Bits of Business | White House hosts Bellefonte company

The White House hosted diplomats, celebrities and war heroes.

It also has hosted Actuated Medical, a Bellefonte company specializing in designing medical devices, for its success in the Small Business Innovation Research Program.

Actuated Medical received funding through the program to develop medical devices, including Tube Clear, a product that is already on the market. Tube Clear clears feeding tubes for nurses to resume feeding and medicating patients.

“It was a really, really awesome honor to be there,” Actuated President and CEO Maureen Mulvihill said. “It was quite historic. We high-fived everyone in the company when we found out. We have 26 employees, and we were all very excited.”

Firm eyes aquaponics

A company’s product likely won’t garner enough support to be funded through kickstarter.com.

GreenTowers, an urban agricultural design company in State College, placed living furniture three weeks ago on kickstarter.com, a website that enables crowd funding for creative projects.

Living furniture, or aquaponics, is an indoor gardening and pet fish product in which only the fish need to be fed. Plants act as a bio-filter for the tank, and the fish waste fertilizes the plants.

The deadline for the $20,000 goal is Wednesday, and the venture is $17,000 short.

But Chief Sales Officer Dan Collins said it’s only a minor setback.

“We aren’t doing as well as we would have liked to on Kickstarter,” Collins said. “It’s a learning curve in how we market the product. We’ve learned that doctors and dentists have shown the most interest in this, because it can cost a lot to maintain fish tanks in their offices. We’ve learned that’s the strongest market for this.”

Food bank relocates

It’s not easy for a food bank to serve more than 800 people a month, but it recently got less complicated for FaithCentre in Bellefonte.

The Christian faith-based ministry opened its new food bank June 12, which offers much-needed space. The food bank was moved to 131 S. Allegheny St., and the thrift shop and other services will remain at 110 W. High St.

“We desperately needed more space to serve our clients, more space for the food bank, more space for the thrift shop patrons and more room for inventory on the floor to raise more money and to help more people,” FaithCentre board President Stephanie Cooper said. “We’re very blessed to have very strong support from the community, which allows us to serve people in ways that we could have only hoped for when it opened.”

The Centre Foundation presented the FaithCentre with a $10,000 grant at the food bank’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Registration open for expo

Jessica Dolan thought about it for years and annually made it a her New Year’s resolution, but she never got her idea off the ground.

She wanted to start an annual event for female entrepreneurs 10 years ago after she opened Room to Breathe, a home and office organizing company.

“We were badly in need of an event like that in the area, and I think women were craving a venue to make connections,” Dolan said. “I woke up one day in January six years ago, and I just had a feeling that was the year I’d do it. I was tired of seeing it on my list of goals every year, and I wanted to cross it off.”

Dolan hopes 150 entrepreneurs will register for the Oct. 1 event. Early-bird registration runs through July on ewesc.com, and the registration deadline is Sept. 15.

HealthSouth fit-friendly

HealthSouth Nittany Valley continued its streak of annual recognition for being a fit-friendly company.

The American Heart Association distinguishes businesses for their wellness activities, such as company walking programs and providing employees with healthy dietary options.

It is the fourth consecutive year the Pleasant Gap company has been honored.

“We’re working in rehab, and we have employees that try to be role models for our patients,” CEO Susan Hartman said. “We try to be creative to advance everyone’s health, and that includes our employees’ health.”

This story was originally published July 26, 2014 at 10:50 PM with the headline "Bits of Business | White House hosts Bellefonte company."