Longtime partnership deepens as Florence Bank leader joins the nonprofit’s board of directors

FLORENCE—Florence Bank recently renewed a $30,000 pledge to Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity, and in another celebration in the longtime partnership between the two organizations, a leader at the bank has joined the nonprofit’s board of directors.

Jim Hickey, vice president / director of marketing operations at the bank and a resident of South Deerfield, began a three-year term on the 15-member board last night. 

“Florence is a very community-spirited bank, and we are a very community-spirited organization. Our missions align,” said Amy Landry, the director of resource development at Habitat for eight years. “Clearly, they have been a wonderful community partner for us.”

The gift and new board participation are signs that the decades-long relationship between Florence Bank and the local Habitat organization continues to deepen. The range of involvement is wide.

For instance, Florence Bank recently agreed to serve as the applicant partner with Pioneer Valley Habitat to secure a $96,000 grant from Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston provided to entities offering low-income and affordable housing; the funds would offer $32,000 per build on three current projects. 

Bank staff also volunteer on construction sites around the county, doing everything from swinging hammers to painting and landscaping; this year, the bank sent teams that helped complete two homes in Pelham. 

Florence Bank has been a sponsor for Pioneer Valley Habitat events, and the nonprofit last year was a first-time recipient of a Customers’ Choice Community Grant. The nonprofit even holds accounts with Florence Bank.

“The bank has been a partner in so many dimensions,” Landry said. “Florence has checked all the boxes from sponsoring to contributing financially to volunteering. That makes the bank a special friend to us.”

The relationship between the two organizations began almost two decades ago, when the bank began donating to Pioneer Valley Habitat. The bank has increased its support over time and has pledged $10,000 per year since 2015 to support local projects. 

“They see the importance of giving at a certain level to have an impact,” Landry said, noting that the bank’s multi-year pledges offer reliable leadership revenue to the organization.

Some years, bank funds support construction costs on that year’s home builds; one year, the gift covered costs associated with volunteer appreciation and retention efforts, and another, the pledge was used as a matching challenge that boosted fundraising efforts.

Habitat for Humanity International is a global nonprofit with a mission to build affordable housing for families who may not qualify for traditional bank mortgages. Pioneer Valley Habitat operates with four staff members, and Landry said the organization is largely volunteer-driven. 

In past years, the organization built two houses per year, and this year for the first time, it will build four—three in Northampton that Florence Bank is sponsoring and one in Conway. 

As the cost of construction rises in the region and beyond, Landry said the gulf between those who can afford to buy a home and those who can’t is growing, making Habitat’s work even more critical.

“To the extent that we can support people who are ready to be owners of affordable homes, Florence Bank is a partner with us in that. That’s a big influence,” Landry said. “They’re helping us one family at a time—three families this year.”

She noted that homeowners who move into Pioneer Valley Habitat housing become tax-paying residents who build roots and have an impact themselves. “Transformation happens across the Habitat community. It’s about neighbors helping neighbors, and it’s nice when you can think of a bank as a neighbor.”

About Florence Bank

Florence Bank is a mutual 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.

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Event to take place Oct. 24 at the Delaney House in Holyoke

HOLYOKE—The Women’s Business Owners Alliance of the Pioneer Valley (WBOA) will hold its 2019 Business Woman of the Year Celebration on Thursday, Oct. 24 at 5:30 p.m. at the Delaney House in Holyoke. 

Patricia Banas, owner and president of Latka Printing in Westfield, will be named the 2019 Business Woman of the Year, an honor given to a member who has contributed to WBOA in a significant way and is a role model who inspires other women to be successful.  

Also, during this event, the WBOA will recognize its 2019 Outstanding New Members, Lori Novis, owner of Mango Fish Art in Easthampton, and Andrea Kennedy of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Chicopee. 

“Both honorees have shown support to the group and have stepped in to volunteer after only being a member for a short time,” said Carleen Eve Fischer Hoffman, Chair of the event. “We are so thrilled to be honoring all three of these women and the contributions they have given to both WBOA and the community.”  

