• United Technologies Research Center, the central research and innovation arm of United Technologies Corp., has achieved the first flight of a hydrogen/air fuel cell-powered rotorcraft. The successful technology demonstration used a commercially available remote-controlled electric helicopter modified to incorporate a custom Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cell power plant. The duration of the fuel cell-powered flight was approximately 20 minutes. The team plans to demonstrate longer flight durations in the future.
• The Seabury Meadows Memory Support Center in Bloomfield is collaborating with the New England Cognitive Center (NECC), a Hartford-based nonprofit that specializes in developing cognitive fitness programs for older adults. This collaboration means that Meadows’ residents have begun participating in NECC’s mental workouts designed specifically for people with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. NECC recently received generous gifts from June Davidson Ardizzone, Seabury resident and from the Worth and Louise Loomis Foundation Fund through the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. The Ardizzone gift is helping to underwrite some of NECC’s cognitive classes at Seabury Meadows.
• The Connecticut Power and Energy Society (CPES) and the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) have donated $500 to nonprofit Operation Fuel. The donation was announced at the 10th annual “What’s the Deal?” business energy conference, which was sponsored by CBIA and CPES. Operation Fuel’s Executive Director Patricia Wrice said the donation comes at a critical time. She added that Operation Fuel already has received a significant number of calls from families and elderly residents who will need energy assistance this heating season. Last winter, Operation Fuel gave out an unprecedented $6.5 million in emergency energy assistance to over 14,000 households throughout Connecticut.
• The Trinity Club of Hartford honored Henry M. Zachs as its 2009 Person of the Year at their 50th Annual Banquet at Hamlin Hall on the Trinity campus. A resident of Farmington, Zachs is a successful entrepreneur in several areas of communications including paging, cellular, wireless cable, and the Internet. He is the president of Zafa Towers and chief executive officer of Message Center Management. His community involvement has included serving as president of the Greater Hartford Jewish Federation, and as a director of the United Way.
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