high school, Waynflete Academy; attended the same synagogue and the same university, Brandeis. And as fate would have it, they never ran into each other.

Fast forward a few years. Binder is working as a senior policy adviser for the Mayor’s Office of Health Service in New York City and Elowitch just moved to New York to work in publishing after a brief stint living out West in Berkeley, Calif.

As the powers that be must have decided, Binder just happened to walk into the synagogue where Elowitch was speaking. Recognizing the name Elowitch from the Portland-area Jewish community, she introduced herself.

It’s a good thing she made the first move, Elowitch said, because he had his eye on her, wondering how to get up the courage to say hello.

As Elowitch said, “It was fate.”

That was in 1996. Today, the couple lives in Wilton where Binder serves as the executive director of the Healthy Community Coalition and Elowitch, a self-dubbed “jack of all trades,” works at home in Web development and book editing.

Elowitch is also heavily involved with “The Rural Broadband Initiative,” a sort of rabble-rousing group, he says, that aims to bring broadband Internet services to rural areas, especially Franklin County. Broadband, he explains, is faster and more powerful and as Binder points out, would help attract businesses to the area.

The couple has a son, Henry, who is an energetic 5-year-old.

“You want to go back to where your roots are and where you know how to raise a baby,” says Binder about their move back to Maine in 1999. “The lifestyle here is more conducive for us to raise a child. There are a lot of little conveniences” she continues, citing fresh air, a big backyard and plenty of room to fire up the barbecue.

E-mail plea

As Binder and Elowitch go about their busy lives, down Route 4 a few miles in Farmington, Nancy Morgan, the new executive director of the United Way of the Tri-Valley Area, was trying to make her first capital campaign a success.

When asked by her board who she wanted to chair the campaign, which serves as the biggest fund-raiser for the organization, she had one thought – Leah Binder.

Morgan typed a pleading email to Binder asking for her and her husband to chair the campaign. Binder and Elowitch talked it over, figuring out what could be erased from their datebooks to make room for fund-raising, board meetings and event functions. They responded with an enthusiastic “yes.”

“It was like fate,” Morgan said. “She’s just such a warm, caring person and he’s just a super guy. They just care so much about this community. She works very hard and he works very hard behind the scenes. They are just a special couple.”

The special couple says they are honored and flattered to be selected as the official spokespeople, organizers and at times, bell ringers for the campaign.

“No one cares about our local community the way we do,” says Binder.

“The United Way is the embodiment of ‘Think Globally, Act Locally’,” said Elowitch. “I think that’s amazing.”

Their goal is to raise $425,000, the largest amount ever. “Of course,” that goal will be obtained, Elowitch says. “The sky is the limit. I won’t kid you. It’s tough economic times. That just means we’ll have to work harder.”

Binder adds, “We’re just trying to quantify the amount of caring in this community. And from what I’ve seen, $425,000 is just a drop in the bucket.”

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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