Letter Carriers Drive a Smashing Success

Al Nelson with his running list of food received and when it arrived.

Letter carriers working from the North Adams Post Office serving North Adams, Clarksburg and Florida on Saturday, May 11, gathered a total of 15,150 lbs, of food. This exceeds last year’s total on the day of the drive, 10,500 lbs. by more than two tons.

More food is likely to come in during the first days of next week to increase the total amount collected in this very successful drive.

Totals in Northern Berkshire seem to be up overall. Preliminary totals indicate that some 5,500 lbs. was collected in Adams, up 800 lbs. from last year. In Williamstown, about 4,500 lbs. of food was collected and dividied between Sts. Patrick’s-Raphael Food Pantry and the Community Bible Church, up from about 3,000 lbs last year.

Al Nelson, co-organizer of the Interfaifaith Action Initiative (NBIAI), estimated that when late returns came in, the total from Northern Berkshire would be mre than 26,000 lbs. compared to about 21,000 lbs. last year.

It’s hard to say exactly what’s behind the increased donations, but special bags from Price Chopper combined with special high-quality canvas bags from the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition’s Mass in Motion program, in cooperation with the NBIAI, likely had something to do with this, as did the first-class multimedia effort to promote the drive in Northern Berkshire.

Of over 500 produced — though not all were given out — at least 180 of these bags were returned with food inside for the drive. Lois Hescock, a volunteer with NBIAI’s Friendship Center Food Pantry, is to be commended for distributing them at Village East on the Mohawk Trail, as that development had virutually 100 percent use of the canvas bags.

The most grateful thanks goes out to the letter carriers for their work with this project. One came back to the Friendship Center with literally a ton of food in his standard-sized mail truck. We were happy that several of the carriers came into our sorting area at 107 Main St. to share pizza and beverages provided through the support of the Northern Berkshire United Way.

This is the third year volunteers of the NBIAI’s Friendship Center have been involved in the drive.  This first year we did not know what we were doing and were seriously short of volunteers. This year we had a plentiful number of volunteers and due to a model system for sorting the food developed by Rich Davis and Mark Lincourt, we were able to get food sorted within a half hour of its arrival.

To provide some assistance on their routes, Mark Lincourt  again rented a U-Haul truck and with Phil Krutiak and Mark Rondeau, helped mail carriers with several locations in North Adams and at the Clarksburg School.

In all, more than 45 people volunteered to help sort the food at 107 Main Street over nearly eight hours, including volunteers of the Friendship Center, Salvation Army, and the Berkshire Dream Center. Food from the drive will go to each of these entities, though most will go to the Friendship Center as it serves the most people.

Volunteers included at least 6 young people who helped carry in food during one delivery and then left. We appreciate their support.

All in all this was a fun and productive event, which provides thousands of dollars worth of food, enough to keep the Friendship Center operating for a month.

Finally, we want to thank all of you who donated, without you  this would have not been possible. Thank you for helping us help our neighbors in need.

Here are some photos of how the day progressed:

Once our volunteers brought the bins in the door, the first task was to weigh them.

We had spaces reserved in front of 107 Main St. to unload the food from the trucks.

Stan Owczarski weighs a bin while North Adams Postmaster Joan Bates looks on and takes a photo.

Letter carrier Gary Ghidotti shows how much he can carry by various means.

Up at Rock Manor Park, Mark Lincourt and Phil Krutiak help the letter carrier with a large load of donated food.

Back at 107 Main St., a big pile of food builds up.

We gathered donations at Village East in a pouring rain, but thanks to Lois Hesock, everyone put their donations in our canvas bags. They are much easier to carry and so we did not have to pick them up in rain very long. I don't know why there is a smiling spider on the truck.

Here, Richard Markhan, Ruth Hansen of the Salvation Army, and Denise Krutiak, with bag in tront of face, sort food.

Stan with letter carrier Keith Howard.

Letter carrier Dick Dassatti and David Babcock, Eric Wilson, and Phil Krutiak.

Letter carrier Henry Bourdon, with Steve Smachetti, Al Nelson, and Phil Krutiak.

Eric Wilson and Erik Wobus help Fran Berasi and Ruth Hansen sort food.

Corinne Case (green shirt), husband Tim and one of their sons helped out.

Steve Green did a fine jobs keeping track of the weights of incoming food.

