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Kicking it off…
Do More 24 Delaware, the state’s premier charitable giving initiative, has opened registration for its annual event taking place March 6-7, 2025. Organized jointly by United Way of Delaware (UWDE) and Spur Impact, Do More 24 Delaware is a 24-hour fundraising marathon that leverages collective marketing to raise unrestricted funds for the state’s nonprofits.
Upon signing up, nonprofits will gain access to fundraising support including, campaign how-to guides, marketing and PR toolkits, educational webinars, peer-to-peer fundraising tools, promotional media opportunities, and a donation page on domore24delaware.org. Nonprofits are also eligible to apply for free one-on-one support from a dedicated social media ambassador to help them promote their fundraising campaign.
BUSINESS
Winner Automotive Group has acquired the Diver Chevrolet dealership.
The Committee of 100 has moved its offices to the CSC Station on the Riverfront, returning to Wilmington after four years operating out of space on the Stanton Christiana Road. The Committee of 100 is a non-partisan, nonprofit association of Delaware business leaders that works to promote responsible economic development and address issues that affect the state’s economic health.
Dave’s Hot Chicken will begin fitting out the old Friendly’s location on 318 North DuPont Hwy in Dover in the coming weeks. The franchisee looks to open the eatery in 2025.
CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
Melanie Ross Levin, Rev. Dr. A’Shellarien Addison, Dr. Debbie Harrington, former Rep. Ruth Briggs King, and Rep. Sherry Dorsey Walker join hands as girls cheer their inspiring insights on the Democracy discussion panel at the Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake Bay’s First Annual Founders Event: “The Promise of Democracy: Empowering Our World Together.”
The Mary Campbell Center (MCC) has broken ground on a $7.35M resident-room renovation and EZee Street addition project funded by donors and grants. The project includes the first major renovation of resident rooms since The Center’s founding in 1976, and construction of a one-story 4-room residential pod and nurse’s station.
The WSFS CARES Foundation, the charitable giving arm of WSFS Bank, has awarded Georgetown-based Pathways to Success a two-year $160,000 grant to assist with the hiring of a Licensed Clinical Social Worker to manage the Pathways to Wellbeing Program to support students that are affected with Post Traumatic Stress (PTSD).
Community Collaboration of Delaware (CCD) has opened a satellite Food Bank distribution center serving the Knollwood neighborhood and complementing efforts underway to address food insecurity in the Claymont area. The new CCD Food Pantry is realized through a partnership with the Food Bank of Delaware; the host site at the Knollwood Community Center; and through a collaboration with the Claymont Renaissance Development Corporation (CRDC) on the Recovering Claymont Lives project, an Opioid Abatement grant-funded initiative that aims to help Knollwood residents prevent drug-related overdose, access treatment and recover their lives with support from a CCD Certified Peer Recovery Specialist (CPRS).
The YMCA of Delaware’s annual Canned Food and Clothing Drive will run from November 4-22. Community members are invited and encouraged to help neighbors in need by donating nonperishable food items and winter clothing. These items will be distributed to local organizations that support Delawareans facing food insecurity and other challenges this season, including the Y Mission Market at the Central YMCA. As part of this community initiative, the YMCA of Delaware is collecting essential items including Nonperishable Food (pasta, canned fruits and vegetables, peanut butter, canned tuna, canned soups, and other shelf-stable foods) and Winter Clothing (hats, gloves, scarves, winter coats, and more).
Amanecer Counseling & Resource Center’s recent Walk & Rock event successfully raised nearly $10,000, enabling the center to continue its dedicated work in supporting Delaware’s Latino community—children, adults, and families navigating mental and behavioral health challenges.
TD Bank selected the Delaware Center for Horticulture (DCH) to receive a 2024 TD Tree Days grant. Working with the Arbor Day Foundation, TD Tree Days is a community-based program that aims to grow green spaces and urban forests in primarily disadvantaged neighborhoods. The grant allowed DCH’s staff and volunteers to plant 30 trees at Brown Burton Winchester Park in Wilmington on October 25.
Newark-based GOLO has partnered with Feeding America’s network of food banks to deliver 100,000 meals to aid relief and recovery efforts in North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. GOLO’s food donation will come from the company’s GOLO Foods line of meals.
CULTURE
Longwood Gardens is expanding its Continuing Education offerings with a number of holiday-themed classes. Many of the classes will take place in the Studios at The Grove—the new home for onsite learning at Longwood and opened as part of Longwood Reimagined. Find out about new hands-on holiday courses online at Longwoodgardens.org.
West Side Grows Together (WSGT) partnered with sponsor Jefferson Street Center, Lucky Shot Coffee Co., and the City Of Wilmington for the Oct. 30 Local Is Better Harvest Market & Movie Night – a fun and festive farewell to the West Side Farmers Market season at Cool Spring Park.
