Goal is to help organizations earn votes—and funding—in the 20th annual Customers’ Choice Community Grants Program in 2022

FLORENCE—Florence Bank will host a Zoominar on Monday, Oct. 18 from 3-4 p.m. for nonprofits in Hampden County to introduce them to the bank’s Customers’ Choice Community Grants Program in hopes of helping them gain votes—and funds. 

With branches located in West Springfield, Springfield, and Chicopee, bank leaders want organizations in Hampden County to be better acquainted with the innovative grant program so the bank can collaborate more fully in all the communities it serves. 

“We want to help organizations get the most out of our program,” said Bank President and CEO Kevin Day. “We are excited, too, about celebrating our 20th anniversary in 2022 and want to spread the word about how to help people in our midst.”

Leaders of nonprofits are invited to register for the event by Oct. 12 by emailing Erin Defoyd, marketing communications manager / officer, at Erin.Defoyd@Florencebank.com. Only those who have registered will receive the Zoom link to attend the webinar.

In 2020, almost 7,000 votes were cast through Customers’ Choice, and 32 nonprofits accepted a grant award in May; a total of $100,500 was handed out. 

In 20 years, the bank has awarded $1.3 million to area nonprofits.

To qualify for a community grant, organizations must receive at least 50 votes—from Florence Bank customers. The bank has a kit at www.florencebank.com/customer-choice-kit that nonprofits can use to strategize how to gain votes. The kit contains an information sheet on Customers’ Choice, a sample flyer to display and a press release leaders can adapt and send to the media. 

“We want to offer another layer of support to our neighbors in Hampden County, who may be unaware of the program, hence the idea to host the Zoominar,” said Monica Curhan, senior vice president / marketing director at the bank. “We have some great tips for getting enough votes to qualify for a share of the $100,000 grant money, and we want to share them with organization leaders.”

After an introduction by Curhan, Zoominar attendees will hear Day describe the Customers’ Choice program and its history, and Defoyd will give an overview of the materials in the bank’s Customers’ Choice PR kit and talk specifically about using social media to promote the program. Janice Beetle of Beetle Press, who partners with the bank’s marketing team, will talk about how to customize the press release template.

The branch managers of the three Hampden County branches will also be on the call to introduce themselves. They are Emily Tower, West Springfield branch; Nikki Gleason, Allen Street branch; and Kimberly Downing, Chicopee. 

Hampden County nonprofits who attend the Zoominar will be listed in a promotional piece to be handed to customers in the Hampden County branches from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, thereby increasing awareness of their organization and earning them more potential votes from Florence Bank customers.

For more information, contact Defoyd at Erin.Defoyd@Florencebank.com.

About Florence Bank

Florence Bank is a mutually-owned savings bank chartered in 1873. Currently, the Bank serves the Pioneer Valley through 12 full-service branch locations in Florence, Northampton, Easthampton, Williamsburg, Amherst, Hadley, Belchertown, Granby, Chicopee, West Springfield, and Springfield. Additionally, it offers 25 ATMs and a wide range of financial services, including investment management through FSB Financial Group (FSBFG) to consumers and businesses.  Florence Bank is consistently voted best local bank by the readers of the Valley Advocate and the Daily Hampshire Gazette.  

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The Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction is a nonprofit in Laconia, New Hampshire, that raises money each year for children and families in need. My brothers run an annual event called Pub Mania that helps to bolster the auction’s fundraising efforts. This year, I got to write about two Pub Mania volunteers—who are also friends of mine. The blog was used on the Children’s Auction website and in its newsletter; I also sent it to local media in the Laconia area.

Jennifer Bailey grew up in the Lakes Region and has a long memory of the good cheer that the Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction brings to the holiday season. When her children were young several decades ago, the family donated toys. Jennifer also purchased holiday gifts while listening to the radio broadcasts.

Shawn Bailey came to the region as an adult and began to take part as an Auction volunteer 14 years ago. He took bids on the phone banks, with his coworkers from Coldwell Banker, and also helped organize annual toy drives in the office.

“It was addictive to see the magic that goes on there, and how many people help,” Shawn recalls. “I was impressed with the community and how generous people are.”

Jennifer says she tends toward the shy side; getting involved with the Auction in person didn’t feel like her thing. Until her longtime friends, Jennifer and Allan Beetle, co-owners of Patrick’s Pub & Eatery, started dreaming up Pub Mania 11 years ago. 

