SPRINGFIELD — The Gray House will hold its 27th annual spaghetti supper on Monday, March 19 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Greek Cultural Center, 8 Plainfield St. in Springfield. All proceeds from the family-friendly event will help the Gray House provide food, educational services, and youth programming to neighbors living in poverty.

This year’s event sponsor is Freedom Credit Union, and platinum sponsors include PeoplesBank and the Springfield Chapter of UNICO National.
Tickets for the event are a minimum donation of $5. Children 6 and under are free, and all tickets can be purchased at the door.

Supper, dessert, and children’s activities are available, as well as the opportunity to win raffle prizes such as Okemo Mountain lift tickets, a Tree House Brewing Co. basket, and many others. The grand-prize raffle includes a foursome to the Ranch Golf Club, tickets to a Boston Red Sox game, and a 32-inch smart TV. Winners do not need to be present to win the grand-prize raffle, and entry tickets can be purchased in advance by calling (413) 734-6696.

This year, the Gray House will honor St. Michael’s Parish and Knights of Columbus Council #9960 of East Longmeadow. The event would not be possible without the support of the St. Michael’s Knights of Columbus and parishioners, said Teresa Liberti, executive director of the Gray House. “For over 20 years, they have been an integral part of making the spaghetti supper such a success. They are the ones who are cooking and serving the food for over 400 guests we have every year.”

FLORENCE — Molding Business Services of Florence has acquired Gros Executive Recruiters of Franklin, Tenn. Both firms provide recruiting and executive search services to the plastics industry.

Molding Business Services (MBS) was founded in 1998, and during those 20 years, its recruiting division has focused almost exclusively on the injection-molding segment of the plastics industry. Gros Executive Recruiters was founded in 1989 and serves the packaging, plastics-processing, and plastics-machinery markets.

MBS brings a deeper injection-molding network to Gros, while Gros provides MBS with penetration into the packaging and plastics machinery markets. Additionally, merging the two already-extensive industry databases produces a network of talent that will benefit the combined firms’ clients. Together, MBS and Gros have recruiting staff located across the U.S., in Massachusetts, Illinois, Tennessee, Vermont, and California.

“The synergies between the two firms are numerous, and our visions and goals couldn’t be better aligned,” said MBS President Jonathan Soucy. “We are excited about enhancing our reach and capabilities for our clients, especially at a time when the demand for talented individuals in our industry has reached critical levels.”

Former Gros Executive Recruiters owner and industry veteran Dennis Gros has been appointed president of the combined recruiting business. “The combination of MBS’s recruiting division and Gros Executive Recruiters is great news for hiring managers and for professionals who seek a career change,” he said. “In combining our resources, we will offer new programs designed to energize hiring in the plastics industry.”

Gros Executive Recruiters will become the sole recruiting brand of the combined entity and will operate as a molding business services company.

HOLYOKE — Noted raptor rehabilitator Tom Ricardi will bring his “Birds of Prey” exhibition to Holyoke Community College (HCC) on Tuesday, March 6 at 11 a.m., in the Leslie Phillips Theater. 

Ricardi is a retired Massachusetts Environmental Police major who runs a raptor-rehabilitation center in Conway. His traveling exhibition is meant to showcase his collection of rehabilitated birds of prey and educate residents of New England about them.

The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the HCC Veterinary Technician program, the Veterinary Technician Club, and the HCC Wildlife Society.

WEST SPRINGFIELD — The West of the River Chamber of Commerce will present its Business Breakfast event on Tuesday, March 6 from 7 to 9 a.m. at Storrowton Tavern Carriage House in West Springfield, with guest speakers from MGM Resorts.

The Agawam and West Springfield mayors will offer town updates, followed by a presentation from MGM Resorts about the vendor process and potential job opportunities. After the presentation, attendees will have the opportunity to sit one-on-one with the MGM representatives to ask questions about, or seek assistance in, the procurement or hiring process.

The presenting sponsor for this event is Farmington Bank. Premier sponsors are OMG Inc., Health New England, and Polish National Credit Union. Preferred sponsors are Mercedes-Benz of Springfield, Candlewood Suites, RTI Associates, and BMW of West Springfield. For more information or to register, call Robin Wozniak at the chamber at (413) 426-3880.

CHICOPEE — Elms College announced that global health leader Dr. Louise Ivers will deliver the commencement address and receive an honorary degree at the 87th commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 19.