The celebration will carry a roaring ’20s theme and will include live entertainment provided by Steve and Roxann Bailey. The Baileys will offer a dance demonstration and a dance lesson for attendees to learn about styles from the period.

Banas is a second-generation owner of Latka Printing, a certified woman owned business. Her parents, Joseph and Murielle Banas, bought the business 40 years ago, while Banas was in high school. 

While studying at Westfield State College, Banas learned the print industry. 

Banas enjoys working with government agencies, nonprofits, manufacturers, service industries, small start-ups, and other customers. 

She is a member of WBOA, now based in Springfield, and the National Print Owners Alliance, and she is the treasurer of New England Peer Group. She also sits on the Buy Westfield Now Committee and is a former Westfield Rotarian and past board member. 

Banas lives in Indian Orchard with her husband, Dan, and their daughters Amelia and Danielle. She is an avid reader, enjoys boating, spending time with family, and volunteering in her community.

Novis holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and social work from Clemson University and a master’s in library science from Rutgers University. She worked as a librarian for many years. While living on an island in Puerto Rico in 2010, she launched a Caribbean jewelry line, and was involved in community activism, launching several nonprofits and also fundraising.

She and her husband, Fred Hanselman, owned and managed a year-round guesthouse they called “Mango Fish,” which survived two major hurricanes. 

Novis relocated to Western Massachusetts in 2016, where she worked in a vocational high school before launching a jewelry and gift business called Mango Fish Art. She offers employment and mentoring to women in the region while designing unique handcrafted items. Recently, Novis launched a new division of her business, Proud of U, marketing to educational institutions and sororities.  

Kennedy’s mother, Lynne Andreen, is a Realtor, which inspired Kennedy to enter the industry. She lives in South Hadley with her two children, Jack and Kelly Lynne and is a full-time real estate professional with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage located in Chicopee, serving Hampden and Hampshire counties. 

A portion of the proceeds from WBOA’s event will benefit the WBOA Cheryl Reed Loan Fund, which offers low-interest loans to members for seed money, expansion or other worthy business purposes.

For more information or tickets, go to www.wboa.org or contact Hoffman at (413) 525-7345 or carleen@clutterdoctor.com.

About the WBOA
The Women Business Owners Alliance of the Pioneer Valley (WBOA) was established in 1982 and is an all-volunteer, member-based educational 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting women business owners and professionals in developing and growing their companies. The organization provides monthly and evening events with expert speakers and opportunities for women business owners to connect. For more information about the WBOA, visit www.wboa.org.

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I’ve shared two of the stories I wrote this year for the Springfield Republican’s annual Outlook section on the region’s business and economy. One on Lili Dwight and the fire alarm app she is developing and one on Crooked Stick Pops of Easthampton.

Today’s blog features the third Outlook piece I wrote for editor Cynthia Simison; it’s on River Valley Co-op in Northampton. This market is a hot spot in the Valley, and its growth over the years has been tremendous. My housemate Craig Fear is a steadfast member and shopper, as are many of my friends.

It was a privilege to interview these leaders in the local food industry.

River Valley Co-op

Our Family Farms sold milk at the River Valley Co-op when the store first opened in April 2008, a time when small businesses in the country were struggling as a result of the Great Recession. “One of the owners of the local dairy cooperative came to our 2009 annual meeting,” said Rochelle Prunty, River Valley’s general manager since 2001. “They talked about how the economy hit them so hard.” She teared up with emotion, struggling to add, “But because the co-op opened, that’s what helped them get through it. They were able to keep their farm.”

Prunty is incredibly grateful about this kind of success story and the fact that the natural foods co-op has helped launch—and sustain—many other local farms. The business, which sells local and organic products, celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2018 with various events, including a birthday party in April 2018 and partial sponsorship of Easthampton’s Millpond.Live music series in the summer. 

Since it first incorporated in 1999 and began selling co-op ownership shares at $150 per—the same one-time fee for the privilege today—the co-op has grown to 10,200 owners and 160 employees, over 90 percent of whom are full time. It sees $28 million in annual sales—more than twice what was predicted by its founders. This is no small feat in a competitive market that has suffered from online sales and fierce industry competition.

