During this busy season The Easter Bunny hopped by with treats to keep our energy levels up. Hippitty hop hop.

The 3rd Annual MS Jet Pull went off in the rain with a full Bentley Foundation Team pulling with all their might. The result: Second place beating out the firefighters for the first time.

After two pulls, Team Bentley stepped in to assist sister team English Rose to accomplish their best time in over two years as well.

Thanks to all for dragging out of warm beds and into rain gear for this great event. JOB WELL DONE!

May breakfast was served up by the losing team of our Penny Wars competition.

This is the second year that we have run penny wars, which runs all through tax season.

As incentive for participation in the penny wars the losing team is responsible for cooking a May Day Breakfast for the rest of the firm.

This year $295 went to The American Heart Association from the contest proceeds.

What are Penny Wars? 5 teams have containers placed in the kitchen for the entire tax season. Pennies count as positive points and any other currency counts as negative points (example a nickel counts as 5 negative points). The object is to be the team with the most points by the end of tax season (so you would want to put pennies in your jar and all other currency in other teams jars).

While some companies are scaling back or eliminating their annual summer outing , The Bentley Foundation, charitable arm of the Bentley Group of financial services firms, decided to put their corporate summer ritual to better use.

Instead of a day in the park or at the beach, employees donated time on August 20, at four local charities: The RI Community Food Bank, Sojourner House, Franklin Farm and Meals on Wheels Rhode Island.

"These are difficult times and everyone is tightening their belts" said David DiSanto, Managing partner of DiSanto Priest & Co., Bentley Group member firm." We felt it was more appropriate to use this time to help those less fortunate."

The day was far from fun and games. Activities included filling orders and stocking shelves at the RI Community Food Bank; planting shrubs and perennials and doing yard work at the Smith Street Drop-in center for Sojourner House; accompanying drivers on their daily routes for Meals on wheels Rhode Island; weeding and harvesting squash, zucchini and tomatoes at Franklin Farms which donates food to the Food Bank.

"They worked hard and in an organized fashion (as I am told they do all the time)" said Denise Mudge, Volunteer Coordinator for Franklin Farms. "In record time they had a 40 foot X 10 foot area cleared and harvested 35 pounds of green beans and peppers for the RI Food Bank. With their help, the Franklin Farm Community Garden has now donated 8,000 pounds to the food bank. It is groups like DiSanto, Priest & Co. that make our garden grow!" said Mudge.

Kelly Nichols of RI Community Food Bank adds " We were very happy to host their volunteer experience and hope they will come back to help out in the future!"

The day was topped off with a thank you get together back at Bentley headquarters in Warwick. "This has been a great opportunity for our people to share directly in giving back to the community" said Angela Paolino, Director of Human Resources for DiSanto Priest & Co. "Everyone had a very rewarding experience and we will certainly continue programs like this through our Foundation."

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The Bentley Foundation recently made a $1,000 gift to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank that will help provide more than 3,000 meals to local families at risk of hunger.

“The Food Bank has become the safety net for thousands of people in need as they struggle to feed their families...I was amazed to learn more about their daily operations and programs that extend past food distribution,” commented Lori J. Conaty.

Currently, the Rhode Island Community Food Bank is feeds 46,000 Rhode Islanders each month through a network of 285 certified member agency programs across the state. For more information about the Food Bank, please visit www.rifoodbank.org.

Pictured Left to Right: Lisa Roth Blackman, Senior Director of Development & Communications for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank; Lori Conaty and Maura Dowling of the Bentley Foundation and Andrew Schiff, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank

A "Professional Girlz Valentines Day Party" on February 13 2009 in our Boardroom, raised funds and awareness for Soujourner House. Thanks to Maura Dowling, Angela Paolino, Shauna Varin, Gina Devecchis, Helen Gilligan, Dawn Wood, Kim DeAngelis and Priscilla Sayward.

Bill Pirolli joined his group of wheelmen "The Reservoir Rhodies" to help the RI Chapter of the MS Society and raised over $6500.

In June of 2007, Bill and his 35 member team joined 900 other cyclists for the 150 mile course from Cranston, through Newport, Jamestown and the surrounding countryside.

Angie Black participated in the 2007 MS Walk with her team, “English Rose”. Angie and her team of seven adults and four children joined hundreds of walkers for the 6.5 mile walk in Narragansett.

Angie, an Administrator at DiSanto Priest & Co. is used to positive financial results, but this event came as a pleasant surprise as Angie’s team raised almost $3200 for MS.

On August 18, 2007 The Bentley Foundation fielded a team of 20 members to participate in the National MS Society’s first ever MS Jet Pull. The Jet Pull event was held by The Rhode Island Chapter of the National MS Society. Thirty teams of twenty people pulled a FedEx 727 aircraft across the tarmac in an effort to raise money and earn prizes.

The Bentley Foundation’s participation in the event is in memory of Mike Patty, a fellow Foundation member who was a victim of an automobile accident this past spring and for all of those affected by MS.

DiSanto, Priest & Co., Softball team Family Night. August 2008. A good time was had by all.