Help From Many People and Groups

Marayam Kamagar, of Goodwill, has been working with us and our pantry friends for years. She has been key in getting the Goodwill truck help us and other programs during this pandemic. Below, the truck arrives on Friday, May 1, with our four pallets of food from the Food Bank of Western Mass.

Goodwill Helps Us Get Food Orders

Transportation is always a major issue when you’re dealing with food distribution. We are happy that one local organization is helping us and several other programs with this.

We’d like to thank Goodwill of the Berkshires and Southern Vermont. For the last few weeks and all the way through June, the Goodwill truck will be picking up our food order every week at the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts in Hatfield. Ordinarily, we rent a U-Haul truck every week and drive it to the Food Bank and back. So this saves us money and time. The size of their truck also allows us to get more food, without having to send a second truck to Hatfield.

On Friday, May 1, the truck brought in our order of 6,397 lbs. of food!

Through this arrangement, Goodwill is also helping several of our fellow programs. These include the Berkshire Food Project, Louison House, the Community Bible Church and the Williamstown Food Pantry.

Adams Center Pantry Reopening

We have official confirmation that the food pantry in Adams is reopening this Wednesday, May 6, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Those in line at 1 p.m. will be served. See photo of the sign below for more information. The Center Food Pantry is located on Route 8 in downtown Adams, in the basement of St. Thomas Church. The door is on the Route 8 side at street level and is located across from the end of Hoosac Street and the Berkshire Mill Apartments and diagonally across the street from Chee’s.

Though we never turn away anyone who comes to us for food, we ask that those from Adams, Cheshire and Savoy use the Adams pantry in the future. It has been our pleasure to serve you in recent weeks.

Measuring the Increase of Need

We have been serving more households since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the increase has not been as dramatic as in other areas of the country. In March 2019 we served an average of 121 households per week. This year in March, as the pandemic came to the forefront, we stayed about the same in household visits, with an average of 122 per week.

In April, at our new temporary location at the St. Elizabeth Parish Center, we have seen about a 10 percent increase in visits. In April 2019 we averaged 121 household visits per week. This year this has increased to an average of 133 visits per week.

One main reason why we have not seen a dramatic increase is that Northern Berkshire has been so great in pulling together to provide additional food resources. This includes our public schools. Following is just a partial list of the food opportunities available.

Other Local Food Sources

Food Pantries

The Community Bible Church Food Pantry, 160 Bridges Road, Williamstown, has food and are more than willing to distribute it. They are open to give out food every day. Just call Phyllis Babcock at 413-663-6094 and she will meet you at church at your convenience.

Williamstown Food Pantry at St Raphaels & St Patrick Church, Wednesdays, 9:30-12 at 53 Southworth St. Enter the church grounds from the Mission Park Drive entrance north of the church and exit onto Southworth Street. Drive Thru method, do not get out of the car. For information call: 413-458-4946, ext. 1.

Mobile Food Bank

The Mobile Food Bank of the Food Bank of Western Mass comes regularly to Adams and North Adams. On the second and fourth Tuesday of each month it comes to the Adams Council on Aging, 3 Hoosac St. in Adams, from 10 to 11 a.m. On the first and third Friday of each month, it comes to the North Adams American Legion, 91 American Legion Drive, from 10 to 11 a.m.

Meal Site

Berkshire Food Project-Monday, Wednesday and Friday-11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Grab and Go Lunch. Pick up is outside under the tent at kitchen door entrance.

Local Farm Food

The North Adams Farmers Market is online and mobile. Delivering to North County ONLY.  A limited amount of orders will be taken Monday during Grab and Go Lunch Distribution at the Berkshire Food Project, 11:30-1 or Wednesday at the Al Nelson Friendship Food Pantry at St. Elizabeth’s Parish. Delivery will be on Friday and Saturday. You can use credit card and debit orders if you would like to order online.

EBT payments will be accepted in person during the pre-order opportunities, and doubling up to $30 in benefits. Orders will be taken in person and payments must be made in person upon delivery. There will be FREE delivery for EBT customers. This was made possible by a grant from the Berkshire United Way's COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund for Berkshire County.