Ivers is a longtime leader in global health, engaging in global policy and advocacy work to improve health equity. She currently serves as the executive director of the Center for Global Health at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and sits on the board of directors of the St. Boniface Haiti Foundation, which is dedicated to providing essential health services to the people of Southern Haiti, especially the most vulnerable. Her work has focused on improving healthcare delivery in resource-poor settings and providing care to the poor in both rural and urban areas.

Previously, she was an associate physician in the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), and an associate professor of Global Health and Social Medicine and associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She also has served as a senior health and policy advisor to Partners in Health (PIH) as a member of the PIH executive leadership team, working to support the implementation of strategy across 10 countries. In addition to expanding access to healthcare for the poor, Ivers has contributed to published research articles on HIV/AIDS, food insecurity, and cholera treatment and prevention.

She has worked on healthcare delivery in India, Southeast Asia, and Africa. During her time as faculty at BWH, she was based in Haiti to serve as clinical director and then chief of mission for PIH Haiti. She led responses to the major earthquake in Haiti in 2010 and the subsequent cholera epidemic.

Ivers conducts independently funded research focused on barriers to healthcare delivery and the impact of food assistance on livelihoods of people living with HIV infection in rural Haiti. She is actively engaged in evaluating comprehensive responses to cholera.

She has served as an advisor to the World Health Organization, where she is currently a delegate to the WHO Global Task Force for Cholera Control, and the Haitian Ministry of Health. She has collaborated with the U.S. government, with EU multilateral non-governmental organizations, and with private industry partners.

In addition, Ivers mentors Haitian, American, and Irish physicians and students in global health implementation and research. She is the editor of a textbook on food insecurity and public health, and more than 50 peer-reviewed published papers and chapters on global health issues.

The Elms College commencement ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. at the MassMutual Center in Springfield. Doors will open at 8:30 a.m., and the academic procession will begin at 9:30 a.m.

CHICOPEE — Elms College will host a reading and discussion with Jane Morrissey on Thursday, March 15 at 12:15 p.m. in the Alumnae Library Theater.

Morrissey, the former president of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield and a former member of the faculty at Elms, will read from and discuss her contributions to the book Unruly Catholic Nuns: Sisters’ Stories, edited by Jeana DelRosso, Leigh Eicke, and Ana Kothe (SUNY Press, 2017).

Unruly Catholic Nuns explores the voices of current and former Catholic nuns as they share their experiences with Catholicism, both in accordance and in conflict with the institutional church. In these women’s stories — told through fiction, poetry, and prose — we learn how they act out their missions of social justice, challenge cultural and governmental policies, and attempt to reconcile their unruliness with their religious orders and the strictures of the church hierarchy.

Morrissey, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield, has been a crusader for peace, an author and scholar, and a teacher for more than 40 years. She is currently co-director of the Homework House of Hermano Pedro in Holyoke, which she co-founded in 2006, and has devoted many years to working with the poor in Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and Guatemala.

Morrissey served as president of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Springfield from 1999 to 2005, and has served as chair of their constitution committee. Prior to her leadership in the congregation, she was a pastoral minister at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Springfield, director of the SSJ Office for Peace and Justice, a founding member and board member at Gray House, and a teacher at Elms College and Cathedral High School. She was a member of the Elms College board of trustees from 1999 to 2005.

This event is sponsored by Campus Ministry and students in the Sophomore Leadership Program, who will raffle off 15 copies of the book at the reading.

SPRINGFIELD — Today, March 1, from 1:45 to 2 p.m., 13 students from Duggan Academy will visit Loomis Lakeside at Reeds Landing to participate in a StoryCorps session with seniors from their local community.

StoryCorps is a program developed by NPR, where volunteers record interviews with senior citizens and ask them questions regarding various aspects of their lives. Questions can range from “what was your life like growing up?” to “what has been your greatest accomplishment?” The result is that each senior citizen being interviewed will walk away with a copy of their interview that they can share with their family and loved ones.

Duggan Academy and Loomis Lakeside at Reeds Landing have teamed up with United Way of Pioneer Valley’s Youth Generate Program. Youth Generate empowers students to create and organize their own community-service projects, with funding and support from United Way of Pioneer Valley.

SPRINGFIELD — “Baystate Children’s Hospital saved our child’s life,” said Kate and Doug Poole in unison.