“Allan proposed the idea, and Shawn and I loved it so much, we said, ‘We’re in. Tell us what we can do,’” Jennifer says. “That first year, it was meeting and talking—throwing ideas around. They did the majority of it. We just kept saying, ‘What can we do? What can we do?’”

Since that first year, Pub Mania has grown tremendously, becoming an event that provides the lion’s share of the funds raised during each year’s Auction week. The event is a 24-hour barstool challenge involving 31 teams of 24 people each.   For each of the 24 hours, teams participate in fun games and activities; fundraising also happens year-round, as do various events that range from yard sales and dinner gatherings to the Pub Mania Shuffle, a two-mile walk held on Wednesday nights in the spring and fall.

“I was thrilled when Allan came up with the idea for Pub Mania,” Jennifer says. “It’s made it easy for me to get involved.” 

Jennifer has been a Pub Mania referee since the event’s start. Shawn first served as team captain with his Coldwell Banker colleagues and came on board as a referee three years ago. The refs stay up for 24 hours, working with the crowd, answering questions, leading games and raffles, and handing out prizes. Shawn also judges the dance contest and helps the event’s many musicians set up and break down.

Allan and Jennifer; Jeff and Wendy Beetle—also Patrick’s co-owners— and Kate Flaherty are the other event referees.

Pub Mania raised $47,000 for the Children’s Auction in its first year—crushing Allan’s goal of $30,000. Last year, the amount raised was $353,361, more than half of the total $580,584 that was raised for the Children’s Auction.

“I feel really good about it and really proud,” says Shawn. “The amount of money—it’s needed in this community. To be able to be a part of raising so much money is very rewarding.” He adds that there is pressure to keep pace! “We just have to keep doing it somehow.”

Jennifer says, “I love the emotional part of it. Closing ceremonies gives me such a good feeling. I cannot believe the amount of money raised. We live in a beautiful area, but we have a lot of need. It’s amazing how much the Children’s Auction does and how the community comes together.”

In 10 years, Pub Mania has raised nearly $2 million for the Children’s Auction. The 2019 edition of the world’s greatest barstool challenge is just around the corner, kicking off on Dec. 5 for 24 hours. 

Look for the Beetles and Baileys there. Shawn and Allan are sure to perform “Pub Maniacs Answer the Call,” a traditional song the Beetles wrote to tell the event’s backstory.

Says Jennifer, “I can’t imagine the holiday season without Pub Mania and the Auction. 

“When we get to opening ceremonies, there’s always this feeling of, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe we’re here again,’” she adds. “You get to see familiar faces from years past. And when closing ceremonies come, a recipient speaks about what the money has meant to them. It puts all our efforts into perspective.”

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Event slated for Nov. 10 in Palmer

PALMERーA fundraiser to benefit a Holyoke Community College scholarship offered in memory of a fallen veteran will be held Saturday Nov. 10 at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish at 1076 Thorndike St. from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The late veteran’s wife, Melissa Storey, and her family will host the event in conjunction with the Village to Village Foundation, which helps families to remember their loved ones by creating and supporting scholarships at colleges and universities of their choice.

Melissa’s Storey’s husband, Army Staff Sgt. Clint J. Storey, was killed in action in Iraq in 2006.  With assistance from Village to Village, the HCC scholarship that bears his name was created in 2016. Thus far, $4,925 has been raised to support it; the goal is $15,000.

Last year’s fundraising event brought in $3,000. This year’s event is free and open to the public and will feature raffles, lottery trees, crafts and vendors.  

“It is very important to give back to veterans who have made great sacrifices for our freedom,” Melissa Storey said. “Our family is thrilled to have this incredible mechanism to carry on Clint’s legacy and give to people who didn’t even know him.”

In addition to Melissa Storey, the couple’s children—Adela and CJ—will be in attendance.

The $500 “Pay a Good Deed Forward” Scholarship is presented each year to a veteran student at HCC. Last year, the award was presented twice.

Donations can be made at the event; via mail to Village to Village Foundation, P.O. Box 245, New Oxford, PA 17350 (SSG Clint Storey in the memo line); or online at villagetovillagefoundation.org.

For more information on Village to Village, visit Villagetovillagefoundation.org.

