Your Source For Things To Do, News, Sports, Arts, Business in Litchfield County - Litchfield BZ

Brierwood Nurseries opens new venue

Brierwood Nurseries opened a new retail greenhouse in Bantam. This is an expansion to a second location with the original nursery located at 85 Thomaston Rd. (Rt. 109) in Morris.

The new location at 815 Bantam Rd. (intersection of Rt. 202 & Rt. 209) will be open from 9:00 am until 6:00 pm daily. More information is available at brierwoodnurseries.com and 860-567-4053.

Roses for Veterans

The men and women that serve our country spend months or years away from loved ones, friends and family.

Unfortunately, too many of them never return home to their families. We come together on Memorial Day to remember them, their sacrifice, and recognize those who have been left behind to carry on without them.

The Memorial Day Flowers Foundation works with the Arlington National Cemetery and florists from all across the country and many other national/veteran cemeteries.

This year “Flowers of Distinction” in Litchfield will be participating in this nationwide program. They will donate a rose to those in the Litchfield, Bantam and Morris areas who wish to place a flower on a veteran's grave.

To reserve your rose please call Robin or Leslie at 860-567-4878.

Flowers of Distinction, 28 Russell St, Litchfield

Litchfield Bancorp opens new Watertown branch

Litchfield Bancorp's new branch office in Watertown is open for business at the corner of Straits Turnpike and Main Street and is being staffed by the same reliable employees who provided full-service banking at the previous branch in Oakville.

Located at 51 Straits Turnpike, next to Carvel, the new building features spacious facilities that will make banking easy and convenient. The branch features a new interior design, including colorful custom wall treatments created specifically to coordinate with the bank’s marketing themes.

"Fifteen years ago we were proud to bring full-service banking to Oakville. We’ve grown a lot since then," President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Villanova said. "We're really excited to expand into this beautiful new building and continue our progress."

Relocation of the branch from Oakville to Watertown was precipitated by the construction of a new CVS on the corner of Davis Street and Main Street in Oakville, leading the bank to seek a new location. Branch manager Deb Telman and her staff moved into the building shortly after its completion in the beginning of May and in the new environment are taking even greater pride in servicing their customers. "Our customers will recognize the same friendly faces and will be able to take advantage of some new products and loan offers," Telman said.

Litchfield Bancorp is a mutual savings bank with assets of $210 million offering full service offices in Litchfield, Torrington, Watertown, Washington and Lakeville. To find out why Every Customer Counts, go to LitchfieldBancorp.com or call 860-567-9401.

Union Savings Bank introduces

new identity theft protection service

Union Savings Bank, in its continuing effort to safeguard customer information, is pleased to announce they have partnered with an industry leader in proactive identity theft protection. The Bank introduced LifeLock, Inc.’s identity theft protection services in late April.

"At Union Savings Bank protecting our customers’ personal information is our top priority,” said Fran Dattalo, president and CEO. “By partnering with LifeLock we are able to provide what we believe to be the best possible service to defend against identity theft with 24/7 protection. Our customers deserve to have peace of mind knowing their identities are protected and that is exactly what this exciting partnership offers."

LifeLock membership will provide Union Savings Bank customers with additional layers of identity theft protection through relentless identity monitoring and comprehensive recovery services. Identity theft is not only costly, but in the hands of a thief, personal information such as a name, address, Social Security number and date of birth can be used to open new lines of credit, drain savings accounts or even provide an alias when arrested.

Customers will have the opportunity to enroll in LifeLock protection at a reduced rate and set up convenient automatic payment from their Union Savings Bank checking account.

“With identity theft being one of the fastest growing crimes in the United States, we know how important it is to offer our customers an additional level of protection, said Matt Wilcox, Union Savings Bank vice president, eMarketing specialist. “Through our partnership with Lifelock, we are able to further educate our customers about the threat of identity theft and how they can be protected before any damage is done.” For more information, please visit unionsavings.com, and connect with the bank on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Union Savings Bank Promotes Three

Names senior vice president and two vice presidents

Union Savings Bank president and CEO Fran Dattalo is pleased to announce the promotions of Deborah Jacobson to senior vice president, compliance and risk management, Matthew Wilcox to vice president, eMarketing specialist and Karen Farrenkopf to vice president, hiring and retention manager.

“Deb, Matt and Karen’s promotions are a reflection of their extensive job experience, performance accountabilities and dedication,” said Dattalo. “Union Savings Bank is fortunate to have such accomplished professionals.”

In her new position of senior vice president, Jacobson will work to ensure the Bank complies with all relevant state and federal laws and regulations through the execution of a bank-wide management program. She is responsible for understanding and applying new laws and regulations, monitoring their implementation and ensuring appropriate staff are trained, in addition to risk management functions and providing counsel for regulatory matters.