When Kate gave birth to their daughter, Olivia Jane Poole, on March 11, 2016, they expected a healthy little bundle of joy. Instead, Olivia was born with multiple birth defects, the result of a disorder called VACTERL association, which affects many body systems.

Born at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield, Olivia was immediately transferred to the area’s only neonatal intensive care unit, at Baystate Children’s Hospital in Springfield. Over the course of a year, while in the NICU and after she was discharged, Olivia underwent some seven operations to correct the birth defects, which Kate said were “thankfully fixable.”

Olivia’s story is just one of many stories of courage and hope to be heard during the often-emotional annual 94.7 WMAS Radiothon to benefit Baystate Children’s Hospital, to be broadcast live from Baystate Medical Center for two days on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 6-7.

On-air personalities from 94.7 FM WMAS — led by the Kellogg Krew of Chris, Dina, and Lopez — will again conduct their regular radio formats throughout the day, interspersed with live and taped interviews featuring young patients and their families, as well as community donors, event sponsors, and staff from Baystate Children’s Hospital.

They will be asking listeners to pledge their support by calling in donations to phone banks at the hospital. Broadcast hours for the Radiothon will be from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days. The phone number to call in during the event is (413) 794-1111.

Listeners will have an opportunity during the Radiothon to join the Miracle Maker Club, a recurring pledge of at least $20 per month on a credit card or by making a one-time donation. Thanks to Cartamundi, the official Miracle Maker sponsor, when listeners become a member of the club, a toy or game will be delivered in their name to a pediatric patient at Baystate Children’s Hospital.

Those wanting to become a Change Hero to raise funds for the Radiothon can create their own fund-raising web page by visiting www.helpmakemiracles.org/event/wmas. Change Heroes who turn in their funds by March 31 and raise $100 or more will have an opportunity to win a prize.

The presenting sponsor for this year’s Radiothon is Health New England, the Miracle Maker sponsor is Cartamundi, and the Change Hero program sponsor is Pioneer Valley Credit Union. Other sponsors include Compass One as red carpet sponsors, Freedom Credit Union as the giggle break sponsor, and Costco and Subway as hospitality sponsors.

As for how Olivia, just short of 2 years old, is managing today, her mom said she is healthy and thriving. “Olivia is a very happy child, always smiling, full of energy, and she loves to sing and dance.”

HOLYOKE — Attention all business owners: if you plan to retire, or think you might someday want to change gears in your life, you will eventually be faced with the task of selling or transferring ownership of your business.

With this in mind, Philip Steckler and Eric Lineback of Country Business Inc. (CBI) will present a workshop titled “Maximize the Value of Your Business: Properly Pricing and Positioning Your Business For Sale” on Friday, March 16 from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at Holyoke Public Library.

CBI, a business-brokerage and merger-and-acquisition firm, has managed the sales of more than 1,200 businesses since 1976, with sale prices ranging from a few hundred thousand dollars to $30 million, including local businesses Quabbin Industries, New England Wetland Plants, Danco Modern, Bart’s Ice Cream, and Graphic Printing.

Steckler and Lineback will introduce business owners to topics such as maximizing the value of a business, properly pricing and positioning a business for sale, attracting qualified buyers, minimizing taxes, and maintaining confidentiality. Additional topics covered will include analyzing a business’ strengths and weaknesses, understanding the marketplace, valuing a business and properly setting the purchase price and terms, and more.

This will be an interactive workshop, and questions and discussion will be welcome. To register, contact Ira Bryck at the Family Business Center of Pioneer Valley at [email protected] or (413) 835-0810.

NORTHAMPTON — Brittany Weiss, associate director of International Admissions at Stoneleigh-Burnham School in Greenfield, has joined the all-volunteer board of directors for the International Language Institute of Massachusetts (ILI).

“We are very pleased to have Brittany as part of the ILI family,” said Eric Wirth, ILI board president. “Her extensive academic and professional background around the world and here at home will go far in supporting our work, including high-quality language instruction and teacher training, free English classes for immigrants and refugees, and volunteer opportunities throughout the Pioneer Valley.”

Weiss has considerable experience abroad in Asia, Latin America, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Prior to joining Stoneleigh-Burnham, she was Admissions associate at the American International School of Budapest in Hungary, where she worked with students and families from more than 60 nationalities. Earlier, she served as assistant director of Alumni Engagement at her alma mater, Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, and as a resident faculty member at Emma Willard School in Troy, N.Y. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Siena College and a master’s degree in educational administration and policy studies from the University at Albany.