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Terra Missildine is offering the event because she has a mission to protect the earth as well as an agenda to support parents and children. Missildine owns Beloved Earth, a green cleaning company based in Northampton, and she recently created Cultivate Community to assist what she calls parentpreneurs—or parents who are also entrepreneurs.

Participants in the clean-up event will meet at picnic site number one, between the parking lot and the new playground in the park. The walk will begin at 9:30 a.m., but people are welcome to join in at any point throughout the event.

Coffee, water, and juice boxes will be available, and gloves and hand sanitizer will be provided. Parents and children are encouraged to stroll through the park as they clean up their local community. There will be time for networking, and a raffle will be held after the clean-up walk.

To register for this event, contact Missildine at 413-949-3509 or cultivateandnest@gmail.com.

For more information, visit the Cultivate Community website at http://www.cultivateandnest.com/

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Molly, 22, graduated from Plymouth State University in May with a degree in early childhood education, and she is working at Smith College’s Sunnyside Child Care, at least for the summer months.

Molly has her sights set on travel, though, so she is looking into international au pair programs as well as job opportunities on the west coast.

She recently learned the value of networking by attending a Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce Arrive @ 5 with me; she brought her best friend, another recent college graduate, Alison Winkler, along with her.

The event was at Godard’s Red Hen Farm/Mineral Hills Winery in Northampton, and so the girls were especially pleased to join me. In the first minute, they met a friend of Ali’s sister Raina. It turns out Jaime Allen, who was there representing Adquest Digital Marketing, recently completed a stint as an au pair. She provided Molly with a resource for a program abroad, and now Molly has one more organization to research and query.

Ali, who went to school for graphic design, also came away having made a connection with a new business owner who needs a logo.

Poof. I say that’s why they call it net-working—because it works. (Yes, and also because it is work in and of itself.)

I’m always telling my interns about the importance of relationships. I talk to them about treating everyone they meet with respect, and I highly recommend they find ways to stay in touch with colleagues, professors and supervisors.

Your ability to get a first job, a job that’s a step up or to grow a business is all found in the quality of your relationships and the grace and integrity you bring to them.

And those relationships often begin at a networking event. Take the time yourself to attend an Arrive @ 5-type event in Northampton or in your own community. I’m sure you will make at least one good connection and find it was good to get out and net-work.

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SOMERS, CONN—A local Pan-Mass Challenge team raising money in memory of Brielle Laplante of East Longmeadow raised over $50,000 on June 12 at a fundraiser held at the Thomas Jefferson mansion replica, Monticello.

More than 400 individuals, including Monticello owner S. Prestley Blake, co-founder of the Friendly’s Ice Cream Corporation, and his wife, Helen, attended the festive gala, and organizers are thrilled that 100 percent of the proceeds raised will go to the Jimmy Fund at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The event was held to mark 10 years’ worth of Pan-Mass rides by Brielle’s team, Brielle’s Brigade, and funds raised through the gala put 10-year donations over the team’s $1 million goal.

Tammy Laplante, Brielle’s mother, wrote on Facebook the day of the event, “Brielle, tonight’s party is for you and all those other children and families who have been haunted with cancer. I can’t wait to present this year’s check to your oncologist.”

The Brielle’s Brigade bicycling team was formed in 2006 to ride the Pan-Mass Challenge, inspired by Brielle Laplante, the team’s namesake, who passed away in 2012 after she lost her battle with Osteosarcoma a few months before her 14th birthday. Brielle is the daughter of Tammy and Bill Laplante; Bill Laplante is president of Laplante Construction of East Longmeadow, which built the Monticello mansion at 732 Hall Hill Road in 2014.

“This event is beyond what I could have dreamed—for the team, for the community and for the money we have raised for the Jimmy Fund in memory of my daughter Brielle,” said Bill Laplante. “The generosity of the presenting sponsors, the room sponsors and the contributors is remarkable, let alone the hundreds of people who attended.”

Monticello is owned by the Blakes, and they were the main presenting sponsors for the evening’s event. Additional Presenting Sponsors for the gala were: Max Catering and Events; Vartanian Custom Cabinets; Monson Savings Bank; Clarke Sub-Zero Wolf; Peter Novak-Charter Oak Insurance and Financial Services Company; and Keady, Foard and Montemagni Wealth Management at UBS Financial Services.