GOVERNMENT
Port Wilmington has received $127.5 million as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Ports Program, a $3 billion investment by the Biden-Harris Administration in zero-emission port equipment and infrastructure.
The Department of Elections, supported by the Delaware Emergency Management Agency, the Delaware Department of Justice and other state agencies will coordinate a Joint Information Center (JIC) to ensure a safe and secure election and to maintain public health and safety leading up to, during, and following Election Day. The JIC will field all election-related reports, complaints and media inquiries for the 2024 General Election
Delaware Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons are among 40 Senators to send a bipartisan letter to Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Acting Secretary Julie Su of the U.S. Department of Labor, urging the departments to address the seasonal labor shortage by releasing the maximum allowable number of additional H-2B visas for fiscal year 2025.
Ten projects will receive a combined $234,000 in funding from the Tree for Every Delawarean Initiative (TEDI) to plant more than 4,600 trees in the spring of 2025. TEDI is a partnership between the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) and the Department of Agriculture’s Delaware Forest Service to enhance and support tree-planting projects throughout the state. Projects awarded funding include the cities of New Castle, Lewes, and Wilmington; the Cuba Center in Hockessin, the Delaware Botanic Gardens (near Dagsboro), Friends of Bellevue State Park (New Castle County), Friends of Cape Henlopen State Park (Lewes), Friends of White Clay Creek State Park (Newark), Trap Pond Partners, Trap Pond State Park (Laurel), and Zoe Ministries (Sussex County)
The Michael R. Castle Trail along the C&D Canal has been reopened at the South Lums Parking Area following repairs to a section of the trail damaged in March by storms. DNREC said.
Some 1,000 pounds of 12- to 13-inch rainbow trout were stocked in White Clay Creek by the DNREC Division of Fish and Wildlife from near the Pennsylvania state line downstream to Newark, offering fall and winter fishing opportunities for Delaware anglers.
State officials are urging participation with the new State of Delaware centralized mentoring system. This new system streamlines the registration and training process for mentors in Delaware public schools. The process begins with a new website, de.gov/mentoring, where volunteers interested in mentoring can submit an application that the DOE will process and then send to districts and charter schools. The application will spur a consistent background check and training process for all volunteers. Businesses interested in promoting mentoring among their employees can submit a form and be connected through DOE to a school.
A number of phone scams targeting Delaware citizens – and citizens in other states – where a caller claims to represent one of our courts, or a law enforcement agency working on behalf of a court, and demands money to resolve an arrest warrant, fine or some other outstanding matter. The scam callers demand money from people for allegedly failing to report for jury duty, and even text a copy of a bogus “order of arrest” to victims who request documentation. The scammers attempt to direct the victim to a specific non-governmental address to make a cash payment. The Delaware Judiciary assures the public these are not legitimate calls and that no one with our courts, jury services, Delaware State Police, or other law enforcement agencies would ever call and make such threats and demand immediate payment. Nor would officials direct individuals to an unofficial address. A red flag that these are scams is that they will demand immediate payment, usually in some difficult to trace form, like cash, gift cards or electronic payment systems like Venmo or Zelle.
Entrepreneurs, LLCs and small business owners need to file Beneficial Ownership Information reports, says John L. Williams, president of Wilmington-based IncNow , a 50-year-old business formation and registered agent service located in Wilmington, Delaware, upon announcing its new wholly-owned subsidiary, CTAboi.com. Williams said 80% of entrepreneurs have not filed yet. The law requires more than 37 million small businesses in the U.S. to file a BOI report with detailed information about their company and beneficial owners by year-end to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCen”), a division of the U.S. Treasury.
The Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) has announced the addition of 210 new Project-Based Vouchers (PBV) to Delaware’s affordable rental market. These vouchers are now available through partnerships with new and existing housing developers.
TRANSPORTATION
DART is offering free rides to Veterans on Monday, November 11. Veterans displaying a Veteran’s ID card (this would also cover spouses and partners) or DD 214 can ride for free on all DART bus services all day.
The Delaware River and Bay Authority has opened the terminal-adjacent Parking Lot C at the Wilmington Airport (ILG). The new lot brings 532 additional parking spaces, bringing ILG’s total parking capacity to 1,345 vehicles. With no rate increase, the low daily rate of $9.50 remains a bargain and guests can check online for real time availability at flyilg.com. Avelo Airlines, DRBA and Donate Delaware are also working collaboratively on a partnership to ship urgently needed supplies and essential goods to areas dealing with the catastrophic aftermath of the recent hurricanes.
Avelo Airlines will launch flights to Atlanta, Concord, NC; Lakeland, FLA Daytona Beach, Palm Beach, and Sarasota-Brandenton in the next week or so. In addition, Avela is suspending flights to and from Fort Myers, Myrtle Beach, Orlando, San Juan, Tampa, and Wilmington, NC.