SPRINGFIELD — Single-family home sales rose by 17.2% in the Pioneer Valley in January compared to the same time last year, while the median price rose 1.0% to $197,000, according to the Realtor Assoc. of Pioneer Valley.

In Franklin County, sales were up 27.0%, while the median price fell 2.1% from a year earlier. In Hampden County, sales were up 26.2%, while the median price was up 8.8%. In Hampshire County, sales fell by 5.6% from January 2017, while the median price was up 1.2%.

SPRINGFIELD — In honor of Women’s History Month in March and International Women’s Day on March 8, Bay Path University will present the On the Move Forum in partnership with the Professional Women’s Chamber, the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, the Pan African Historical Museum USA (PAHMUSA), and Enchanted Circle Theater.

The event will be held at CityStage in Springfield on Thursday, March 8, from 5 to 7 p.m. This program is funded in part by Mass Humanities, which receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The On the Move Forum will explore the inclusive timeline of women’s history and the women’s rights movement through an interactive presentation, sparking community conversations about gaps and gains in that history. The forum’s theme, “Know the Past, Chart the Future,” will use literature and philosophy to engage the audience in exploring the status of women regarding race, ethnicity, culture, age, sexual orientation, and the progress made since the first federally funded women’s conference in 1977.

During the program, an educational presentation will feature portrayals of essential historic figures from the timeline of the women’s movement, providing an opportunity for historic ‘conversations’ with Sojourner Truth, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Gloria Steinem, to name a few. Bay Path’s Leanna James Blackwell, director, MFA in Creative Nonfiction, and assistant professor of Creative Writing, will portray Steinem, and Priscilla Kane Hellweg, executive artistic director, Enchanted Circle Theater will present as Eleanor Roosevelt. Remarks will be given by young women leaders from Bay Path University as well.

“This is a great opportunity to walk through women’s history while supporting women in business and inspiring professional women at every level and college students to pursue their dreams — thus creating the world they want to live in,” said Janine Fondon, assistant professor and co-coordinator of the On the Move Forum with Melina Rudman at Bay Path University.

“Our young women need to know of the history of the great women who paved the way for them — their stories will no longer go silent,” said LuJuana Hood, director of PAHMUSA, which is currently displaying an exhibit of figures in the women’s movement timeline.

The On the Move Forum also includes a Table Top Business Expo by the Professional Women’s Chamber, as well as an interactive program to highlight women’s history, leadership, and trends.

Many local businesses, including PeoplesBank, Roberto’s restaurant, Sylvester’s restaurant, Pip Printing, and Cambridge College, have joined On the Move as sponsors. Opportunities are still available. For more information, contact Fondon at (413) 221-7931 or [email protected]. For tickets, call the CityStage box office at (413) 788-7033.

SPRINGFIELD — The WGBY Wine & Food Lovers Weekend returns Friday and Saturday, March 9 and 10, with an Irish theme, featuring PBS chef Kevin Dundon, host of the popular cooking show Modern Irish Food.

In its 33rd year, WGBY’s wine-centric fund-raiser is a tasty tradition that has successfully raised funds for educational programming in the region by selling tickets to two nights of sampling. The weekend kicks off Friday, March 9 with the region’s largest benefit tasting event, featuring more than 300 wines, craft beers, and specialty food vendors, taking up three large function halls inside Springfield’s Tower Square Hotel.

The tasting is followed on Saturday, March 10 by a fine dining experience, the WGBY Wine Lovers Dinner at the Log Cabin in Holyoke. Dundon has created a seven-course menu of Irish cuisine and will be on hand to explain each featured dish. The meal will be executed by Log Cabin Executive Chef Mick Corduff, and each course will feature two wines, matched by Table & Vine Wine Sales Manager Michael Quinlan and his team. For a sneak peek at the WGBY Wine Lovers Dinner menu, visit wgby.org/wine/menu.

Dundon’s series, Modern Irish Food, puts a modern spin on the celebrated dishes of Irish culture. The award-winning chef and restaurateur shares both the traditional elements of Irish country house cooking and the gourmet modernization of recipes.

Tickets to the March 9 tasting event in downtown Springfield are $49 each; tickets to the seven-course gourmet dinner on March 10 in Holyoke are $175 each. Both are available online at wgby.org/wine or at Table & Vine in West Springfield.