Pastor Dave Anderson, of First Baptist North Adams, stopped in to say hello with his daughter, Abby.

These four young people were curious about what we were doing and helped us unload this truck.

Some of the sorted food. We sorted it along two long lines of tables along each long wall, in boxes under labels for each type of food.

Rich Davis, the man who developed our system for sorting the donated food. To his right is Stuart Crampton, our treasurer.

Several of our local letter carriers are women. Unfortunately, I don't know this carrier's name.

Right before 6 p.m. the last truck arrived.

And, finally, I could not resist this one, the oldest donation we are aware of receiving on Saturday: A can of New England Clam Chowder with an October, 1994 expiration date —

Catching up on some news

Friends,

It's been a while since I've had the time to post any new developments with the Interfaith Action Initiative. Several great things have happened and several great things are coming up.

Letter Carrier Food Drive Saturday 

First, on Saturday, May 11, volunteers will gather at 107 Main Street in North Adams around noon to help sort all the food that will be collected by North Adams area letter carriers as part of the 2013 Letter Carriers Food. Come on down if you feel like helping out. 107 Main is an empty store front on the west side of the intersection of Eagle and Main Streets. This will be the third year that volunteers from the Friendship Center will sort the food.

The food drive was the topic of the May edition of the public access cable television program "In the Company of Friends" on Channel 15. We welcomed letter carrier Gary Ghidotti, North Adams Postmaster Joan Beck, Amanda Chilson of the Mass in Motion program, and Amber Besaw of The Family Place. The program, co-hosted by Mark Lincourt and Mark Rondeau, is shown on Channel 15 on Fridays at 5 p.m. and Mondays at 1 p.m.

The NBIAI and Mass in Motion cooperated to produce nice green canvas bags for people to put their donated food into — they both hold more and will be easier for the carriers to handle. Many were made available at St. Elizabeth Church, for instance, and were quickly snapped up. Mine already is full (photo) and ready to put on top of the park mailboxes Saturday morning. These are nice bags. Now let's see if they come back to us filled with food!

God willing, there will be plenty of photos from the Letter Carriers Food Drive toting and sorting operation in this space next week.

CROP Walk discussed at May Interfaith meeting

The next meeting of the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative (NBIAI) will be held on Friday, May 17, at 10 a.m. in the Eagle Street room of the First Baptist Church of North Adams. All are welcome.

At the meeting, we will start planning to hold a Northern Berkshire CROP Walk in the fall; we will critique our handling of our end of the Letter Carriers Food Drive; and we will continue our discussion of transportation of food to people and people to food. The meeting will begin with our usual time of silent prayer, faith sharing, and announcements.

April Interfaith Meeting well-attended

On Friday, April 19, some 23 people attended our “food summit” meeting, at which among other things we discussed preparations for the Saturday, May 11, Letter Carrier Food Drive in Northern Berkshire. Above, Bryce Babcock, of the Williamstown Community Church food pantry program, and letter carrier Dick Dassatti.

Amanda Chilson, of Mass in Motion (foreground), Kathy Keeser of Hoosac Harvest, and Michelle Sylvester of WIC attend the April NBIAI "food summit."

 

Food Bank Director Visits Friendship Center

On Wednesday, April 17, the Friendship Center Food Pantry welcomed Andrew Morehouse, executive director of the Food Bank of Western Mass., located in Hatfield, (above right, with Stuart Crampton and Mark Lincourt, in the Eagle Street room at First Baptist Church, where we are checking people in these days) to see us in operation. He seemed very impressed, particularly by the large number of volunteers we had during our morning session! Below, he talks with Tony Pisano (at counter) in the Friendship Center Food Pantry itself.

Friendship Center takes part in Eagle Street Rising

On Friday, April 26, we were pleased to be present at the North Adams Public Library when two of our great volunteers, Fran Berasi and Rich Davis, graduated from the Coalition’s Community Outreach Worker program. The next day, the Friendship Center held an open house during MCLA’s Eagle Street Rising makeover of that venerable street.

We raised more than $45 in donations — mostly proceeds from the organizers generously arranged to be donated to us from the sale of coffee and donuts — gave several tours, were interviewed for both a newspaper (the MCLA Beacon) and a film documentary, and signed up two new volunteers. A productive three hours! 

