Lots of News to Catch Up On

If it's spring, then the annual Letter Carrier Food Drive must be coming up, this year on Saturday, May 9. This photo is from the 2014 drive.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here. A lot has been going on. There is some news, too.

Food Survey, Driving Program, and Moving Next Door

The Friendship Center Food Pantry is seeing an increase of visitors in 2015 (orange line) compared to 2014 (green line) but the difference is not huge.

Usage of the Friendship Center Food Pantry remains brisk, though numbers of visits between the end of last year and the beginning of this year have leveled off somewhat (see chart above.)

We reached 2,000 registered members last year. Though no doubt a siignificant number , we know that many of our original members have moved out of the area and some have passed away. We are now adding about 3 new pantry members per week as opposed to 14 or more per  week a year or so ago.

During the first 14 weeks of 2015 we have served an average of 151 households per week; during the first 14 weeks of 2014, we served an average of 140 households per week.

As you may know, we are open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. every Wednesday, 52 Wednesdays per year. We observed our fourth anniversary as a pantry iin February.

Since we opened we have been  located in a 750-square-foot space at 43 Eagle St.  Around the beginning of May, we will be moving next door to 45 Eagle St., which has a total of 1,278 square-feet of usuable space. The biggest asset of this will be more space for our volunteers to maneuver and more space up front for our visiting friends.

Currently, as anyone who has visited on a busy day knows, there is not a lot of room up front for our visitors. I measured it recently, and it is only 155 square feet. This move should offer a lot more space to maneuver.

We will be vacating 43 Eagle Street but will still be conducting our sign-ups in the Eagle Street Room of the First Baptist Church of North Adams.

About 75 feet long and 9 and a half feet wide, 43 Eagle Street has served us well and I will miss it. Over the years, our volunteers have developed great mastery in filling our member’s food orders with efficiency, even when they are practically packed in like sardines!

In more good news, the ride-giving program spearheaded by the First Congregational Church of Williamstown and Wiilliams College, with help from many other quarters, is underway. As you may know, the Friendship Center has been offering people the option of getting a taxi ride home, paid for by the pantry. This has added up to a few thousand dollars per year for rides.

In a wonderful expample of interfaith cooperation, these volunteers have been working with us to launch this program. It saves the pantry money, but more importantly it is a faith-based community-building service making connections and building friendships.

Here is another area where we are trying to go beyond what is usually done by a food pantry”

It took a great amount of work both to collect and meaningfully tabulate, but results of the Food Survey of our pantry members conducted in February and March are now ready. We did this in conjunction with Amanda Chilson and the Mass in Motion program. People were quite willing to take the survey which asked eight questions and we had 233 responses.

The first question was, what are your favorite foods that we offfer? Fully tabluated by category — we received very many specific responses detailed further on — the resulting answers were:

Meat: 21.28%

Vegetables: 16.81%

Fruit: 14.84%

Pasta and Sauce: 7.51%

Dairy: 6.79%

Other: 6.79%

Bread and Cereal: 4.65%

Soup/Stew: 4.47%

Fish: 4.47%

Eggs: 3.57%

Peanut Butter: 3.04%

Drinks: 2.14%

Beans: 1.78%

Baked Goods/Dessert: 1.78%

We will have more results available at our NBIAI meeting this Friday, April 17, at 10 a.m. in the Eagle Street Room of the First Baptist Church of North Adams. All are welcome to attend.

April 17th Interfaith Meeting on Food Drive

Speaking of this next meeting, it  will feature a discussion about preparations for the upcoming Letter Carrier Food Drive, which will be held on Saturday, May 9. The meeting will be held at 10 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of North Adams. (Please use Eagle Street entrance). 

Sorting the food collected by our Letter Carriers in North Adams, Clarksburg and Florida is a huge, but fun, task and takes lots of volunteers. The total weight of collected food regularly exceeds 5 tons!

Those interested in volunteering are encouraged to attend the meeting, though it is not necessary in order to volunteer. As noted above, those attending will be able to learn more about the results of the recent Food Survey.

Also at the April 17 meeting, we will again discuss the work of and seek possible members for, our new Interfaith Programs and Events Subcommittee. We had good interest at our March meeting and hope to hold its first meeting before summer.

Here’s a new initative I’m excited about:

The NBIAI Interfaith Events and Programs Subcommittee was created by the NBIAI Board of Directors at the October 2014 board meeting. The purpose is to work on interfaith events events and programs. These may be of an inspirational, informational, service or social nat ure — mostly likely some combination of the four.

As with the NBIAI — which took on the food pantry task when the community needed it —  we would look for things that aren’t otherwise being done.

The vision for this subcommittee is faith, community and friendship. Like the NBIAI, this will be a group of people of different faiths and denominations working with others of goodwill. 

