Revised Agenda for Friday, May 20, meeting

Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative

Meeting: May 20, 2011, 10 a.m. to Noon

First Baptist Church of North Adams

1). Welcome/introductions.

2). Moment of silent prayer.

3). Faith sharing.

4). Announcements.

5). Rescheduling of affordable housing meeting, possibly to July.

6). Treasurer’s report on donations of money and food.

7). Waiver for volunteers.

8). Update on processing of food from Letter Carrier drive.

9). Youth Commission plans for food drive.

10). Impressions of 82-household Wednesday experience at pantry.

11). Preliminary discussion of forming planning and finance committees.

12). Should we have official minutes of meetings?

13). Next meeting: Friday, June 17, topic: emergency voucher program for Northern Berkshire.

14). Adjourn.

May Meeting: We Discuss Affordable Housing

NOTE: THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE FINDING THIS POST IN A SEARCH FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN BERKSHIRE COUNTY SHOULD LOOK AT THE MOST RECENT POST ON THIS BLOG FOR UP-TO-DATE NEWS OF AN AFFORDABLE HOUSING DISCUSSION AT THE OCT. 21, 2011 MEETING OF THE NORTHERN BERKSHIRE INTERFAITH ACTION INITIATIVE.

Friends,

I have to say I am pleased that the Interfaith Action Initiative is holding a joint meeting with our friends at the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition to discuss affordable housing with a group of advocates from Boston.

The Friday, May 20, meeting of the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative will feature a discussion on affordable housing with representatives of the Citizens Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA), from Boston. It will begin at 10 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of North Adams.

Check out CHAPA at www.chapa.org. This is one of 14 meetings CHAPA has been holding throughout the state. CHAPA’s “mission is to encourage the production and preservation of housing that is affordable to low and moderate income families and individuals and to foster diverse and sustainable communities through planning and community development.”

I’m also pleased that the Interfaith Action Initiative is discussing housing. It is a critical need. Just one consideration in running a food pantry as we do — the Friendship Center food pantry — is that many people today, even those with jobs, cannot afford both decent housing and food.

At a Communnity Coalition meeting earlier this year discussing homelessness, someone brought in a sheet of very interesting statistics. Here are some:

• 66 percent of people living in poverty in Berkshire County are “rent burdened”

• In Berkshire County, the income/wage needed to afford a one-bedroom apartment on an annual basis is $24,720 or an hourly wage of $13.35.

• The number of hours a household making minimum wage in Berkshire County needs to afford a one-bedroom apartment is 67, a two-bedroom apartment is 77.

• Berkshire County’s per capita income is 16 percent below the state average and Berkshire County’s median household income is 23 percent below the state average.

These statistics indicate what so many of our fellow citizens are up against.

So please come to the meeting and share your ideas on how affordable housing and community development should proceed in 2011 and beyond. Discussion points will include: What is happening in your community and your region? How can we advance affordable housing initiatives at the local level? How can we advance affordable housing policy at the state level?

As regulars know, our meetings begin with introductions, a time of silent prayer and faith sharing, followed by announcements. The housing discussion will take most of the meeting. However, one other major issue we may take a few minutes to dicuss afterward is formation of a planning committee for the food pantry.

Thanks and God Bless,

Mark

***

The meeting agenda will be as follows:

Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative

Meeting: May 20, 2011, 10 a.m. to Noon

First Baptist Church of North Adams

1). Welcome/introductions.

2). Moment of silent prayer.

3). Faith sharing.

4). Discussion on affordable housing with Aaron Gornstein, executive director, and Carol Marine, program manager, of the Citizens Housing and Planning Association.

5). Brief discussion of creating a planning committee to plan for the future of the food pantry. Topic 1: committee membership.

6). Next meeting: Friday, June 17, topic: emergency voucher program for Northern Berkshire.

7). Adjourn.

Tons of food, tons of exercise, and tons of fun

Steve Green and Mark Lincourt wait for more mail trucks to arrive with more donated food. See more photos below text.

Friends,

The 2011 Letter Carriers’ Food Drive on Saturday, May 14, was both a learning experience for the volunteers of the Friendship Center Food Pantry and a very rewarding experience for us.

It was a rewarding experience because the letter carriers of the North Adams Post Office collected 7,947 pounds of food along the routes they serve in North Adams, Clarksburg and Florida. Some will go to the Salvation Army, some to the Berkshire Food Project, and most of it to the Friendship Center.

Stuart Crampton, who helped out in Williamstown, told me they collected 2,416 pounds of food there for their pantries.

With the help of people at the post office and our typical group of wonderful volunteers — as well as three fine young men who were walking down Main Street who we persuaded to help us at one point — we managed to get most of this food into a holding space at 107 Main St. and the rest of it (about 5 percent) into the Friendship Center. We will be sorting it over the next couple of weeks.

Contact our volunteer coordinator, Denise Krutiak, denisekrutiak@yahoo.com if you want to help with this.

This food drive was a learning experience for us, because now we know how it is publicized, how it proceeds, and how many volunteers are needed unload and move the food. Next year we will get more volunteers, so each of us will not have to work as hard as we did this year. And those who were there for several hours worked very hard.

And we will also know how to do things if we have access to the same space and a Zumbathon is held on Main Street at the same time as we are unloading the food!

Finally, in addition to the letter carriers and their local supervisors, I wish to thank Jack Gould and the United Way for buying us volunteers pizza and soda, and thanks also to Scarafoni Associates for use of 107 Main St.

Thanks, too, to all who donated food!

God Bless,

Mark

Some of the donated food, seen at floor level.

Volunteers work on organizing some of the food inside of 107 Main St.

Volunteers and post office people await arrival of more letter carriers and donated food.

The Zumba-thon on Main Street in front of 107 Main ruled out parking the truck by the front door with the second load of food.

But we are resourceful people and took the food in the back door.

Next Interfaith Meeting topic: Affordable Housing

To Affordable Housing Supporters: Please join Citizens Housing and Planning Association
(CHAPA) and the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative to discuss the next
steps in advancing various affordable housing initiatives. Add your voice to the
discussion at our meeting on Friday May 20th at 10:00 am at the First Baptist Church
of North Adams on Eagle Street in North Adams. Vision starts with citizens in each
and every community. Come share your ideas on how affordable housing and community
development should be shaped in 2011 and beyond ...For any questions, and to RSVP
contact Carol Marine at CHAPA at Cmarine@chapa.org or at 617-742-0820 or Mark Rondeau
at Markrondeau@earthlink.net.