“In 10 years, we’ve purchased $40 million in local products that have gone into the community,” Prunty said. “We’ve made contributions to local nonprofits every year, totaling over $800,000 in 10 years. It feels like a really symbiotic relationship with the community. Because we’re independent and community owned, we’re able to adapt and evolve as needed with the changing times.”

Prunty, board president Andrea Stanley—also a farmer in Hadley and the owner of Valley Malt—, and Natasha Latour, the co-op’s marketing manager, agree that the co-op’s overwhelming popularity and growth came because it meets the needs of Valley residents. “It’s never about making the sale or making the money,” Prunty said. “The food meets peoples’ needs. Supporting local farmers meets peoples’ values. And in the process, we build community.” 

“We’re set up to sell what people want to buy,” she added. “Corporate supermarkets are set up to sell what big manufacturers want people to buy.”

High volume at the co-op means the parking lot and the aisles are over-crowded. This has Prunty and the board looking to expand in Easthampton on property formerly owned by Fedor Pontiac Oldsmobile on Route 10. The co-op already has 1,700 owners in Easthampton, and the dealership property, sitting on over four acres of buildable land, seems ideal.

Prunty said co-op leaders are looking at the feasibility of building a roughly 20,000-square-foot grocery store, considering financing and building costs. “We’re looking to break ground in July 2019 and open in July 2020,” she said, adding, “This is not yet a done deal. We expect to finalize our plans, fundraising, and secure financing for a final decision by June of 2019.”

She said the projection is that the second location could bring in about $14 million in annual sales. “Easthampton is a community that supports local entrepreneurs. It’s incubating lots of different kinds of local businesses,” Prunty said. “That kind of thinking, and that kind of spirit has good synergy with what we do, and it feels like a good match.”

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Event scheduled for March 5 at Look Memorial Park

FLORENCE—Fifty-five nonprofit organizations in the Pioneer Valley will receive a check from Florence Bank on Tuesday, March 5 at the 17th annual Customers’ Choice Community Grants awards ceremony at the Garden House at Look Park from 5 to 7 p.m.

Florence Bank president and CEO John Heaps Jr. will hand out the checks, marking $1.1 million in terms of grants the bank has made to community nonprofits over almost two decades.

“We are a committed community partner, and we love this annual event, which offers us the chance to invest in organizations that benefit our employees, customers, neighbors, families and friends,” Heaps said.

The Customers’ Choice Community Grants Program is an annual offering founded in 2002, through which Florence Bank customers are invited to vote for their favorite local nonprofit in hopes it will receive a share of grant funding.

To qualify for a community grant, organizations must receive at least 50 votes. Ten organizations that received between 40 and 49 votes were also invited to attend the event this year to be in a drawing for one additional $500 award.

This year, these organizations will receive funds for the first time: It Takes a Village in Cummington; Children First Enterprises, Inc. of Granby; Friends of Northampton Legion; Smith Vocational High School Parent Teacher Organization of Northampton; Belchertown Public Schools; Historic Northampton; Northampton Neighbors; and Cub Scout Pack 705 of Chesterfield.

Additionally, these other organizations will receive an award at the event: Dakin Humane Society; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County; Friends of Forbes Library; Friends of Lilly Library; Cancer Connection; Northampton Survival Center; Amherst Survival Center; Food Bank of Western Massachusetts; Friends of the Williamsburg Library; Our Lady of the Hills Parish; New Hingham Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization; Northampton High School Parent Teacher Organization; Edward Hopkins Educational Foundation; Easthampton Elementary Schools Parent Teacher Organization; BARC, Inc.; Belchertown K-9; Friends of Hilltown Cooperative Charter School; Granby Senior Center; Grow Food Northampton; Safe Passage; Belchertown Firefighters Association; Friends of Clapp Library; Jackson Street School Parent Teacher Organization; Northampton Senior Center; R.K. Finn Ryan Road School; Williamsburg Firefighter Association; Leeds Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization; Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School; Bright Spot Therapy Dogs; Northampton Community Music Center; Easthampton Dollars for Scholars; Friends of Northampton Legion; Tapestry Health Systems; Children First Enterprises, Inc.; Whole Children; Friends of M.N. Spear Memorial Library; Riverside Industries, Inc.; Kestrel Land Trust; Friends of Amherst Senior Center; Smith Vocational High School Parent Teacher Organization; Hitchcock Center for the Environment; Cooley Dickinson Hospital; Easthampton Community Center; Belchertown Public Schools; Historic Northampton; It Takes A Village; Northampton Neighbors; Pelham Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization; John F. Kennedy Middle School; Hospice of the Fisher Home; Cub Scout Pack 705; Emily Williston Library; Granby Free Public Library; Amherst Regional Public Schools; and Manna Soup Kitchen.

