Business briefs
WORKSHOPS
SCORE free webinar “Is Being a Virtual Assistant for You?,” presented by Belinda Sandor Wednesday, Jan. 11, noon-1:30 p.m., Zoom. For more information, contact Anne Driscoll at anne.driscoll@scorevolunteer.org.
HONORS
Hilton Mystic hotel owner/operator Lou Carrier has received the Innovator Award by New England Inns and Resorts Association, which represents over 300 of resorts, hotels, and inns in New England.
Presented at a gala during NEIRA’s annual conference hosted at the Omni Mount Washington Resort in Bretton Woods, N.H., the award recognized Carrier’s Mission Elevate program implemented at his company’s full-service Hilton hotels, including the Hilton Mystic and the Madison Beach Hotel in Madison.
Carrier is president of Distinctive Hospitality Group, an ownership and management company that owns and operates hotels and restaurants in New England.
GIVING
Ocean State Job Lot recently made a donation of more than 1,600 ability-inclusive dolls to veterans organizations, military hospitals and medical nonprofits, including Disabled American Veterans agencies in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation in Rhode Island, the Veteran Oasis Center at Bridgeport University in Bridgeport, Conn.; Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
The dolls, manufactured by Sew Dolling in East Greenwich, R.I., were created by Susan and Don Svendsen to teach disability awareness and inclusivity, and to help children and individuals with special needs cope and adapt to the changing world around them. An additional 720 bdolls will be distributed through a partnership with the USA Veterans and Military Support Foundation during the holidays to veterans and active-duty military families.
The Jewett City Savings Bank Foundation has awarded $12,450 in grants to local health care and social services organizations. The foundation awarded $1,000 grants to Day Kimball Hospital, $3,700 to Northeast Placement Services, $2,000 to Thames Valley Council for Community Action, and $1,000 to the Town of Plainfield.
Grants totaling $3,750 in recognition of Jewett City Savings Bank’s former President and CEO Kevin Merchant were also awarded to the Shriners Hospital for Children, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Connecticut Humane Society, Griswold PRIDE and the Living Faith United Methodist Church in Putnam.
The foundation also has awarded $11,000 in grants to support local libraries.
Slater Library in Jewett City was awarded an $8,000 grant and a $1,000 grant, Aldrich Free Public Library in Moosup received $1,500 and Voluntown Public Library received a $500 grant.