Biz Briefs: Two Local Students Granted Lee Outlets Scholarships
Good job: Lee Premium Outlets presented McKenna Mcllquham of Hinsdale, Mass., and Delanie Rybacki of Otis, Mass., with Simon Youth Foundation Scholarships for their hard work and determination in the classroom. Mcllquham attended Wahconah Regional High School, was awarded a $1,500 Community Scholarship and will attend University of Rhode Island in September. Rybacki attended Monument Mountain High School, was awarded a $500 Power of Orange Scholarship and will attend University of Wisconsin-Madison this fall.
Simon, a global leader in retail real estate ownership, is proud to support Simon Youth Foundation (SYF) in its efforts to increase educational opportunities for at-risk students through Simon Supports Education. The movement incorporates several activations designed to engage shoppers in SYF's mission. The Foundation operates 30 non-traditional high school academies across the country, housed primarily in Simon properties, and also provides a scholarship to one student in every community where there is a Simon property. Since its inception in 1998, Simon Youth Foundation has helped more than 14,000 at-risk students receive a high school diploma, and has awarded more than $16 million in scholarships.
To you, too: Greylock Federal Credit Union announced awards to local college-bound high school students who each received $500 from the credit union's "Community Enrichment" scholarship program. The scholarships were presented to community-minded senior class members from eight Berkshire County high schools.
This year’s recipients are Devon Atwell, Lee High School; Jessie Downer, Wahconah High School; Joseph Bouvier, Lenox High School; Nicholas Gray, Monument Mountain; Niku Darashi, Mt. Greylock; Hannah Dargie, Pittsfield High School; and Cody Latimer, Taconic High School. Applicants were judged on community involvement and an essay titled "What does community mean to me?" Scholarships were awarded to those who demonstrated an outstanding level of community and volunteer work. The scholarships are to be applied toward tuition at state-accredited or nationally-accredited two or four-year colleges or universities.
Doing good: The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America has awarded grants totaling $111,000 to 11 local nonprofit organizations in support of programs benefiting low-income and low-asset Berkshire County families and individuals.
Guardian grant recipients for 2017 include: Berkshire Children and Families – Bridge to Economic Self-Sufficiency Program; Berkshire Community Action Council, Community Action Rides Initiative; Berkshire County Regional Employment Board, Youth Works Summer Employment Program; Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity, Building for Tomorrow and Volunteers in Tax Assistance; Construct, Inc., Building Bridges to Self-Sufficiency; Elizabeth Freeman Center, Money School Program; Hillcrest Dental Care, Portable Dental Care Equipment; Junior Achievement of Western Massachusetts, Financial Programs in Pittsfield Schools; MCLA Foundation (Berkshire Compact), Career Fair for Eighth Graders; Miss Hall’s School, Money Matters Financial Literacy Workshop; and The Food Bank of Western Mass., Door-to-Door Delivery Program in Berkshire County.
Xtraordinary: Berkshire Bank completed its Xtraordinary Day on Wednesday, June 7. This event was the second year that the company participated in community service events concurrently from 1 to 4 p.m. closing the entire financial institution including Firestone Financial, 44 Business Capital, Berkshire Insurance Group and RNL Associates as a united effort for community involvement.
During Xtraordinary Day, 92 percent of the Company, which equates to 1,619 employees, completed 65 projects. From packaging meals to combating hunger to cleaning local parks and delivering financial literacy lessons, over 6,000 hours of service were contributed, with a value of nearly $169,000. The projects helped 75 different nonprofit organizations across the Company's footprint.
In addition to volunteer service, Berkshire Bank and its Foundation provide over $2 million dollars annually to support nonprofit organizations in the communities that the Bank serves. With the continued growth of the company, this year's Xtraordinary Day included nonprofit organizations and communities across the United States including in Berkshire County: assembly of literacy kits in partnership with Berkshire United Way; downtown guide assembly at Downtown Pittsfield; cleanup of Housatonic River Walk, Burbank Park and Girls Inc.; painting at Lee Youth Association and Dalton CRA; Meal assembly for Rise Against Hunger; and financial education at Farmington River Elementary School.
New partnerships: NMDX, formed in April of 2016, announced new agreements going into effect this month with Martell Diagnostic Laboratories and Immuno-Biological Laboratories. Each new partner will strengthen the reach of NMDX in providing HER-2/neu tests through their extensive distribution networks and advanced clinical resources.
NMDX - NanoMolecularDx - is a newly formed healthcare development company headquartered in Lee, Mass., with satellite offices and projects in Pittsfield and Albany, N.Y., working with the SUNY Poly Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering to develop novel diagnostic technologies.
NMDX has retained Martell for biological testing of certain patient serum samples provided by NMDX. Martell has a CLIA certified laboratory capable of performing biological testing of patient samples on behalf of hospitals, clinical laboratories and other facilities. They will purchase HER-2 Assay Kits from NMDX for development and clinical use for biological testing for its own projects and for clinical testing of NMDX patient samples. The laboratory testing service Martell provides will use the NMDX HER-2/neu ELISA assay for quantitation of human HER-2/neu, a tool used for monitoring metastatic breast cancer in women.
Also, effective this month is NMDX’s agreement with IBL-America, which grants IBL-America a non-exclusive right to sell NMDX’s products, including the IVD HER-2/neu ELISA and selected antibodies, as well as any other products at the discretion of NMDX. All products will be sold to IBL-America at a predetermined price for IBL-America to market, sell and promote those products.