For more info about the April 17 meeting, how to help with the Food Drive, or the Interfaith Programs and Events Subcommittee, call Mark Rondeau at 413-664-0130 or email northernberkshireinterfaith@gmail.com. The Friendship Center Food Pantry number is 413-664-0123.

A new service at the Eagle Street Room

Alan Rilla speaks about the Re-Entry Initiative at the January public meeting of the NBIAI.

Both our January and March meetings were on the topic of the Berkshire County Sheriff Office’s Re-Entry Initiative, which is headquartered at the former Berkshire County Jail building on Second Street in Pittsfield. In January we spoke to Program Director Alan Rilla and in March we spoke with Lindsay Maynard, programs and treatment coordinator. 

As a result of our January discussion, this outreach to ex-offenders now uses the Eagle Street Room to meet with people from north county between food pantry sessions on Wednesday, basically 2 to 4 p.m. For more information about this program, call 413-443-7220, ext. 1190.

Part of a flyer for the Re-Entry Initiative.

NBIAI celebrates 5th birthday

The April 9, 2010 forum of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition was on the topic of the intersecion of faith and commuity life. At least two of us at the forum did not feel that the clergy were doing enough interfatih work (compared to communities such as Bennington, Vt., for instance) and said so. The clergy in turn challenge us laypeople (non-clergy believers) to do more. Thus was born the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative. We held meetings for several months, looking for a service initiative that did not duplicate anything existing.

Late in 2010, the Berkshire Community Action Council’s food pantry in Northern Berkshire could no longer function. So we found a project, and the Friendship Center Food Pantry was born, opening in February 2011.

We also revived and expanded a ministry voucher system. Ran a service for mental illness recovery and understanding for two years and hold public meetings most months on the third Friday of the month at 10 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of North Adams. All are always welcome to attend.

By the way, we get on fine with the clergy, and several who were at that Coalition forum at 2010 became big supporters of our effort, including the pastor who challenged us laypeople to do more!

Thanks for visiting and reading and God Bless,

Mark Rondeau

At our March Interfaith meeting, we talked about the Sheriff's Office re-entry programs for ex-offenders and also the new NBIAI Interfaith Events and Programs Subcommittee and the closing of North Adams Regional Hospital and the desire to re-establish a full-service hospital in Northern Berkshire. Thirteen people attended.

NB Interfaith Action Springs Ahead

Looking Ahead: Letter Carrier Food Drive May 10

Each year, our local letter carriers make a heroic effort to collect donated food from residents along their routes. This food then goes to local food programs.

Here is a press release by Al Nelson that we have ready to help announce the food drive:

On Saturday, May 10, our local food pantries get help from your letter carriers.

You can make their day and help those in need in your community by leaving a bag of non-  perishable food by your mailbox, your door, or business before your regular mail delivery to be  taken to Northern Berkshire pantries. 

The Berkshire County Letter Carriers’ Branch No. 286 out of  our post offices in North Adams, Adams, and Williamstown will come together with volunteers  from the Interfaith Action Initiative, and  Mass In Motion, the latter a  program of the Northern  Berkshire Community Coalition to help alleviate the increasing plight of food insecurity for many of our neighbors.  Lots of people in our area are in crisis. Families with children, the  working poor, and seniors. A visit to a pantry twice a month helps immensely to supplement  their meals with nutritious food.  And it’s always passed along by volunteers in friendship with  dignity and respect. 

Your generous donations will fill the shelves of the Friendship Center, Berkshire Food Project,  and the Salvation Army in North Adams.  In Williamstown, the Saints Patrick and Raphael Parish  and the Community Bible Church. In Adams, the Pope John Paul Charity Center has asked that  food in that area be directed to the Family Life Support Center Louison House. 

Your letter carriers see the problems face to face during their mail deliveries. They’re ready to  help in a big way on Saturday, May 10th. Bags of food from those who can give will make a difference to the hungry in our communities.

We are looking for volunteers for this drive. If you can help, email us at northernberkshireinterfaith@gmail.com.

Need for Food

This chart shows that the total number of visiting households this year was higher in March than in previous years. Green line shaped like a V shows 2014 trend.

The need for food remains steady. So far we have not seen a great increase in pantry members due to the unfortunate closure of North Adams Regional Hospital, though this may change. As was well-publicized in the local media, we did receive about 1,400 lbs. of food left over from the hospital. To call this donation “bittersweet” would be accurate.

It’s worth noting that the Food Bank of Western Mass. has been quite active in finding out whether they can be of any assistance in providing food aid to those who lost employment at the hospital, even asking our food service director directly if we have seen in an influx and needed extra help getting food. So far the answer has been no.

Still, with five weeks this year, April may prove to be our busiest month yet. Last year we averaged 139 household visits per Wednesday; this year we are averaging 157 household visits per Wednesday.

Some of the food given to the Friendship Center Food Pantry by the hospital.