Mayor Dick Alcombright, left, talks with Joe and Carol Manning, of Northampton. Joe is a great friend of mine who has written the classic books about North Adams "Steeples" and "Disappearing Into North Adams." Below, Jennifer Munoz takes a couple of the special food drive canvas bags while Bert Lamb looks on.

Two Groups We Love

I do not have nearly enough time to detail here all that our friends at the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition have done for us in the three years of our existence. In fact, we owe our very existence to the Coalition, for we grew out of a Coalition monthly meeting on faith and the community. Now, on Tuesday, June 4, the Coalition at its 2013 Annual Meeting will honor the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative with its Hero Award. The event will be held at the Williams Inn in Williamstown. It will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.nbccoalition.org or call 663-7588.

The other group is the Berkshire Food Project that feeds those in need daily meals at the First Congregational Church of North Adams, serving many of the same people we see regularly at the Friendship Center Food Pantry. To see how to make a donation to support the BFP's work, visit  http://www.gofundme.com/2lk9zc 

Some Young Friends Visit

And finally, we were pleased to welcome in early April North Adams Girl Scout Troop 11097, which delivered 56 boxes of Girl Scout cookies to the Friendship Center Food Pantry. Thanks!

Thanks for reading this, and God Bless all of you,

Mark Rondeau

Monster Blog Post: Lots to Share

In this post: 1). Planning for the Postal Food Drive. 2). Hoosac Harvest at March meeting. 3). ‘Wish I Had Transit’ campaign. 4). Generous Donations from Friends: food, pet food, and a copier. 5). NBIAI is 3 years old! 6). Mark Lincourt now on Food Bank Board. 7). Pope Francis discussed on ‘In the Company of Friends’

Planning for the Postal Food Drive

The next meeting of the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative will be held on Friday, April 19, at 10 a.m. in the Eagle Street Room at the First Baptist Church of North Adams.

The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss the upcoming letter carrier union food drive on May 11 and to seek other avenues of cooperation. Individuals wishing to learn more about what we do and/or about possibly volunteering to help collect and sort food on May 11th are welcome to attend. 

This drive is by far the biggest non-foodbank source of donated food we receive each year, and it requires a great effort to take it from the dedicated letter carriers and sort and store it.

We hope to have representatives of several local food programs attending this meeting. We hope this discussion may aid other efforts at future collaboration.

One of the topics I hope will receive some discuss is transportation, a topic which has come to the fore recently (see related posts below).

The Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative is a group of people of various faiths and denominations working with others of good will to serve our community through charitable works, open discussions of community issues, and presentation of faith-motivated activities and events. It is the parent organization of the Friendship Center Food Pantry at 43 Eagle St. in North Adams.

Our meetings start with introductions, silent prayer, faith sharing, and announcements.

For more information, call Mark Rondeau at 664-0130 or email northernberkshireinterfaith@gmail.com.

Hoosac Harvest at March meeting

Kathy Keeser of Hoosac Harvest speaks at the March 15 NBIAI meeting.

The featured guest at our Friday, March 15, monthly Interfaith Action Initiative meeting was Kathy Keeser of Hoosac Harvest, “a citizen-based organization that envisions a vibrant food system in which all members of the Northern Berkshire community participate and have access to locally grown, healthy, and sustainably produced food.”

Its mission is “to support and encourage access for North Berkshire residents across all income levels to sustainably-raised, locally grown food while building relationships between the land, each other, and our food.” See www.hoosacharvest.org

We had an interesting discussion with Kathy, including ideas about transportation, both of food and of people. One of the things we can’t help but notice is that some of our visiting friends at the Friendship Center have a hard time either getting there and/or getting home loaded with bags. We do call people taxis — several times per week — but is this is all that can be done?

All this inspired Kathy to get a meeting together of some interested parties, including representatives of Berkshire Rides, the Friendship Center Food Pantry, and the Berkshire Food Project. It will be held on Thursday, April 11, at 10 a.m. at the Berkshire Food Project/First Congregational Church of North Adams. 

Anyone interested in this topic is welcome to attend.

‘Wish I Had Transit’ campaign

This increased talk about transportation is a result of the March meeting of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition at which the county’s bus service and the inequity of funding between the Boston area and Berkshire County were the main topics of discussion, along with regular people's difficulties getting around.