The Customers’ Choice Community Grants program is a year-long initiative. Customers’ of the bank can vote via paper ballots at each bank branch location or online at https://www.florencebank.com/vote.

Florence Bank has branches in Amherst, Belchertown, Easthampton, Granby, Hadley, Northampton, Williamsburg, West Springfield, and Springfield, and it is headquartered in Florence.

Florence Bank is a mutually-owned savings bank chartered in 1873. Currently, the bank serves the Pioneer Valley through 11 full-service branch locations in Florence, Northampton, Easthampton, Williamsburg, Amherst, Hadley, Belchertown, Granby, West Springfield and a new branch located on Allen Street in Springfield. Additionally, they offer 28 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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NORTHAMPTON—A fundraising workshop for the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life of the Pioneer Valley will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on March 14 at the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish Hall, 10 Hawley St., Northampton.

Lite refreshments will be served and all are welcome to attend this fundraising event, which will offer information and resources to all Relay volunteers in the Valley. Members of new teams, first-time team captains and others who attend will learn some of the easiest and fun fundraisers they and their teammates can do to help them reach their goals for the 2018 Relay For Life season.

They will also be able to connect with vendors who are willing to help Relay teams raise money for the Relay For Life Movement. Vendor meet-and-greets will begin at 6 p.m. The session itself starts at 6:30 p.m., and the round tables and vendor one-on-ones will follow.

For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/hampshirRFL/.

For more information, contact Tom McCusker at tmccusker@swgao.com.

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Event scheduled for March 21 at Look Memorial Park

FLORENCE—When Florence Bank presents the awards in its 16th annual Customers’ Choice Community Grants Program this year at an event slated for March 21, it will reach the $1.05 million mark in terms of grants made to community nonprofits over almost two decades.

Thanks to the 10,111 votes that were cast in 2017, 57 organizations from across the Valley will receive the funds. Representatives from those nonprofits will be present at the Garden House at Look Park from 5 to 7 p.m. to accept the grants, view photographs and displays from previous Customers’ Choice events and sample hors d’oeuvres by Seth Mias Catering.

Until the grants are announced that evening in a celebratory manner, complete with Champagne to toast the million-dollar-milestone, nonprofit leaders will not know the amount of the grants they will receive.

“We are pleased to reach this tremendous marker of giving in the Pioneer Valley,” said Florence Bank President and CEO John Heaps Jr. “We are honored to be able to invest in these organizations that benefit our employees, customers, neighbors, families and friends.”

This year, funds will bolster such initiatives as staff mentoring of new volunteers for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County, based in Amherst, so that 200 children on the organization’s wait list might be paired with a role model.

“I feel incredibly honored to be a part of the Customers’ Choice Community Grants initiative,” said Jessie Cooley, director of Big Brothers Big Sisters, noting that the bank has provided her organization with roughly $9,200 in funding since 2014. “Florence Bank is a great partner with us. This is a cool, community-based effort.”

Aline Gubrium, secretary of the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) at Pelham Elementary School, is likewise grateful that the PTO will receive a grant this year. “For a small school, with one class per grade, we face a tight budget,” she said.

The school is very community-focused, and funding from the bank will be used to support family events offered each month throughout the year as well as gifts that are made each holiday season to families in need, she said.

“The support that we get from Florence Bank really helps to boost the ongoing efforts to keep these events going,” Gubrium added.

