Brattleboro Memorial Hospital held its First Annual Vermont Handmade Decorated Wreath Challenge today. While hospital employees will be vying for the grand prize of a catered luncheon, other winners will include local farmers and underserved families in the community.

The Vermont State Colleges (VSC) Board of Trustees announced Thursday that the Community College of Vermont’s Winooski academic center would be renamed the Tim Donovan Academic Center to honor VSC Chancellor Tim Donovan.

Donovan has served the VSC with distinction for 38 years and in varying positions. He will retire at the end of this month.

Donovan’s career included eight years as president of the Community College of Vermont and five years as the seventh chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges.

The People’s United Community Foundation, the philanthropic arm of People’s United Bank, announced today that it has awarded $5,000 to Life Bridge, Inc.

Life Bridge, Inc., was started in 2004 as a teen mentoring organization. Together with full-time staff and numerous volunteers, their goal is to facilitate one-to-one mentoring relationships between students and healthy adults resulting in positive life changes.

The Automaster announced that sales consultants Spencer Campbell and Zack Philbrook , have been recognized and certified by Mercedes-Benz as product concierges.

The concierge program was introduced to dealers in May at the brand’s annual dealer meetings at the Mercedes-Benz factory in Vance, AL, near Tuscon.

For the past 2 ½ years, Sweet Simone’s has been Waitsfield's favorite bakery for the freshest, delectable pastries, cakes, pies, fresh bagels, and seasonal baked goods all made from scratch (The New York Times even wrote about their amazing coconut cake!). And now they are poised to become Richmond’s new hot spot. “We always use the best quality, local and organic products whenever possible”, said SWEET SIMONE’S owner, Lisa Curtis.