Awards, Grants, and Recognition

• Girl Scouts of Connecticut’s CEO Mary Barneby of Madison recently received the Woman of Power Award by the Urban League of Southern at the 2015 Women’s Empowerment Summit. The award honors individuals and organizations that make a vital contribution to life in their region with a commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Business and Organization Updates

• After four years in Branford town center, Totally Awesome Goods, LLC will be moving to downtown Madison. The new location will provide the retail business, which sells an eclectic mix of unique gifts, jewelry and home decor, the additional space needed to handle their rapid growth which has seen their sales double since they first opened. The new location will be in the heart of downtown Madison at 724 Boston Post Road and will provide a large back room for shipping, receiving, and inventory and additional space for a creative studio, office, and private dressing room. The move is scheduled for February of next year with the Branford location remaining open through the end of January.

• Madison resident Dr. Gerard J. Kerins, associate clinical professor of medicine, associate chief of geriatrics for education, and geriatric medicine fellowship program director at the Yale School of Medicine, has been reappointed to serve on the 21-volunteer member board of Connecticut’s Legislative Commission on Aging by J. Brendan Sharkey, (D)–Hamden, speaker of the House of Representatives. He was also recently elected by his fellow board members to serve on the executive committee. Dr. Kerins was first appointed to the board of the non-partisan, public policy and research office in 2005. Since that time, the Commission’s legislative charge has grown as has the 65-plus population, by a projected 57 percent increase by the year 2040. His clinical areas of interest and research include Alzheimer’s disease and the care of older adults with developmental disabilities. He is a consultant to the state Department of Developmental Services, and serves on the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board of the Alzheimer’s Association Connecticut Chapter.