For more information, visit: https://www.facebook.com/NorthAdamsFarmersMarket/ For Questions Call: 413-664-6180 or Email: tourism@northadams-ma.gov

Community Coalition Weekend Meal Delivery Program

This is a new program paid for through the Berkshire County COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund to coordinate a weekend meal delivery service through from local restaurants to those community members who are currently unable to leave their homes and unable to access food on the weekend. This initiative is open to people who reside in any one of the seven north Berkshire towns (Williamstown, North Adams, Clarksburg, Florida, Adams, Cheshire, and Savoy). At this time, they have budgeted for 150 meals for each weekend.

This program is intended to reach individuals and families with no other access to food resources on weekends. They strive to reach those families and individuals who are not already connected with a food pantry or meal program.

Organizers ask interested participants what food resources they are already accessing in order to avoid any duplication of efforts and so that they can expand the community's ability to provide for vulnerable populations.  

If you know of any individual who is in need of food on the weekend because they are dependent on food delivery services at this time, provide them with the Coalition main phone number, 413-663-7588. Coalition staff will be taking phone calls Monday through Friday, 9 a.m.to 3 p.m. Orders for weekend delivery will be placed on Fridays at 3 p.m. and deliveries will be coordinated for Saturday at a designated time. 

This program is free of charge, as the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition uses the funds it was awarded by the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund to compensate both the restaurant and the delivery driver for their service. 

Dick Netherwood and Frank Risati, both wearing masks, get to work unwrapping and shelving a pallet of food from the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, on Friday, May 5.

Thanks for Contributions and Offers to Volunteer

Above is a very impressive list of groups and organizations doing their best to help in this difficult time. It’s not only groups, however, who are helping so much. Since the start of this pandemic, we have received dozens of monetary donations from individuals, and almost as many offers to volunteer. We are grateful and appreciate all of them.

We have not to this point been able to utilize all of the volunteers who have offered, but we greatly appreciate them answering our call. We do not think this pandemic is going to be over soon, and when it mercifully is over there will still be lots of people in need. So we foresee many opportunities to help going forward. The first people we contact as new needs for help arise will be those who have already volunteered to help. Again, thank you!

New State Order on Masks

We here pass along information about the state order regarding wearing masks in public. All volunteers with our food pantry began wearing masks or face coverings while here two weeks ago. Though cloth face coverings are best for preventing one from giving COVID-19 to another, studies show that when two people interacting are both wearing masks the possibility of virus transmission goes way down. Though our food distribution is outside, we greatly appreciate it when our visiting friends are wearing a face covering.

With that said, here is more information from the Northern Berkshire COVID 19 Operations Center:

Per the Governor's order, face coverings are being required when entering stores and on public transportation starting on May 6th in order to help deter the spread of COVID19 and protect the health of our friends, neighbors and families.The requirement applies to all workers and customers of businesses and other organizations that are open to the public. Below is the link for today's press release: 

https://www.mass.gov/news/baker-polito-administration-orders-use-of-mask-or-face-covering-in-public-announces-increased

Don't worry if you cannot find masks online or in stores. There are any number of ways to make effective face coverings from materials you already have in your home such as scarves, bandanas, and old clothing.  

The link to the CDC recommendation and instructions on how to make a face covering from household items is included below:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/DIY-cloth-face-covering-instructions.pdf

For additional information:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/cloth-face-cover-faq.html

Help spread the word. If you have questions or have trouble finding information, contact the North Berkshire Operations Center at 413-662-3614 or by email at nbcovid@gmail.com.

If you cannot find or make a mask, let us or the Operations Center know and we can probably find one for you.

Who We Are

As so many people are new to us, and we to them, during this pandemic, a few words about who we are.

The Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative Inc., the parent organization of the Al Nelson Friendship Center, is a 501c3 non-profit organization. We were founded ten years ago as a group of people from various faiths and denominations working with others of good will to serve our community.