Part of the effort to redress this inequity is the Wish I Had Transit campaign, which anyone can participate in by expressing a wish for better transit. Here is an explanation of the campaign from the website http://www.wishihadtransit.org

“We have a remarkable regional transit system with active, progressive leadership. However, funding inequities prevent the system from providing the level of service that neighboring regions take for granted. With this campaign, we aim to demonstrate that the would-be ridership of Berkshire County is deserving of more equitable transit.

“The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority (BRTA) provides public transportation services to twenty-four member communities within Berkshire County, the westernmost region of Massachusetts. The BRTA's daily service area spans a region as large as Rhode Island; bordered by Vermont to the north, New York to the west and Connecticut to the south. Fixed route service is provided by fourteen bus routes in twelve communities from Williamstown to Great Barrington, Monday through Saturday. Paratransit services are provided to eligible persons from the BRTA's member communities for ambulatory, non-ambulatory, or complementary paratransit ADA service.

“The BRTA’s vision is to have public transit in service seven days a week, operating until 11 p.m. The three areas of our county, north-central-south, would have vehicles circulating in both directions every half hour and connecting with larger express buses bringing customers to the Intermodal Center in Pittsfield to connect with other parts of the county, intercity buses and trains.

“We want our workforce to be able to get to and from work for all three shifts without long waits. To achieve this efficiently and effectively, the BRTA system must be supported and supplemented by Intelligent Transportation Systems.”

This is not only a matter of need but also one of justice. That’s why I hope the NBIAI in some small way can participate in this effort.

Generous Donations from Friends

 A woman gives Caroline Webster, of the MCLA Chapter of MassPIRG, a donation at Stop & Shop in North Adams on Monday, April 1. 

As usual, we are the recipients of numerous generous donations. 

For instance, on Monday, April 1, volunteers stood outside Stop & Shop in North Adams for several hours taking donations. The next day they dropped off 131 lbs. of non-perishable food items at the Friendship Center.

In March, the Friendship Center received a high-quality copier thanks to the generosity of our friends at the First Baptist Church of North Adams and its pastor, Dave Anderson. 

The First Baptist Church continues to be a great support. We hold our monthly meetings in its Eagle Street Room and each Wednesday during our day food pantry session we sign people up in this room so that they don’t have to wait in a long line outside.

Here are some photos of the copier being delivered:

Here a group of people from First Baptist move the copier toward Pastor Dave’s truck.

It took four men to get it off the truck and into the Friendship Center. And below, the copier in its new home.

And we also want to thank the UNITY youth development program of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition for donating 225 lbs. of dog and cat food to the Friendship Center. It is greatly needed and greatly appreciated. 

In March, volunteers from the program took pet product donations from customers at the North Adams Wal-Mart for us and for other food programs. Two of the several youth involved in the pet food drive are pictured below.

NBIAI is 3 years old!

Monday, April 9, marked the third anniversary of the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative. That was the date in 2010 of a Northern Berkshire Community Coalition forum on “ Intersecting 

the Faith Community with Social Issues.” Accounts vary of how things went at that forum but I recently discussed the beginnings with Al Nelson, at the recent NBIAI Steering Committee retreat.

From our perspective, faith communities needed to be doing more to work together for the community. Al and I were thinking along the same lines and, having been challenged by one of the clergy members present, began after the form to discuss starting an effort ourselves. The name Interfaith Action Initiative came to be during our first discussion.

We held our first public meeting on Friday, May 21, 2010, at the First Baptist Church of North Adams and were quite pleased by how many people showed up. We looked for a major project to take on for several months until it came in the form of a need for a food pantry. The Friendship Center Food Pantry opened on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011.

In three years the pantry has grown to serve about 1,300 families in North Adams, Clarksburg and Florida. We run an emergency voucher system, and at the end of January helped host and present a very successful interfaith service for Mental Illness Awareness and Understanding.

Over the years we have developed a steering committee of nine people, and on Saturday, March 16, we held a six-hour retreat. Part of what we decided was to pursue legal non-profit status. We feel that we can maintain the faith-based, grassroots nature of our organization while formalizing our structure.

We also launched our second letter-based fundraising campaign. Anyone reading this who would like to make a financial donation may do so by sending a check made out to the Friendship Center Food Pantry, and mailing it to The Friendship Center, 43 Eagle St., North Adams, MA 01247.

