GIVINGBeverly-based Full Circle Earth has received a grant from the Beverly Whole Foods Market Community Giving Program. The grant, in the amount of $2,982, will be applied to the organization’s general operating budget to complete the construction of a hoop house at 36 Foster St. in Beverly. This facility will serve as a community resource providing information about organic land care and native plants, as well as educational programs focused on reducing chemical pesticides and herbicides from our environment. For more information about Full Circle Earth, visit www.fullcircleearth.org.
North Shore Bank has donated $1,200 to The Open Door in Gloucester. The proceeds were given by bank employees through their weekly “Jeans Day” program, which was started in 2015 and has since contributed over $90,000 to local charities and nonprofits. In exchange for $5 each week, the bank’s staff is allowed to wear jeans to work on Fridays with the funds collected, pooled, and then donated to an area charity nominated by a bank employee.
Beverly-based Coastal Windows & Exteriors recently donated materials and labor to install a new roof at the home of a Lynn veteran, in partnership with Essex County Habitat for Humanity. Owner Stephanie Vanderbilt explained that this was part of her company’s Roof for Heroes program, which seeks to provide a full GAF roofing system free of charge to folks who protect our communities, like veterans. Vincent Gunning, a Vietnam War Navy veteran and retired postal carrier, lived in a home where the roof was literally caving in from rot damage, according to Vanderbilt. Gunning also has a prosthetic leg and mobility issues, making it difficult to manage upkeep of his home. Once Don Preston at Habitat for Humanity contacted Vanderbilt, she said her company went to work the next week. “I feel very blessed to be able to give back to Vincent to give him peace of mind with a roof over his head…for a lifetime,” she said. So far, the Beverly firm has donated more than $150,000 in labor and materials to Essex County Habitat for Humanity.
PEOPLE
Salem resident Ellen Fleming Clark has joined the board of Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus. A client executive at a S&P 500 technology company, Fleming Clark served as finance director for Congresswoman Carol Shea Porter (New Hampshire First District).
Jamieson Wicks, a Topsfield native and Peabody resident, has been named North Shore Community College’s (NSCC) new Assistant Vice President for Facilities Operations and Services. Prior to being named AVP, he was NSCC’s Director of Facilities, and in his new role he’ll be responsible for the development and improvement of all NSCC facility infrastructure, including new construction, renovation, and programmatic needs. In addition, he will be responsible for all facilities-related capital planning with outside architects, engineers, house doctor firms, and state agencies to forward the college’s strategic vision.
Raminder Luther, Ph.D. was appointed dean of the Bertolon School of Business at Salem State University, effective Feb. 13. She had served as interim dean of the Bertolon School since May 2020, and prior to that was professor of finance in the school for 22 years.
In December 2020, the Bertolon School was awarded AACSB Accreditation, a distinction enjoyed by only 5% of business schools worldwide, and the first of Massachusetts’ state universities to receive this accreditation.
Sales Associate Tyler Collins has joined J Barrett & Company at the Cummings Center office in Beverly. Collins, who has deep family roots on the North Shore, honed his customer skills in a multi-year career in retail and sales in New York City. Ipswich native and Realtor Rhiannan Thompson also recently joined the Cummings Center office. En route to becoming a full-time Realtor, Thompson served as an agent’s assistant, and she has lived in several North Shore communities including Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody and Ipswich.
Salem residents Vanessa Wood, Kristin Eisenzopf, Gail McCarthy and Jenne Robertson, all social workers with Danvers-based Care Dimensions, have been honored during National Social Work Month, March 2022, for their contributions, compassion and commitment to their patients. The mission of these hospice and palliative care social workers includes encouraging expression of feelings, enhancing family communication, supporting the family in their coping, connecting families with community resources and education, and being a supportive presence to the patient and family throughout the journey at end of life.
Michael A. Torrielli has been appointed the new Retail Sales Manager at North Shore Bank. Prior to joining North Shore Bank, Torrielli — a graduate of the New England School for Financial Studies — served as First Vice President, North Regional Manager for Cambridge Savings Bank, and altogether, brings nearly 25 years of overall retail banking experience to his new position.
MILESTONES
The town of Danvers has received the Government Finance Officers Association’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its fiscal 2022 budget document, an honor enjoyed by fewer than 5% of municipalities. The GFOA Budget Award reflects the highest principles of governmental budgeting and compliance with nationally recognized guidelines, including a budget that serves effectively as a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide, and a communications device.
“As an elected official, learning of this award reinforces my confidence that our community’s finances are being managed professionally and effectively,” said Select Board Chairman Gardner Trask.
The Best Western Plus North Shore Hotel, 50 Dayton St. in Danvers, has received the Best Western Hotels & Resorts Director’s Award for yielding outstanding quality standards. The Director’s Award recognizes Best Western-branded hotels scoring in the top 20% of more than 2,200 North American properties in quality assurance scores. Hotels must also meet Best Western’s requirements for design and high customer service scores to qualify for the award.
Magical Beginnings, a family-run network of early education centers, recently cut the ribbon on its newest school, at 50 Dunham Ridge Road in Beverly. This is the seventh location for Magical Beginnings, which also has centers in Peabody, Hamilton, Maple Street and River Street in Middleton, Wakefield, and Essex. The Beverly school opened Oct. 25 and a grand opening was celebrated Nov. 9, with the Greater Beverly Chamber of Commerce. Founder and CEO Linda Hassapis first started a daycare in the basement of her Peabody home in 1990 at 20 years old. And by 2000, Linda’s Quality Daycare had grown into Magical Beginnings, which was incorporated that year with its first early education center. In 2021, the company also founded the Skip and Shirley LaBrie Scholarship Fund, named for Hassapis’ parents, for students working on their degree in early childhood education at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School. The new Beverly site is approximately 6,200 square feet, with plans for six classrooms for varying ages: two preschool classrooms, two toddler classrooms, and two infant classrooms. The playground has a large outdoor space with use divided into toddler and preschool areas. At full capacity, the school will care for 40 preschool students, 18 toddlers, and 14 infants.
