By Andrea Harwood Palmer
A new holistic healing and educational organization called At Sanctuary has opened in Saratoga Springs.
Gabrielle Maryland is a shamanic practitioner. She runs the organization with Sera Rose, a shaman and friend. The organization opened for business in October and is completely virtual during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We had a really great reception at our launch,” said Maryland.
Maryland and Rose met in the summer of 2018 at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies in Rhinebeck, New York.
“[Rose] was a wellness practitioner and I was milling around the bookstore, going about my business. She gave me a read, and it was an amazing experience. It changed my life. From that point on, we were best friends,” said Maryland.
A read is performed after an ethics speech detailing how a practitioner works with both the client and spirit to receive messages and communicate them to the client.
Upcoming workshops available are Past Life & Soul Agreement, Crystal Energy Healing and Being a Spiritual Translator Level 1. The organization also hosts numerous pop up virtual events.
Air Pro Solutions Sells, Installs, Services Air Filters To Businesses Throughout The Region
©2021 SaratogaPhotographer.com
By Jill Nagy
“We’re breathing in a lot of stuff in the air that we cannot see,” said Patrick Schmidt, vice president of sales at Air Pro Solutions, a new business selling, installing and servicing air filtration systems.
When he and other member of his sales staff visit a potential customer, they bring along an air quality meter that can measure that “stuff in the air” and then show it disappearing as one of the company’s Air Box filters goes to work.
Air Pro, located at 229 Washington St. in Saratoga Springs, services an area including Saratoga and Albany counties, the Glens Falls area and the North Country. They are independent dealers for Air Box units manufactured in the Carolinas. Currently, the company employs three sales people and two service people.
When businesses and other institutions prepare to reopen, they usually begin by stocking masks, plastic shields, hand sanitizers, antiseptic wipes and similar equipment.
“The air piece of it,” he said, “is the last one usually” and arguably the most important.
Air Pro sells portable, stand-alone units about the size of a dehumidifier. There is also a model in a cabinet that fits into the wall.
They filter in three stages: an activated carbon filter removes odors; an anti-microbial filter removes the larger particles; the final filter, a HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filter, can remove particles as small as viruses, including COVID viruses. The first two filters have to be replaced every six months. The HEPA filter is good for three years.
Personnel Briefs: January 2021
Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP announced that Donald T. Kinsella has joined the firm as senior counsel and Robert J. McLaughlin has joined as of counsel.
Kinsella joins Whiteman Osterman & Hanna with more than four decades of experience in complex criminal and civil litigation. He prosecuted and defended several significant high profile federal and state criminal cases in New York. He is a former chief of the Criminal Division of the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York.
McLaughlin will continue to focus his practice on gaming and lottery law, financial transactions and government compliance.
McLaughlin counsels gaming vendors, online gaming providers, state lotteries, and other entities in matters involving compliance with the complex federal and state regulation governing the gaming industry.
As bond counsel, he has represented the state Dormitory Authority, the state Environmental Facilities Corp., where he was the former general counsel, and the state Energy Resource and Development Authority/New York Green Bank. He has also represented numerous industrial development agencies and municipalities in the state.
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The Arrow Family of Companies recently announced the appointments of senior vice president Christine Snow to director of customer experience and senior vice president Marc Yrsha to director of relationship banking for Glens Falls National Bank and Trust Co. and Saratoga National Bank 
and Trust Co.
In her new role, Snow will oversee the customer experience unit, which includes the call center, and deposit, loan and branch operations. Together these teams care for our customers and ensure a positive and unified customer experience across many different business lines.
Snow joined the company in 2016 and most recently served as senior vice president of branch administration, overseeing all branch and call center functions.
In his new role, Yrsha will oversee the retail banking unit which includes frontline sales teams for retail, consumer, business and municipal banking, as well as small business and home equity lending. Together these teams will continue to focus on the customer and growing relationships in all our communities.
GlobalFoundries-Malta Foundation Awards Grants
The GlobalFoundries-Town of Malta Foundation has awarded $142,964 in grants to community organizations that serve Malta residents and the school districts in the town.
The largest single grant was $16,500 to the Malta-Stillwater Emergency Medical Service for purchase of a ventilator to be available in ambulances.
Both the Ballston Spa and Shenendehowa school districts each received multiple grants to support STEM learning, robotics and general education programs.
The grants are in addition to a $50,000 grant provided in March to help the town of Malta to provide local individuals and families with grocery store gift cards, as the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic first began to emerge.
The foundation was established in 2011 with $3 million donated by GlobalFoundries as part of the host community package negotiated in return for town approval of the computer chip manufacturing plant in Luther Forest that employs about 3,000 people.
The foundation is managed by a board made up of town and GlobalFoundries representatives. Since 2011, it has donated more than $1.4 million to organizations that serve Malta.
‘Once Upon A Child’ In Clifton Park Plaza Has Clothing Selection For Children, Babies
©2021 SaratogaPhotographer.com
By Jennifer Farnsworth
The Winmark Corp., parent company of Style Encore and Plato’s Closet “gently used clothing stores”, has opened a babies and children version of the businesses in Clifton Park.
Once Upon A Child in Clifton Park Town Plaza, off Route 9, buys and sells used kids’ clothing, shoes, toys and baby gear and offers cash on the spot for qualified items. Franchise store owner Rhonda McMaster-Allendorph has owned of both Style Encore and Plato’s Closet stores. She said opening Once Upon A Child seemed like the next step.
McMaster-Allendorph said like all other new business owners, opening the store during the COVID-19 pandemic came with hesitation. She said that business has been slow to start since the official opening in November, but she remains optimistic that things will pick up.
“It’s been tough with the pandemic, but I think we are going to do okay. We are working on spreading the word. The people that have come in have been pleased with the selection of what they see,” she said.
Business Briefs: January 2021
The Adirondack Trust Co. has again secured a 5-Star rating from BauerFinancial, a bank rating firm.
A five-star rating indicates that the bank excels in areas of capital adequacy, profitability, asset quality and much more. Earning and maintaining this top rating for 58 consecutive quarters puts Adirondack Trust in a prestigious bracket as an exceptional performance bank.
BauerFinancial, Inc., based in Coral Gables, Fla., has been reporting on and analyzing the performance of U.S. banks and credit unions since 1983. No institution can pay for or opt-out of a BauerFinancial rating.
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Eighteen members of the Sterling Homes Real Estate team recently graduated from a New Homes Sales Specialist training program. The education consisted of a five-week intensive course with the top new home sales trainer in the country.