Donations are tax-deductible through our non-profit fiscal agent.

Mark Lincourt now on Food Bank Board

Mark Lincourt co-hosting the April edition of “In the Company of Friends”

One of those who attended that first meeting in May 2010 and has been with us every step of the way since is Mark Lincourt. We are very pleased to annouce that Mark, who is a member of our streering committee and is food pantry food distribution director was recently named to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts Board of Directors.

We are also pleased that after suffering a very bad fall and breaking his arm this winter, Mark started back on the evening shift at the Friendship Center this past week. Mark had stayed involved in other ways, of course, while he was recouperating. One of them was to host or co-host our NBIAI local-access TV program, “In the Company of Friends.” This brings us to the final segment of this long post.

Pope Francis discussed on ‘In the Company of Friends’

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Mark Rondeau holds photo of Pope Francis on cover of TIME magazine on “In the Company of Friends”

Mark Lincourt and I co-host “In the Company of Friends.” When our choice for guest for the April program couldn’t make it, I offered to talk about the new pope. And so, Mark and I had an enjoyable discussion.

“In the Company of Friends” is shown  on Northern Berkshire Community Television Corp. Channel 15 on Fridays at 5 p.m. and Mondays at 1 p.m.

For an article I wrote as religion editor at the Bennington Banner which deals with much of what I had to say on the program, visit http://www.benningtonbanner.com/opinion/ci_22907058/one-catholics-easter-hope-church 

Thank you for reading all or part of this and God Bless!

Mark R.

We host Hoosac Harvest at our next meeting March 15

In this post: 1). We take on tough issues; 2). Hoosac Harvest our guest on March 15. 3). March “In the Company of Friends” 4). Food Pantry 2 Years Old! 5). nbCC helps us every month. 6). Friday Coalition meeting on Transportation.

We take on tough issues

Lelia Bruun of the Fresh Air Fund tells us about this program

At the Feb. 15 meeting of the NBIAI, 12 people continued our discussion from January on the causes of violence and what might be done to build a more peaceful community. We also heard from Lelia Bruun of Great Barrington about the need for Fresh Air Fund host families in Berkshire County. Anyone interested in hosting an inner-city child for a week or two during the summer may call 1-800-367-0003 or visit www.freshair.org.

As a result of our discussion of violence, including violence against women and gun violence, over two months, Mark Rondeau drafted the following letter, which he brought to the next NBIAI Steering Committee meeting on Feb. 25. All seven of the Steering Committee members present agreed to sign it:

Feb. 25, 2013

Dear Official or Editor:

We, Steering Committee members of the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative, writing in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., tragedy and amid the ongoing gun violence that plagues the inner cities of our nation, urge you to support sensible legislation to reduce gun violence.

Measures we would like to see adopted include universal comprehensive background checks for all gun purchases, limitation of the size of magazines legally available for semi-automatic rifles, and a ban on military assault-type rifles.

We also support legislation currently under review, The Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act of 2013, which would specifically prohibit the straw purchase of firearms and strengthens the law prohibiting material false statements when buying a gun.

We also urge members of the Senate to stop blocking the appointment of a new director of the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, which has not had a full-time director since 2006. We also urge Congress to adequately fund this agency so that it can effectively enforce existing laws and future laws we hope will soon be adopted and signed into law by the President.

We support the right of citizens to own guns, but every right implies responsibilities and we seek sensible gun regulation to insure the common good and promote domestic tranquility.

Sincerely,

Mark E. Rondeau

Al Nelson

Corinne Case

Stuart Crampton

Steve Green

Mark Lincourt

Sue Walker

Later in the week, it was sent to the Transcript, The Berkshire Eagle, The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald; To President Obama, Gov. Deval Patrick, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Mo Cowan (temporary replacement for John Kerry), U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Speaker of the House John Boehner, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

I would imagine in the not-to-distant future we will focus our advocacy on maintenance of the “safety net” for the poor, given the regularly repeated federal financial crises — and threats in our state as well.

I knew this letter had run in one local paper (I personally didn’t see it) when a friend who belongs to the NRA started giving me crap about it!

Al Bashevkin speaks at our February meeting.