The Customers’ Choice Community Grants Program is an annual offering founded in 2002, through which Florence Bank customers are invited to vote for their favorite local nonprofit in hopes it will receive a share of grant funding. In its early years, awards of $50,000, and later, $75,000, were offered each year by the bank; in more recent years, $100,000 in grants have been disbursed each spring.

To qualify for a community grant, organizations must receive at least 50 votes. For the first time this year, eight organizations that received between 40 and 49 votes will be invited to attend the event and be in a drawing for one additional $500 award.

This year, in addition to the Pelham Elementary School PTO and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County, there are 55 additional grant recipients. They are: Dakin Humane Society, Friends of Forbes Library, Friends of Williamsburg Regional Library, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, Cancer Connection, Northampton Survival Center, Amherst Survival Center, Friends of Lilly Library, Easthampton Elementary Schools PTO, Jackson Street School PTO, New Hingham Regional Elementary School PTO, BARC, Inc., Northampton Senior Center, Northampton High School PTO, Emily Williston Memorial Library, Hospice of the Fisher Home, RK Finn Ryan Road School, Safe Passage, Friends of Hilltown Cooperative Charter Public School, Belchertown Day School, The Edward Hopkins Educational Foundation, The Friends of Clapp Library, Amherst Regional Public Schools Parent Guardian Organization, Kestrel Land Trust, Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School, Grow Food Northampton, Williamsburg Firefighters Association, Friends of the Amherst Senior Center, Tapestry Health Systems, Inc., Friends of M.N. Spear Memorial Library, Cooley Dickinson VNA & Hospice, Leeds Elementary School PTO, Hampshire Regional High School, Easthampton Community Center, The Hartsbrook School, Northampton Community Music Center, Easthampton Band Boosters, Northampton Community Rowing, Hitchcock Center for the Environment, ServiceNet, The Belchertown Police K-9 Unit, Hilltown Community Health Centers, Whole Children, Bright Spot Therapy Dogs, Bridge Street School PTO, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, John F. Kennedy Middle School PTO, Mass Audubon Connecticut River Sanctuaries, Our Lady of the Hills Parish, CISA, Belchertown Firefighters Association, MANNA Soup Kitchen, Inc., Center for Women & Community at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Center for New Americans and Granby Senior Center.

Cooley, of Big Brothers Big Sisters, said her organization serves about 180 young people each year. While there are about 200 children on the wait list, there are no funds available to train the mentors who might pair with them.

“It’s very important for us to have funding and support from our local businesses and our community members. We really rely on that,” Cooley said, noting that she was recently notified that community block grant funding has been lost for this year.

“It takes quite a bit of funding to create and support a new mentoring match,” Cooley added. We need to recruit new mentors and conduct interviews and screenings with families and children so that we can make thoughtful matches and provide appropriate supervision. All of that takes a significant amount of staff time.”

The Customers’ Choice Community Grants program is a year-long initiative. Customers’ of the bank can vote via paper ballots at each bank branch location or online at https://www.florencebank.com/vote.

Florence Bank has branches in Amherst, Belchertown, Easthampton, Granby, Hadley, Northampton, Williamsburg and West Springfield, and it is headquartered in Florence.

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The livery business began when Gary Bosselait and his sister Valerie bought a van and a telephone answering machine in 1986 and started taking reservations for and delivering passengers to area airports and train depots, including Bradley International Airport, Logan and JFK.

Now, Valley Transporter employs more than 40 staff members, including reservationists, round-the-clock dispatchers and drivers, and it holds to a commitment of diversity.

“Our fleet is clean and well-maintained,” Bosselait said. “It has achieved an economy of scale that allows it to provide affordable 24-hour local transport on demand, and charters are a growing part of the business.

“Valley Transporter has taken its place in the local economy by making airports readily accessible,” added Bosselait. “We not only provide a service, but we help stimulate commerce by being a trusted part of the regional transit network.”

Passengers who travel with Valley Transporter include college students, vacationers, business travelers, groups and individuals coming to the region for events and conferences, and people in need of a ride to and from medical appointments.

