SPRINGFIELD — Big Y will hold its first company wide hiring event at over 75 locations across Massachusetts and Connecticut on Tuesday, June 29. Anyone 18 years and older attend.
Every store plus the distribution center will hold interviews and hiring managers will be able to make on-the-spot job offers from 3-8 p.m. on this day. Currently, there are openings at all Big Y supermarkets, Big Y Gas and Convenience Stores, Table & Vine Fine Wines and Spirits, and Big Y’s Fresh and Local Distribution Center.
Interested applicants are encouraged to apply in advance online at bigy.com/careers, which also includes addresses of all locations.
All individuals hired on this day will receive a $50 gift card of their choice such as Apple, Big Y or Spotify. Additionally, after working through the summer, every Big Y employee including those newly hired will receive an employee appreciation bonus in their paychecks in early September. To qualify, employees must have worked during July and August.
Full-time supermarket openings include bakery, meat, seafood, in-store kitchen, and deli, department managers and assistant department managers, overnight stock clerks. Part-time positions are open in all departments. Big Y Express Gas and Convenience openings include managers, assistant managers, head cashiers and clerks. Table and Vine has openings in all departments. Fresh and Local Distribution Center openings include selectors, porters and equipment operators.
GREENFIELD — Greenfield Savings Bank has named Shandra B. Richardson senior vice president and senior operations officer. As the senior operations officer, Richardson will direct all aspects of the bank’s operations, which include compliance, retail banking, marketing, deposit, electronic and loan operations, as well as developing and implementing new policies and procedures for the organizational systems management.
Prior to joining GSB, Richardson held multiple leadership roles at Citizens Bank N.A. and most recently at Santander Bank N.A. She specializes in operational lifecycle transformation, regulatory exam preparation, project management and organizational development. She has also been involved in company diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, including active participation in multiple employee resource groups focusing on the support and empowerment of women and Black and Latinx employees.
A UMass Amherst graduate, Richardson received a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a Master of Business Administration along with completing leadership and lean methodology executive education courses.
Richardson and her family are in the process of relocating from Boston back to western Massachusetts, where she is from originally.
EASTHAMPTON — Char Gentes, president and CEO of Riverside Industries, will retire at the end of the year after nearly a decade as president.
In late May, Gentes told the staff and the individuals and guardians that Riverside serves that the organization’s future is bright future. Her retirement has been a long-standing plan shared with the board a couple of years ago. She told the staff, “I will reach the great age of 65 near the end of this year and look forward to a slower pace and more free time in this next chapter of my life.”
Gentes has spent most of her working life at Riverside, celebrating a tenure of 37-plus years. She is honored to have worked for such an amazing organization. During her tenure, she held the position of president for just under 10 years, leading the transition from the well-established model of shelter workshop to community-based services.
The recruitment process to find a new president has already begun with the board forming a Search Committee a couple of months ago. The new president will work alongside Gentes for a month, allowing for a smooth transition.
Riverside Industries Inc. is a nonprofit agency that has been empowering individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live rich and full lives for more than 50 years.
Freedom Credit Union raises $1,000 for MS
research
SPRINGFIELD — Througout May, Freedom Credit Union collected cash donations at its 11 branches throughout western Massachusetts to benefit Walk MS 2021, which supports the work of the National MS Society. They raised $1,034 thanks to the generosity of members and staff.
MS is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the communications signals within the brain, and between the body and the brain. Patients may experience a wide range of symptoms that can include numbness and tingling, mood changes, memory problems, pain, fatigue, blindness, paralysis and more, all of which may be temporary or permanent.
The largest private funder of MS research in the world, the National MS Society has invested more than $1 billion to date toward developing solutions to help people overcoming the challenges of living with MS and for research funding.
Throughout the months of June and July, Freedom Credit Union is now collecting cash donations at all its branches to benefit The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, which leads the fight against food insecurity throughout Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire counties.