Hoosac Harvest our guest on March 15

The featured guests at our Friday, March 15, monthly Interfaith Action Initiative meeting will be two representatives of Hoosac Harvest, “a citizen-based organization that envisions a vibrant food system in which all members of the Northern Berkshire community participate and have access to locally grown, healthy, and sustainably-produced food.”

Its mission is “to support and encourage access for North Berkshire residents across all income levels to sustainably-raised, locally grown food while building relationships between the land, each other, and our food.”

The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. This should be a good discussion, on an important topic where much work remains to be done, and because it will be nice to look forward to the spring growing season. Speaking of Hoosac Harvest, it is sponsoring the following event on Thursday Night, March 7:

KNOW YOUR FARMER, KNOW YOUR FOOD

NORTH ADAMS — On Thursday, March 7 from 5-7pm, Hoosac Harvest will host the 3rd KNOW YOUR FARMER, KNOW YOUR FOOD event at the All Saints Church, Summer Street, North Adams, (next to the post office). Discover the bounty and meet the farmers and small food producers of the northern Berkshires at this FREE event. Learn about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), enjoy free samples and light refreshments, and swap seeds with friends and neighbors for the upcoming growing season. Participating farmers include Wildstone Farm, Cricket Creek Farm, Country Dream Farm, Many Forks Farm. Also participating are Wild Oats Market, North Adams Farmers Market, and more.

For more information about Hoosac Harvest, visit www.hoosacharvest.org or email hoosacharvest@gmail.com

March “In the Company of Friends”

Currently on “In the Company of Friends,” host Mark Lincourt welcomes Carrie Crews and Annie Rodgers of the Northern Berkshire Systems of Care Committee. This group is working to provide a hospitable local environment to youth and their families suffering from mental illness. Annie and Carrie talk with Mark about the upcoming project of inviting teens to film community service announcements about mental illness. Several members of the NBIAI Steering Committee are involved with the NBSOCC.

See “In the Company of Friends” on Northern Berkshire Community Television Corp. Channel 15 on Fridays at 5 p.m. and Mondays at 1 p.m.

Williams student-athletes collect donation for The Friendship Center Food Pantry.

Food Pantry 2 Years Old!

The Friendship Center Food Pantry continues going strong and observed its second anniversary on Feb. 23. Need continues to be great. On Feb. 23, 2011, we served our first 27 households in one session. On Feb. 22, 2012, we served 84 households in our first session and 35 in our second session for a total of 119. On Feb. 20, 2013, we served 92 households in our first sesssion and 50 in our second session for a total of 142. From 27 to 119 to 142, quite an increase!

During the two most recent weeks. Feb. 27, we served 109 and 26 families for a total of 135; and on March 6 we served 87 and 26 families for a total of 113.

During the Williams College - Amherst men’s and women’s basketball games on Feb. 10 at Williams, members of the Williams Student Athlete Advisory Council collected donations from fans for both fhe Friendship Center and a food pantry in Amherst. We received $848 from the event to buy food for our visiting friends.

Thanks to the students, and more were involved than shown here, and to Stewart Burns, coordinator of community engagement and Jennifer Chuks, assistant women's basketball coach and faculty member. Dan Bird, Al Nelson, and Mark Rondeau were present from the Interfaith Action Initiative/Friendship Center Food Pantry.

A few words here cannot begin to show thanks to all our many friends or give an accurate picture of what they all do for us.

Initiative Co-organizer Al Nelson at Williams.

nbCC helps us every month 

Still, we want to thank our friends at the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, which encourages those attending their monthly meetings to bring items for the Friendship Center Food Pantry. We greatly appreciate this. We also give out pet food, and this year the Coalition’s UNITY program is collecting pet food as well. Here is a Coalition Facebook announcement about this Friday’s Coalition meeting. The pet supplies will go to several places in addition to the FCFP:

“In addition to bringing non-perishable food items for the Friendship Center Food Pantry, please consider bringing pet food and other pet care items to support UNITY’S Youth Leadership Program's drive to support local animal shelters and pet food pantries during this Friday's monthly Forum. Items most needed include pet food (both wet and dry), cat litter and flea medicine. For more information, please call Annie with nbCC at 663-7588.”

Friday Coalition meeting

Speaking of the Coalition, it will be taking on the important issue of Transportation at its meeting this Friday, March 8, at 10 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of North Adams. See poster below:

Thank you for reading this and God Bless,

Mark Rondeau