Proceeds benefit public television and PBS station WGBY. The event is sponsored by Big Y World Class Markets, Table & Vine, the Dennis Group, and AM Lithography. Media sponsors include BusinessWest, the Healthcare News, and the Republican.

DEWITT, N.Y. — Forbes magazine recently ranked Community Bank, N.A. sixth in the nation for financial performance in a study analyzing 10 key metrics related to growth, asset quality, capital adequacy, and profitability for the nation’s 100 largest banks and thrifts. This is the seventh year running that Community Bank, N.A. has ranked among the top 15 banks on the list.

Forbes began ranking America’s 100 largest publicly traded banks and thrifts after the financial crisis of the late 2000s. Mid-size, regional, and national banks from across the U.S. were included in the study. Community Bank, N.A. scored above all regional banks serving within the bank’s footprint, including M&T Bank, NBT Bank, PNC, People’s United Financial, Key Bank, and Bank of America.

The raw data for Forbes’ 2018 America’s Best Banks was collected by S&P Global Market Intelligence, and rankings were completed exclusively by Forbes. The 10 metrics used in the rankings are based on regulatory filings through Sept. 30.

BOSTON — A new pilot program funded by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) is making incentives for energy-efficiency upgrades in residential buildings with one to four units available to Massachusetts residents, including those serviced by municipal lighting companies.

DOER, established to develop and implement policies and programs to further the energy-related goals of the Commonwealth, has created the Home Energy Market Value Performance (MVP) pilot program to test innovations to residential energy-efficiency program delivery. This program is designed to be custom-built around a home’s individual needs instead of a prescriptive, one-size-fits-all process, relying on the participating contractors’ expertise in building science and advanced modeling software used during the energy audit.

The incentives and rebates available for energy-efficiency upgrades are based on the reduction of annual energy consumption of the home. The initial audit will model the current annual energy usage, and the energy specialists will create a plan to reduce that usage. Together with the energy specialists, homeowners can make decisions about what measures to install or upgrade based on their homes’ particular needs and the projected incentive paid by the program. A site visit will be conducted after the upgrades have been completed to confirm their installation and approve the customer’s rebate package.

The MVP pilot will run until November 2019 or until all funding is spent, which is estimated to cover 600 projects statewide. Massachusetts residences up to a four-unit building that meet health and safety standards are eligible for participation, including condominiums and rentals with written agreement from the landlord. Currently, homes that heat with Berkshire Gas or that are on a reduced rate code or heating assistance are not eligible for the program.

The pilot consists of just eight participating contractors across the state. Locally, the Energy Store, an Easthampton-based Building Performance Institute Goldstar Contractor, was chosen as a participating contractor.

“We’re very excited to be able to offer potentially big incentives through the MVP pilot to folks with municipal utilities or anyone with their hearts set on measures they wouldn’t otherwise have been incentivized, such as basement ceiling insulation or spray foam,” said Chris Allen, director of Field Operations for the Energy Store. “It will hopefully make a really positive impact on the program in the future, and it offers financial help for homeowners to address efficiency problems in ways that traditionally haven’t been incentivized. It opens a lot of doors.”

Inquiries about the DOER MVP pilot can be directed to the Energy Store at [email protected].

SPRINGFIELD — United Personnel announced it has won Inavero’s Best of Staffing Client and Talent Awards for providing superior service to clients and job seekers. Presented in partnership with CareerBuilder, Inavero’s Best of Staffing winners have proven to be industry leaders in service quality based entirely on ratings by their clients and the employees they have helped find jobs. On average, clients of winning agencies are 2.3 times more likely to be completely satisfied. Job seekers who work with winning agencies are 1.7 times more satisfied with the services provided compared to those working with non-winning agencies.

Focused on helping to connect people with the right job opportunities, United Personnel received satisfaction scores of 9 or 10 out of 10 from a significant amount of both clients and candidates placed in jobs, resulting in the recognition. These two awards are distinctions that fewer than 2% of all staffing agencies in the U.S. and Canada have earned.

“Our team works hard on behalf of our clients and candidates, and we are very proud and honored to be recognized for our efforts in this way,” United Personnel President Tricia Canavan said. “We are committed to supporting the continued professional development of people in this region and contribute to the overall growth of our regional economy.”