The Brielle’s Brigade Pan-Mass Challenge team of 10 dedicated riders includes Brielle’s mother and father, Tammy and Bill Laplante; her uncles and cousins, Ed, Rebecca and Michael Moses; and family friends Peter Grocott, Paul Cicco, Andy Ede, Robert Lupacchino, and Peter Pessalano.

Over the past nine years, riders on the team have logged over 19,000 event miles. This year will mark members’ 10th 200-mile ride, which will take place on the first weekend of August; the team will ride 111 miles on the first day, from Sturbridge to Bourne, and will finish the ride from Bourne to Provincetown on Sunday.

To make a donation to the team online, visit www.pmc.org, select make a donation, enter team egift number TBO 117, and select “Brielle’s Brigade.”

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The Lyme Disease Resource Center is a peer-guided, supportive and safe place for those living with Lyme Disease, and their care partners, sharing strategies and resources for living well. Wine and Canvas hosts events that provide step-by-step art instruction to participants of all artistic abilities.

The event on June 25 is a fundraiser for the resource center; tickets are $45 per person and must be purchased in advance by calling 413-588-7388 or emailing info@lymedrc.org. Ticket cost is tax deductible.

The painting for the event is part of the Wine and Canvas Local Series and features the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls. No painting experience is required to take part and all materials are provided.

The Lyme Disease Resource Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit incorporated in October 2013. It serves those with tick-borne illness and their care partners, connecting clients and the community to resources, free activities, support groups, complementary therapies and workshops on the issues surrounding tick-borne illness.

For more information on the resource center, visit www.lymedrc.org or contact Maria Malaguti at 413-588-7388or maria.malaguti@lymedrc.org.

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SOMERS, CONN—Ten years after forming a team in memory of Brielle Laplante, Brielle’s Brigade will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of its first Pan-Mass Challenge ride in her honor in grand style on June 12 at the Thomas Jefferson mansion replica, Monticello.

The gala event is a fundraiser that includes appetizers and entertainment at the 10,000 square-foot home and will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. A donation of $100 per person is requested and can be made by contacting Brielle Laplante’s uncle, Ed Moses, at Eamoses65@gmail.com. One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Brielle’s Brigade was formed in 2006 to ride the Pan-Mass Challenge, inspired by Brielle Laplante, the team’s namesake. In 2012, the tightly-knit Brielle’s Brigade family mourned Brielle’s passing after she lost her battle with Osteosarcoma a few months before her 14th birthday. Brielle was the daughter of Tammy and Bill Laplante; Bill Laplante is president of Laplante Construction of East Longmeadow, which built the Monticello mansion at 732 Hall Hill Road in 2014. Monticello is owned by S. Prestley Blake, co-founder of Friendly’s Ice Cream, and his wife, Helen, and they are the main presenting sponsors for the evening’s event.

Over the past nine years, riders on the Brielle’s Brigade team have logged over 19,000 event miles and raised $990,898 through the Pan-Mass Challenge. This year, the team expects its total fundraising will surpass $1million. Over 5,500 cyclists rode in the 2014 Pan-Mass. Cyclists choose from 12 routes of varying mileage designed to cater to all levels of cycling strength and fundraising ability. All donations to team riders also benefit the Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The 2015 Brielle’s Brigade Pan-Mass Challenge team will be made up of 10 riders, including both of Brielle Laplante’s parents; her uncle and cousin, Ed and Rebecca Moses; and family friends Peter Grocott, Paul Cicco, Andy Ede, Robert Lupacchino, Michael Moses and Peter Pessalano.

“The Blakes have generously donated the beautiful Monticello to host the reception,” said Bill Laplante. “We are grateful to be able to raise funds for these important organizations that gave comfort to our daughter. We are deeply appreciative of our presenting sponsors and the many others who will make the gala possible.”

Additional Presenting Sponsors for the gala include: Max Catering and Events; Vartanian Custom Cabinets; Monson Savings Bank; Clarke Sub-Zero Wolf; Peter Novak-Charter Oak Insurance and Financial Services Company; Keady, Foard and Montemagni Wealth Management at UBS Financial Services; and East Longmeadow Taylor Rental.

To make a donation to the team online, visit www.pmc.org, select make a donation, enter team egift number

TBO 117, and select “Brielle’s Brigade.”

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