The Friendship Center Food Pantry opened on Eagle Street in North Adams in February 2011. It has been an all-volunteer operation since its inception and is considered a model program by the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.

It was named the Friendship Center because we consider those we serve with our food pantry, and associated services, as friends, not clients. The name Al Nelson was added in 2018 after the passing of our beloved co-founder, Arlon “Al” Nelson. More information about us and our history can be found on this blog.

Our mailing address is PO Box 626 North Adams, MA 01247. Phone: 413-664-0123. Email: northernberkshireinterfaith@gmail.com. Website: https://friendshipfoodpantry.org/

Thanks and God Bless,

Mark

We Live in a Very Generous Community

Receiving the check and food at the Abbott School. Woman on the left is from the Berkshire Humane Society.

Donations, donations, donations

It has become hard to keep up with the number of donations we receive. Here, I will deal mainly with donations of food, but the donations of money we receive are just as remarkable. Here goes:

• One of the most memorable for me came recently when I went to Abbott School in Florida to pick up a $450 check and 642 lbs of food.

This came from a Project 351, a non-profit that inspires and helps eighth graders in every city and town in the state develop leadership skills and do service. This project was led by student Ambassadors Mackenzie Wright, Autumn Tynan and Ambassador Alumna Tilly Brule. Their coach, Heidi Dugal, is also principal of the Abbott School.

Other students who participated were Nathan Richardson, Jack Gibeau, and Paris Sumner.

The project consisted of a long food drive at Abbott School and McCann Technical Vocational High School for both the Friendship Center and the Berkshire Humane Society. The “Oh, Be Thankful” Pie Contest held on Nov. 26 at the American Legion in North Adams raised nearly $1,200 for us the Humane Society and for the American Legion’s annual Christmas Dinner.

Al Nelson watches as the group from the Clarksburg School loads up our cart.

• In another town we serve, Clarksburg, the Clarksburg School has been great in running a food drive each year we’ve been open. In past years, one of us would go up and get the food.

This year, parent Heidi Blake, along with her twin daughters, Hope and Hannah, along with Abby Smith and Brandon Vallone visited on Saturday, Nov. 29, and delivered 233 lbs of food. Al Nelson and I had a could discussion with the visitors and explained how the pantry operates in detail. An enjoyable visit.

Mayor Alcombright at the Friendship Center on Friday, Dec. 20, with Ellen Sutherland and Darcie Bellows.

• Also for the third year in a row, the City of North Adams, both the schools and the municipal side, ran a food drive for us. Some 682 lbs. of food arrived on Friday, Dec. 20. Mayor Alcombright — who is a great supporter of our work — and Darcie Bellows from the city and Ellen Sutherland from the schools came to the Friendship Center for some media coverage.

Our friend Aleta Monchecci of BCAC (center) with two helpers delivered food from the first Harvest Haul to the Friendship Center back in October.

• Lest I forget, on Oct. 19 our friends at the Berkshire Community Action Council held their first Harvest Haul, which benefitted a number of organizations. After having been set up at Wal-Mart in North Adams, some BCAC folks came over and delivered 219 lbs. of goods.

• I would be remiss not to mention all the produce that local farmers and gardeners donate to us, including all the produce that Kathy Keeser and other volunteers with Hoosac Harvest glean (ie. pick up overlooked veggies off the ground) at local farms. (Am hoping to do a post here soon on local produce.)

These donations which I have photos for are just a small percentage of the food and personal care product donations we receive, many from generous individuals. Here are some other recent donations:

• Spitzer Center, Dec. 3, 120 lbs.

• Clarksburg VFW Post 1994, Dec. 2, 58 lbs.

• Everyday Health, Nov. 27, 68 lbs.

• MCLA Center for Service and Citizenship, Nov. 26, 108 lbs.

• Florida Baptist Church, Nov. 26, 48 lbs.

• MCLA Hunger Banquet (held Nov. 24),  146 lbs., plus $118 donation.

• Storey Publishing Co., Nov. 26, 78 lbs.

• Williams College Center for Learning in Action, Nov. 25, 406 lbs.

