Clerk of Courts Carey receives leadership award
Daniel R. Carey, D-Easthampton, was recognized for his leadership in the legal field and in the community when he received the 2025 Ascending Alumni Award from the Western New England University School of Law Alumni Association last month.
Carey currently serves as Hampshire County Clerk of Courts and previously served as state representative.
The Ascending Alumni Award annually spotlights the achievements of alumni who graduated from WNE School of Law within the past 10 years. Honorees are chosen based on outstanding leadership in their chosen field and in the community, standing out among their peers with a great deal of drive and potential.
Carey was elected clerk of courts in November 2024 after serving three consecutive two-year terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He previously served as an assistant district attorney and director of the Drug Diversion & Treatment Program for Northwestern District Attorney David E. Sullivan.
Carey was recognized as the 2023 Legislator of the Year by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. He is a former member of the Easthampton City Council and School Committee and currently serves on the board of directors for Riverside Industries, Inc. Carey lives in Easthampton with his wife, Melissa, son Michael, and daughter, Mairead.
Also honored this year were Kathleen Dion, partner at Robinson & Cole, who received the Dean’s Alumni Excellence Award and Judge Tina Cafaro, first justice of the Westfield District Court, who received the Distinguished Alumni Award. Speakers included Michael B. Alexander, interim president of Western New England University, and Zelda Harris, dean of the WNE School of Law.
Community Action lauded for worksite health promotion
GREENFIELD — Community Action Pioneer Valley (CAPV), the federally designated antipoverty agency for Franklin and Hampshire counties, has been named a 2025 Health New England Well Worth It Award recipient at the Gold level for successful worksite health promotion The award recognizes CAPV’s commitment to their employees’ overall health and their achievements in implementing health and wellness programs during the previous year.
An effective worksite wellness program can improve the well-being and productivity of the workforce while managing employee turnover, behavioral health concerns, and the rising cost of health care.
Whether it is encouraging those from different departments to get to know one another with Cross-Department Lunch opportunities, offering prompts to encourage gratitude or sharing wellness resources, CAPV aims to weave a thread of wellness through day-to-day agency life.
UMassFive welcomes new board members
HADLEY — UMassFive College Federal Credit Union (UMassFive) announce the appointment of Michael Lareau as a new board member and Tolulope “Tolu” Odunsi-Nelson as a new associate director. Both bring extensive professional expertise and a strong commitment to serving the local community.
Lareau a veteran technology executive and entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience in information technology, including guiding banks and credit unions through regulatory compliance and technology innovation. A graduate of Springfield Technical Community College with a degree in IT security, he has served on STCC’s IT Advisory Board since 2014. Lareau has been a UMassFive member and advocate for over seven years.
Odunsi-Nelson is an attorney, educator, and advocate with extensive governance experience. She earned her J.D. from American University Washington College of Law and began her career as a trial attorney specializing in advocacy, compliance, and risk assessment. Her civil rights work has focused on addressing structural barriers to wealth and financial stability — an area closely aligned with UMassFive’s mission.
Community Legal Aid lawyers honored
NORTHAMPTON — Two attorneys at Community Legal Aid, a nonprofit organization that provides free legal services annually to over 9,000 low-income and elderly households in Central and Western Massachusetts, have been recognized among Massachusetts’ top legal professionals.
Christa Douaihy, coordinating attorney for Community Legal Aid’s Housing Unit, was recognized by Mass. Lawyers Weekly as one of the 2025 “Top Women of Law.” These honorees are pioneers, educators, trailblazers and role models.
Douaihy joined Community Legal Aid in 2022 as a seasoned litigator with diverse legal experience in New York and Massachusetts. She began her career in 2008 at Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, where she advocated for the civil rights of people with disabilities in cases involving housing, employment, and family law. She went on to hone her legal expertise as a civil litigator and disability rights advocate at The Bronx Defenders and in private practice.
As coordinating attorney in Community Legal Aid’s Fair Housing Unit, she specializes in eviction defense, brings lawsuits under state and federal fair housing laws, provides community education and outreach, and mentors her colleagues.
She serves as an adjunct professor at Western New England School of Law, where she teaches the “Access to Justice” course.
Community Legal Aid Coordinating Attorney Krista Ellis was honored as an emerging leader in the law by the Women’s Bar Association (WBA) at the organization’s 2025 Gala.
The WBA’s Emerging Women Leaders in the Law Award honors women attorneys who have demonstrated professional excellence or had a significant professional achievement in their first 12 years in the legal profession, and either promote the status of women in the legal profession or contribute meaningfully to the equal participation of women in a just society.
A graduate of American University Washington College of Law, Attorney Ellis has worked in Community Legal Aid’s Family Law Unit since 2019. She also recently graduated from the Massachusetts Bar Association’s 2024-2025 Leadership Academy.
Both attorneys Douaihy and Ellis are based in Community Legal Aid’s Springfield office and represent clients primarily in Western Mass.
Holyoke Mall welcomes two new eateries
HOLYOKE — Holyoke Mall is welcomes two new eateries to the center, Mama G’s Halal Platters and Frozen D Lite.
Mama G’s Halal Platters is now open on the Upper Level JCPenney wing, next to Pretzelmaker. Experience Middle Eastern flavors like chicken, lamb, shrimp or falafel rice platters, Chapli kabob, Indian dishes like Chicken Tikka and Butter Chicken, as well as classic American dishes like burgers, Philly cheesesteaks, and chicken tenders. All the food will meet halal dietary standards.
Frozen D Lite also opened recently on the Lower Level next to Mystery Bins. The snack shop offers a range of treats, from sweet crepes and waffles with ice cream, to smoothies, shakes and frozen yogurt.
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