Editor’s Note: This brief was corrected at noon on March 20, 2018, to clarify that the Spring Fling Job Fair will be held on Wednesday, March 28.
SOUTH DEERFIELD — The Franklin Hampshire Career Center is hosting the 11th Annual Spring Fling Job Fair at Frontier Regional High School at 113 North Main St., South Deerfield, on Wednesday, March 28, from 4 to 6 p.m.
The fair is open to anyone looking for a job. No preregistration is necessary, walk-ins are welcome and the event is free.
Career Center staff can guide job seekers through the job search process and assist with career counseling, assessment, job search workshops, such as resume writing and interviewing techniques.
More than 30 businesses and universities will participate in the job fair.
SPRINGFIELD — Jennifer Levi, professor of law at Western New England University and director of GLAD’s Transgender Rights Project, recently received the American Bar Association Stonewall Award for her work on transgender rights, including precedent-setting LGBTQ cases, scholarship and teaching.
The Stonewall Award recognizes lawyers who have advanced lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals in the legal profession and successfully championed LGBTQ legal causes.
Levi is a key contributor to the School of Law’s Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies. She coedited “Transgender Family Law: A Guide to Effective Advocacy,” the first book to address legal issues facing transgender people in family law.
She has spoken widely on her active role in litigating cases establishing basic rights for LGBTQ people, received the Constance Baker Motley Award for Excellence in Business or Law in 2017, and was featured in the January 2018 issue of Trial Magazine.
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.
Prior to joining Stoneleigh-Burnham, she was admissions associate at the American International School of Budapest in Budapest, Hungary. 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, New York.
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.
FLORENCE — Bonni Alpert Educational Consulting will serve high school students with disabilities impacting executive functioning who are transitioning into college.
Formerly the assistant dean/director of student disability services at Western New England University for 21 years, Alpert will work with students and their families in navigating the college accommodation process and developing the necessary skills to enhance the student’s chances for success.
These services are a good fit for high school students with learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and those on the Autism spectrum.
The mother of two grown daughters, Alpert is an educator and professional ADHD coach with over 30 years’ experience supporting students in a post-secondary environment.
Alpert holds a doctoral degree in counseling and educational psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Vermont.
For more information, visit alpert-consulting.com or contact Alpert at bonni@alpert-consulting.com.
SOUTH DEERFIELD — O’Connell Care at Home, with offices in Springfield and South Deerfield, has hired Sara Vincunas as community liaison and Katelyne Tiffany as office and human resource manager.
Vincunas, a resident of Granville, will move into a new role after working in photography and animal care for the last six years. Tiffany will be office manager of the South Deerfield location.
As community liaison, Vincunas’ primary function will be to build relationships with referral sources for both clients and caregivers, while assisting with marketing and creating community events. She is owner of Sara Vincunas Photography and graduated from Wilbraham and Monson Academy.
Tiffany was an adult foster care case manager with West Mass Elder Care for eight years before recently joining O’Connell Care at Home. She lives in Belchertown with her husband, Mark.
SPRINGFIELD — In a chainwide effort to help the less fortunate within its local communities, Big Y has donated over 5 million meals this past year.
Big Y’s 8th annual Sack Hunger/Care to Share program brought almost 22,000 bags of food to local recipients. Sack Hunger bags are large reusable grocery bags filled with staple non-perishable foods for local food banks.
Big Y customers purchase a Sack Hunger bag full of groceries for $10 and Big Y distributes that bag of groceries to a local food bank. In turn, the food banks distribute the filled sacks to area soup kitchens, food pantries, senior food programs, day care centers and more throughout their member agencies.
Since its inception, over 133,000 bags have been donated through this program. The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts is one of the agencies benefiting.
AMHERST — Old Friends Farm was awarded a Good Food Award for its organic ginger syrup. Co-owner Missy Bahret accepted the winning medal from restaurateur and food activist Alice Waters.
The business is a small organic farm that grows organic ginger and turmeric. The farm has increased its zingiber production and offers fresh baby ginger and turmeric to customers throughout the Valley, southern Vermont, Boston and New York City. In 2014, Old Friends Farm started experimenting with making specialty products from their crops, and introduced ginger syrup.
The syrup is small-batch-crafted in Greenfield using only three ingredients: organic ginger grown on the farm, organic lemon juice, and organic cane sugar. It can be added to seltzer for a homemade ginger ale, drizzled over most any dessert, pancakes or waffles, and used as an ingredient in salad dressing, marinades, elixirs, and cocktails.
SPRINGFIELD — Smith & Wesson Corp. has contributed $34,000 to the Pioneer Valley USO, which offers programs supporting American military personnel and their families.
For over a decade, proceeds from the company’s annual Game Dinner have benefitted the USO. Armed forces members and families access the USO for social, recreational, educational and entertainment programs and services.
David Mendoza, Pioneer Valley USO board president, said the organization could not provide the needed level of support to military men and women and their families in western Massachusetts without the donation from Smith & Wesson.
The Smith & Wesson Game Dinner is a unique event that offers attendees a chance to dine on a variety of wild game prepared by a team of volunteers. One of the areas most attended events of its kind, the Game Dinner hosted nearly 500 guests and featured a menu of pheasant, elk, bear, boar, moose and venison.
Those interested in supporting next year’s dinner should contact Elaine Stellato, Smith & Wesson Community Relations Manager at 413-747-3371 or at estellato@aob.com.