• North Adams Regional Hospital SEIU 1199, Nov. 22, 200 lbs.

• St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Nov. 19 & Nov. 26, 386 lbs. total

• VNA & Hospice of Northern Berkshire, Nov. 19, 219 lbs.

Healthy Donations

Our friend Amanda Chilson, as part of the Mass in Motion effort has given us a list of suggested healthy foods. We have offered it out several times already to groups wanting to do food drives for us. Here it is:

• Beans

• Tuna

• Peanut Butter

• Instant Brown Rice

• Whole Wheat Pasta with Pasta Sauce

• Low Sodium Canned Vegetables (Tomatoes) or Soup

• Oatmeal

• Whole Grain Cereals (Low Sugar)

• No Sugar Added Canned Fruits

Well, that’s it for now. To my Christian friends, Merry Christmas. To everyone else, Happy Holidays. And to all, God Bless You,

Mark

Unloading 4,900 lbs. of Food

This is my favorite, showing Stan Owczarski loading potatoes on our cart from the back of the truck.

On Tuesday, Nov. 27, several volunteers picked up and then unloaded about 4,900 lbs. of food from the Food Bank of Western Mass. We rent a U-Haul truck and pick up the food in Pittsfield. All the volunteers involved were: Rich Davis, Steve Green, Fran Morandi, Stan Owczarski, Dick Netherwood, Frank Goodermote, Henry Bounds, Al Nelson, and Mark Rondeau. Plus one young man started helping us who I did not know. He just came in off the street. It happens.

In fact, just before I left, while all these volunteers were still stocking the shelves for Wednesday, I answered a call to the Friendship Center from a man visiting the area who wanted to help with a charitable effort while he is in town. If all goes according to plan, he will be helping out during the second shift on Wednesday.

Here are some more photos:

 

The truck arrives around 12:35 p.m.

 

 

 

 

 

We start unloading the truck. Three pallets and a fourth broken down because it would not fit otherwise.

Fran Morandi carries a bag of potatoes into the Friendship Center.

Rich Davis and Dick Netherwood in foreground. With everything inside, it becomes time to stock the shelves.

Pantry Needs Volunteers for New Evening Hours

The Friendship Center Food Pantry needs people to volunteer on Wednesdays from 4 to 7 p.m. at its site at 43 Eagle St. starting on Wednesday, July 13. Contact denisekrutiak@yahoo.com if you are interested in volunteering.

Open since mid-February during the hours of 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Wednesday, the pantry now has more than 350 member households and serves between 65 and 84 households per week. We have an adequate amount of wonderful volunteers on Wednesdays during the day, but now that we will also be opening for a second time later on each Wednesday, we will need about 12 volunteers each day to make the late-afternoon, early-evening session work.

Tasks include filling orders from our visitors, greeting our visitors, keeping track of visits and registering new members, and stocking shelves.

Please consider coming down to visit and find out what we are about. Our aim is to treat the people who visit us with dignity as sisters and brothers and build relationships of friendship.

We are also instituting a cleaning crew every other Saturday, starting Saturday, July 9. Contact Mark Rondeau at markrondeau@earthlink.net if you are interested in participating.

The Friendship Center Food Pantry is a program of the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative, which meets the third Friday of the month at 10 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of North Adams (Use Eagle Street entrance).

For more information, visit our blog at http://northernberkshireinterfaith.blogspot.com

The Friendship Center is on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Northern-Berkshire-Interfaith-Action-Initiative-Friendship-Center/100392236707183?ref=ts

Assessing success — surveying the challenges ahead

Friends,

Except for the simple things in life, nothing good is ever easy. And so it has been with the food pantry at the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative Friendship Center.

Not easy, but it has been a very good thing.

As I write this on April 9, we have been open for seven weeks. In that time we have served 27, 14, 36, 21, 65, 53, and 55 households. Notice how the last three weeks have doubled and tripled the numbers of the earlier weeks.