Valley Transporter provides hourly shared rides from Northampton, Amherst, Springfield, Greenfield and other towns and cities along the I-91 corridor to Bradley, most for under $60, including tip. With 10 fuel-efficient minivans and 10 larger vans, the Amherst-based company takes reservations by phone, email and online at www.valleytransporter.com

Bosselait said that Valley Transporter has weathered setbacks that included the virtual standstill in travel in the months after 9/11, which would have put it out of business without the help of its bankers. “We are proud that slow and steady growth has made us a stable and reliable part of the expanding livery sector in western Massachusetts,” he said.

A Worcester County native with family roots in the travel industry, Bosselait is committed to keeping Valley Transporter a responsive, energetic and professional enterprise into its fourth decade.

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The goal of Levellers Press, which is primarily run by Steve, a 65-year-old Northampton resident, is to give opportunity and support to local authors, which is why Levellers and the worker-owned Collective Copies also created the Off the Common Books imprint, giving authors the option to self-publish.

Janice’s book, Divine Renovations, a memoir about her late husband, was published by Off the Common Books several years ago, and Janice often turns to Steve for support with client book projects. Steve, Levellers and Collective Copies are important Beetle Press partners.

When a manuscript is selected for publishing through either Levellers of Off the Common Books, authors can also opt to hire Levellers staff to take on the layout, design and early stages of marketing on their behalf, in addition to printing.

In the Collective Copies and Levellers shops, in Northampton and Amherst respectively, many of Levellers and Off the Common Books titles are available for sale, and most books are now available in Kindle, Nook, and Google Play digital versions.

Once the “start-up costs” have been recouped, Levellers Press and its authors share the surplus on each book 50/50. Thanks to the authors’ local reputations and network of friends and family, a Levellers’ title can break even within the first few months, Steve says.

Still, Steve says Levellers’ methods are a bit unconventional as it has no national distributor due to the small-batch printing technique; books are printed on demand, between 25 and 200 at a time, based on need, making it difficult, cost-wise, to distribute on a larger scale.

To date, Levellers has published 60 books—and of those, only two are from outside of Western Mass—and Steve plays a large role in the manuscripts that are chosen. Some of the biggest selling titles are The Curse by Robert H. Steele, The Wealth of the Commons: A World Beyond Market and State, and Slavery in the Connecticut Valley of Massachusetts, by Robert Romer. Romer’s title was the first title released by Levellers.

The name of the press derives from the Levellers in England who, during the period of Cromwell’s England, fought for extended suffrage and equal rights under the law.

Steve has been in the publishing industry for a long time, starting off at the Daily Hampshire Gazette in 1973 as a “pre-press guy.” He learned a great deal about the printing process and eventually started the worker-cooperative Common Wealth Printing in 1977. In 1997, he needed a change and became more interested in digital printing, joining Collective Copies, a worker-owned collective.

Levellers continues to branch out and grow; it is in the process of creating two new imprints at the moment. For poetry, Hedgerow Books is taking off with approximately one or two manuscripts per year. Thornapple Books is taking submissions from all across the country on the hunt for the next great American novel.

For more information, visit Levellers Press online!

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Moving to Northampton from Hudson, New York, Ruderman specializes in teaching caregivers, bodyworkers and empaths—people who are highly sensitive to the world around them.

“Learning reiki as a self-care technique can reduce the anxiety and stress from working and caring for others,” Ruderman said.

She offers a unique style of learning, which is known as “slow reiki,” through which students take the course over a month-long period, as opposed to an afternoon or weekend workshop. This develops a deeper understanding of the practice and integrates the new skill in a practical way.

Ruderman also sees private clients and practices out of CLINIC Alternative Medicines at 98 Main St., Northampton. She follows the Tibetan Usui reiki tradition.

Ruderman trained in New York City for the two reiki certificates she holds from reiki master Nana Delaplanque. She received her master training in New York state with William Rand, an internationally known reiki master and historian. She has worked at various colleges, including Bard College and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and for private clients at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany, N.Y.
Her next introductory reiki class, which includes certification, will begin March 15. For more information or to register, visit www.CarolineRudermanReiki.com.

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