HEALTH
Kindergarteners across Delaware are participating in the Kindergarten Oral Health Screening Program for the first time this school year, provided by the Bureau of Oral Health and Dental Services (BOHDS) within the Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH). This new annual program is intended to improve the oral health of Delaware children and prepare them for a lifetime of good oral health.
Delaware has joined a coalition of 50 states and territories announcing two significant cooperation agreements and settlements with Heritage Pharmaceuticals and Apotex totaling $49.1 million to resolve allegations that both companies engaged in widespread, long-running conspiracies to artificially inflate and manipulate prices, reduce competition, and unreasonably restrain trade concerning numerous generic prescription drugs. You may be eligible for compensation if you purchased a generic prescription drug manufactured by either Heritage or Apotex between 2010 and 2018. To determine your eligibility, call 1-866-290-0182 (Toll-Free), email [email protected] or visit www.AGGenericDrugs.com.
AARP members new to the YMCA of Delaware will receive a 10% discount on YMCA memberships thanks to a new partnership between the two organizations.
Gaudenzia, Inc., one of the country’s largest nonprofit treatment providers for people with substance use disorder (SUD) and co-occurring conditions, released its 2024 annual FrontLine Report. Gaudenzia served 57 individuals in Delaware through the Claymont Center for Pregnant and Parenting Women program, which remains critical for addressing the unique needs of women with children. The report shows that 60% of clients admitted were diagnosed with opioid use disorder, marking a significant 21% increase from last year. The FrontLine Report is the only annual, comprehensive and data-driven look at SUD trends, county-by-county, in the Mid-Atlantic region where Gaudenzia operates over 50 facilities and provides over 120 licensed treatment programs to more than 15,800 admissions.
Beebe Healthcare has acquired Cape Pharmacy in Lewes.
PEOPLE
Jenn Wells is Goldey-Beacom College’s first marketing director, bringing more than 15 years of experience in design, branding and marketing. Wells oversees the College’s brand identity, develops strategic marketing initiatives focused on enrollment and works to elevate the college’s visibility by promoting new developments and opportunities available at the College.
Behavioral health expert Dr. Gina Marchando has been named executive director of Meet Me at the Well. Marchando is a licensed marriage and family therapist who recently served as the chief executive officer for Seabrook in Bridgeton, NJ. Marchando also oversaw the construction, operations, and clinical development of a new luxury 85-bed detox and outpatient wellness recovery program for DreamLife Recovery. Meet Me at the Well meets the “challenges a hidden demographic of people were facing when seeking support to exit the dangerous world of sex trafficking.”
James Wechsler has been named executive vice president and chief commercial banking officer for WSFS Bank.
Richards, Layton & Finger attorney Edward S. Little has been named as an associate regulatory counsel member of the Federation of Regulatory Counsel (FORC).
James Maravelias (Laborers’ Local 199) will retire as president of the Delaware State AFL-CIO on January 1st, 2025, after ten years. Mr. Maravelias has been a prominent figure in Delaware labor politics, advocating for workers’ rights, improving labor conditions, and strengthening union partnerships during his tenure.
State Reps. Kerri Evelyn Harris and Valerie Jones Giltner were presented with the Delaware Healthcare Association’s 2024 Legislator of the Year award on Oct. 29.
The Delaware Aviation Hall of Fame has two more inductees from Delaware State University: Lt. Col. Michael Hales, for his years as a military aviator and director of the DSU Aviation Program, and the late Delaware State College President Dr. Luna I. Mishoe, for his years serving as part of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen.
The board of Goodwill of Delaware and Delaware County has elected Chaney Hall of Fox Rothschild LLP as its new chair and Kyle McLaughlin of NAI Emory Hill and Kalimah White of Key Private Bank as vice chairs. Goodwill also welcomed new members to the board: Dana Fenwick (Career T.E.A.M., LLC), Kenneth J. Gatson (Delaware Military Academy), Julia M. McDerby (Artisans Bank), and Susan C. Nickel (Glenmede Trust Company).
Máximo César Castellanos from Georgetown received a Gold Medal and a Silver Medal at the 2024 International Latino Book Awards Ceremony. Máximo’s book, Dr. Pren and the Secret of the Formula, was awarded a Gold Medal in the category of Best Chapter/Young Adult Book Translation Spanish to English. Máximo’s book, Dr. Pren y el Guardian del Vórtice, was chosen as a Silver Medal Winner in the category of Charlie Ericksen Best Book Written by a Youth.
Richard M. Beck and Caixia Su of the Klehr Harrison law firm spoke at a U.S.-China Legal Community Dialogue on the topic of Delaware Law. Beck and Su both work in the firm’s Wilmington, DE office. Beck, a partner in the Litigation Department and Bankruptcy and Restructuring Department, and Su, an associate in the Litigation Department, attended as specialists in the area of Delaware Law and presented on the state of Delaware’s judicial system and entity formation process.
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