Deb Jacobson

Prior to joining Union Savings Bank in 2010, Jacobson served as compliance officer at The First National Bank of Litchfield. Previously, she served as senior vice president, risk management, compliance operations at Webster Financial Corporation in Waterbury; chief administrative officer, private client services at IBJ Schroder Bank and Trust in New York City; and senior services manager, dividend reinvestment at Citicorp Capital Markets, Inc. also in New York. Jacobson received her bachelor’s degree in English from UCONN. She is also a graduate of the American Bankers Association National Regulatory Compliance School. Jacobson resides in Goshen, where she is a member of the Friends of the Goshen Library.

Wilcox began with Union Savings Bank as assistant vice president, eMarketing specialist in 2011. As vice president, he will be responsible for coordinating, creating and implementing all electronic marketing functions of the Bank, including the Bank’s web site, social media platforms, email campaigns, newsletter distribution, in-branch video system and ATM screen communications. Additionally, he is responsible for the development and management of a variety of electronic marketing products and services.

Prior to joining the Bank, Wilcox was director of strategic marketing and business development at Affinion Group in Stamford. A resident of Fairfield, he obtained his bachelor’s degree in business management form Fairfield University. He is a volunteer basketball coach at Wakeman’s Boys and Girls Club and a team member of the St. Baldricks Foundation, an organization committed to supporting promising research to find cures for childhood cancers.

Farrenkopf started her career at Union Savings Bank in 2004 as human resources senior administrative assistant and held positions of senior payroll specialist, human resources officer and most recently assistant vice president of hiring and retention. In her new role as vice president, her main responsibility will be sourcing, screening and negotiating all offers of employment on behalf of the Bank, for both internal and external hires.

Prior to joining the Bank, Farrenkopf was service supervisor at MetLife and Health and responsible for accounts payable and human resources at Dental Associates. She received her associate’s degree from S.U.N.Y Farmingdale and completed the University of Wisconsin’s Graduate School of Banking Human Resouces Management School as well as the Leadership Danbury program sponsored by the Greater Danbury Chamber of Commerce. A resident of Bethel, Farrenkopf is assistant treasurer of the Stony Hill Volunteer Fire Dept. For more information, please visit unionsavings.com, and connect with the bank on LinkedIn and Facebook.

Sportsmen's of Litchfield was transformed into an art gallery on Saturday, April 27th as an exhibit by Litchfield native Kerry McDevitt opened with a well-attended reception.

It's the first exhibit by Sportsmen's at its new location in Bantam and will run for about a month. Sportsmen's owners Jay and Jen Cherosnick decided to feature an art exhibit as part of their effort to lure a diverse array of events to the store, events that have included yoga classes and a Litchfield Hills Road Race T-shirt unveiling.

McDevitt, a kindergarten teacher at the Sherman School, painted a mural for the new Sportsmen's when it opened at the Bantam location last year. She has been an artist and art teacher for years and has exhibited at the Oliver Wolcott Library and the former Talbots store.

Career Panels at LHS

Local business owners and community volunteers shared their career backgrounds and experiences with tenth grade students at Litchfield High School on Friday, March 22nd. There were six different career clusters represented including 1) Industrial & Engineering Technology, 2) Human Services, 3) Natural Resources and Agriculture, 4) Business Management & Technology, 5) Arts & Communication, and 6) Health Services.

The members of the panels each provided a brief introduction about their background and experiences and then answered student questions.

The career panels were organized by Carrie Gibbs, a guidance counselor and the school-to-career coordinator at Litchfield High School. Special thanks to Vicki Minervino for taking photos for Litchfield.bz

Morningstar is available 24/7

at the Oliver Wolcott Library

Everything you love about Morningstar investments is now at the Oliver Wolcott Library and from home! Whether you are a seasoned user or new to market investments, Morningstar online has all the tools you need to make informed investment decisions and more.

At the Oliver Wolcott Library, free access to Morningstar’s real-time analysis on thousands of investments, mutual funds, stocks, and EFT’s are available to everyone on the OWL’s public computers, and available 24/7 from home by OWL card holders!

Morningstar online offers a plethora of investment tools and resources for beginners and experts. Morningstar’s easy-to-use interface provides a glossary of terms, tutorials, articles and videos, portfolio management tools, and independent analysis research help you to understand your investment options to successfully manage your portfolio.

To access from home, visit the Library’s website at www.owlibrary.org and click on the Morningstar quick link located on the home page. Be sure to have your OWL card ready. To access at the Library, visit the Library located at 160 South Street in Litchfield. The OWL is open 7 days a week including three nights until 9 PM. For more information, stop by the OWL or call 860-567-8030.

“Women's Enterprise Initiative” supports small businesses

The Women's Enterprise Initiative is dedicated to building new and existing small businesses in Northwestern Connecticut.

Mission: “The Women’s Enterprise Initiative is a new not-for-profit organization whose mission is to support start-up entrepreneurs in Northwestern Connecticut by providing them with advice and mentoring from proven successful businesswomen.”

Local founders of businesses will be able to draw upon the broad experience and skills of WEI's volunteers to help problem solve and enhance their chances of success.We come from diverse business backgrounds and can offer our clients, whatever size of their enterprise, tailored solutions to meet their needs. continued