Business Monday ETC: Nov. 18, 2024

Fast Company has selected Excel Dryer Inc. in East Longmeadow for the 2024 100 Best Workplaces for Innovators list, ranking the manufacturer at number 40 among 100 companies that foster a culture of innovation and creativity in their workplaces worldwide. Excel Dryer was also selected as one of 10 finalists in the BWFI category of General Excellence.

BWFI honorees are selected from across industries, chosen for their investment in employees and a workplace that encourages experimentation and forward thinking. The General Excellence category, new in 2024, recognizes companies that have established strong innovation cultures.

Examples of recent initiatives at Excel Dryer include: Renovation of the company’s global headquarters, guided by the WELL (IWBI) Standards with an emphasis on biophilic design, physical and mental well-being, and sustainability; Integration of collaborative ‘Cobots’ (robotics) into the manufacturing process, enhancing workplace efficiency; department-wide adoption of Cascading Goals and Levels of Excellence principles, providing a structured approach to facilitating communication, encouraging engagement and aligning goals.

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Owners Ron Perry and Nick Shaink of PDC Inc., a wall and ceiling contractor headquartered in Springfield, visited The Gray House to present the agency with a $50,000 donation in support of its mission.

The Gray House is a neighborhood human service nonprofit in Springfield.

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The Children’s Trust awarded the Holyoke Healthy Families program the Community Award at its annual Celebration Day. The award is given annually to a program that conducts creative and consistent outreach to ensure that it is reaching its target population and community partners, and leverages resources to enhance services to families.

Holyoke Healthy Families is a home-based family support and coaching program that supports young, first-time parents and helps them create stable, nurturing environments for their children, reducing incidents of abuse and neglect. The program matches parents with trained professionals who visit families’ homes to provide support during pregnancy and the child’s first three years of life. Home visitors teach parents about proper baby care, promote nurturing and attachment, practice effective parenting skills, and ensure parents have a solid understanding of healthy child development. They also counsel parents on achieving personal goals such as going back to school or securing a job.

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Monson Savings Bank is inviting the public to submit their votes for the bank’s 2025 Community Giving Initiative.

Each year, the bank encourages the public to vote for the nonprofit charitable organizations they would like the bank to support during the coming year. Everyone is welcome to cast their vote online on the bank’s website. Cast your vote at www.monsonsavings.bank/CGI.

Voters may provide the name of one nonprofit organization they would like the bank to donate to in 2025. The only requirements are that the organizations be designated a non-profit and that the organizations provide services within the bank’s geography. The bank allows each person to vote once. Monson Savings Bank pledges to support the top 10 organizations that receive the highest number of votes. The top 10 vote recipients will be announced by mid-January.

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The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts announces a new partnership with Berkshire Bounty, a food rescue organization located in Great Barrington. The collaboration will enhance the effort to recover and distribute fresh, nutritious food to individuals and families.

Berkshire Bounty is a volunteer-driven organization that collects food from 25 local retailers and delivers it to 31 food access sites across Berkshire County. With a network of 130 registered volunteers, Berkshire Bounty is on track to collect an estimated 450,000 pounds of food in 2024. Forty percent of this food is purchased to meet the needs of the community, including eggs, meat, fresh produce, dairy and culturally appropriate foods.

In the spring of 2024, Berkshire Bounty and FBWMA signed a memorandum of understanding to formalize their collaboration. Through this partnership, Berkshire Bounty volunteers are now transporting donated food from grocery stores directly to FBWMA member agencies, ensuring that food reaches food pantries and community kitchens four days a week. Since the beginning of the partnership, which started as a pilot program in January 2024, nearly 50,000 pounds of food, valued at $90,000, have been collected and distributed.

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Florence Bank has supported the Mental Health Association’s 26th annual Wellness Classic Golf Tournament with a $5,000 sponsorship.

Founded in the 1960s and formerly based in Springfield, the Mental Health Association is now located in Chicopee and is a pioneer in community-based support for those living with mental illness, homelessness, intellectual disabilities, brain injuries and substance use.

The organization offers over 60 residential programs in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties and operates these four divisions, each serving a different segment of need: Recovery and Housing, supporting people with substance use disorders or a mental health diagnosis, and people experiencing chronic homelessness; New Way Services, for those who have experienced a brain injury; Integration and Community Living, serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities; and Bestlife Emotional Health and Wellness, an outpatient behavioral health clinic based in Springfield.

The Mental Health Association serves about 3,500 to 3,800 people each year, and its annual golf classic was held Sept. 27 at Crestview Country Club in Agawam; it typically raises roughly $100,000.

Florence Bank is a long-term supporter of the Mental Health Association and has been the organization’s banking partner for about 10 years.

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The Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield (YPS) will hold their Third Annual Friendsgiving on Thursday, Nov. 21, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm, at 52 Sumner located at 52 Sumner Ave, Springfield.

Springfield YPS aims to support members and non-members in exchanging ideas, sharing common interests, and cultivating membership to serve as the Pioneer Valley’s leaders of tomorrow. They aim to elevate the level of each members’ craft by enriching their experience through programs and networking events; this month is filled with an exciting lineup of events that were thoughtfully planned out.