The Friendship Center Food Pantry took part in a services fair at MCLA on April 11 for those who had lost their jobs at North Adams Regional Hospital. These women speaking to Steve Green did not need our services. Those who do are encouraged to call us at 413-664-0123 or stop by on Wednesday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. or 4 to 6 p.m.

In some better news, our friend and original Eagle Street room nurse, Barb Cariddi, who lost her job with the VNA when the hospital closed, has been hired by Berkshire Medical Center and was up with us on Wednesday, April 23. Though she has other duties now, she told her new employers that she would be quite happy serving with us on Wednesdays. We should be seeing more of her in the future. Fortunately, we now also have the services of nurse Cindy Croce, who also has been a joy to be around and a blessing to us and our visiting friends.

Barbara Cariddi

Monthly meetings going strong

Debbie Vallieres, from Little’s Pharmacy, spoke at our March meeting. She was very knowledgeable and dedicated to the services she helps provide.

Since our last post, we have had two great third-Friday meeting monthly presentations.

At our March meeting, Debbie Vallieres, from Little’s Pharmacy, spoke about Medicare Part D drug coverage problems and solutions for people with financial need. She will also talk about Part B coverage, and medication compliance as a means to decrease hospitalizations and re-admissions.

She particularly impressed us with how the pharmacy goes above and beyond with its program to compile monthly packets of the pills its customers need. Each day has its own compartment. This is a nation-wide program that Little’s participates in and is quite impressive.

At our April 18 meeting, 13 people gathered for a reading on and discussion of Catholic Social Teaching led by Sister of St. Joseph and former Northern Berkshire Community Coalition employee Natalie Cain. In four years of monthly meetings, this was the first time most of those present stayed seated well past noon to continue the discussion.

We read as a group the 1975 pastoral letter of the Appalachian Catholic Bishops “This Land is Home to Me.” It is very poetic and incisive and we marveled at how much it in is relevant to the U.S. today and how much of it relates to very closely to our life in North Adams:

“Without judging anyone, it has become clear to us

that the present economic order does not care for its people.

In fact, profit and people frequently are contradictory.

Profit over people is an idol. And it is not a new idol, for Jesus long ago warned us.”

———

“In a country whose productive force is greater than anything the world has ever known, the destructive idol shows its ugly face in places like Appalachia. The suffering of Appalachia’s poor is a symbol of so much other suffering — in our land — in our world. It is also a symbol of the suffering which awaits the majority of plain people in our society

– if they are laid off,

– if a major illness occurs,

– if a wage earner dies,

– or if anything else goes wrong.

In this land of ours, jobs are often scarce,

Too many people are forced to accept unjust conditions

or else lose their jobs."

———

“Throughout this whole process of listening to the people, the goal, which underlies our concern, is fundamental in the justice struggle, namely, citizen control, or community control. The people themselves must shape their own destiny. Despite the theme of powerlessness, we know that Appalachia is already rich here in the cooperative power of its own people.”

Above, Sister Natalie Cain hands a copy of “This Land is Home to Me” to Eric Wilson at our April Interfaith monthly meeting. Below, some of those who attended reading the letter, which applied Catholic Social Teaching to the lives of ordinary people in Appalachia and the U.S.

The next meeting of the Interfaith Action Initiative will be held on Friday, May 16, at 10 a.m. in the Eagle Street Room of the First Baptist Church of North Adams. All are welcome

No topic for the meeting had been determined as of the writing of this post. Keep an eye out for upcoming announcements of what it will be.

Support the North Adams Lip Dub!

Annie Rodgers and Peter Gentile speak about the North Adams Lip Dub project on “In the Company of Friends.”

After a several-month absence, the cable TV show “In the Company of Friends” is back on Northern Berkshire Community Television Corp.’s Channel 15. This is 116-2 on my TV.

Our current show focuses on the North Adams Lip Dub project. 

Annie Rodgers and Peter Gentile were our guests. Annie is leading the project for the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition and Peter will produce and direct the Lip Dub.

The Lip Dub would be a great project for community spirit, but time to fund it is running out. This would be a music video promoting North Adams, filmed downtown in September, with people saying the words to a locally written song. 

The video would be filmed in one take, with no cuts. You’ve likely seen one, whether you realize it or not.

To find out more, visit here. Or watch the program on NBCTC Channel 15 on Sundays at 7 p.m., Mondays at 7:30 p.m. and Tuesdays at 3 p.m. The Monday and Tuesday times will not apply during the first week of May.

To those who would say that such a project is not appropriate at this time of hospital and job loss, I say not doing it will not bring back jobs or medical services. On the other hand, all the money spent on this will stay here, locally. A successful project will provide a boost to the economy and the city’s image as a resiliant place.

The message to the world would be not another version of: “Poor North Adams reels from another hit” but “North Adams, the tough little city that just won’t quit.” Think about it — then please donate if you can!

God Bless All of You,

Mark