Many good things stand out: Great volunteers; a great working relationship with our various partners, including the Berkshire Community Action Council and the Western Mass Food Bank; the development of solid and effective procedures to serve our friends who visit; and perhaps most of all — for want of a better way of putting it — a spiritual, friendly and loving attitude in our service.

Our next Interfaith Action Initiative meeting will be held on Friday, April 15, at 10 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of North Adams (use Eagle Street entrance). At this meeting, we will discuss what has been going well in our food pantry operation and what could be improved. So far, I can say we’ve been doing great.

But as the crowd of visitors the last three weeks — and the photo below, taken today — indicates, we need to find ways of getting more food. Whether this consists of getting more from the Western Mass. Food Bank through BCAC, I don’t know. For one thing, we need to find out what impact the federal budget deal will have on our supply of food in the short- and mid-term.

It’s occurred to me that while we would not have too difficult a time in finding an adequate number of volunteers to open a second time on Wednesdays, in the evening, we absolutely would not have enough food.

Opening more hours is, I think, at least six months to a year away.

I can see several fronts we may want to discuss taking preliminary action on:

1). Increasingly surveying and working with local supermarkets to get food. In addition, looking at national sources of food, such as applying directly to companies. We also may want to look at working with companies to get needed items such as diapers and toiletries. And there is the matter of the upcoming annual Post Office food drive in May. (Al Nelson has been looking into this and can give us a report).

2). Setting up a network with local houses of worship in which they periodically take up collections of money and food for us. This could also be a source of volunteers.

3). We also will probably want someone to start looking into grants and writing grant applications for funds. (If we can use funds to buy food from the Food Bank at reduced cost, that would also be a good fundaising pitch.)

I know some of you are particularly interested in each of these areas. Perhaps we can discuss creating a task force for each.

Other food pantry issues that we may discuss on Friday include further needs for the Friendship Center, such as a computer; parking for volunteers; possibly making a visit to the Food Distribution Center just opened in Bennington by their Interfaith group; ways to give our visitors an updated idea each week of what foods are available for them; and my discussions with the Berkshire County Superior Court probation department.

When it comes to the Interfaith Action Initiave itself we may want to start looking into a larger location for the Friendship Center. I’m very happy with where we are now, but eventally we will need a larger space and the idea was that this would be a temporary location for our services center. I know that the city and Catholic Charities, among others are quite interested in this issue, but I do not know the status of discussions.

Naturally, people first were interested in if and how we would get the Friendship Center food pantry off the ground. Now that we have proven we are up to the task, we need to keep with the original vision. Plus, frankly, finding a larger space right in the downtown that we can afford is not going to be easy. All the more reason to start looking into it now — and looking for grant funding.

At Friday’s meeting, I imagine we will also check in on how to move forward with further study of preserving and expanding the Williamstown church voucher system. And our moment of silence and prayer will be important, too. In fact, our prayer before the Friendship Center’s doors open is a signature part of what it’s all about. Personally, it reminds me why I’m there and how I want to respond to every situation during those three hours the front door is open.

***

A few notes of interest.

• Last Sunday, Dave Babcock, of First Baptist in North Adams, held his Sunday School class in the Friendship Center. I opened the door for him and his class. When I came back to lock up, there was a 134-pound donation of food in numerous bags!

• When I came in the next day, there was also a 35-pound donation of food from the Congregational and Methodist churches in North Adams!

• Thanks to Shriley Davis’ son Bob, who last Wednesday anchored the shelves we have in back to the wall. That is the second task he has done for us.

• Don’t forget the Northern Berkshire Neighbors awards event on Wednesday, April 13, at Congregation Beth Israel in North Adams, which is located at 53 Lois St. in North Adams. Lois Street is the second left past Stop and Shop heading west toward Williiamstown. There will be an opening reception at 5 p.m., with refreshments and a chance to visit with others. Mayor Alcombright will help with the award ceremony, which will begin at 5:15 p.m. and ending about 6:15 p.m.

We will receive a recognition certificate that we can hang up in the Friendship Center. I won’t be able to attend because of work. But I hope someone will take photos, as I would like to post one or more here.

God Bless all of you,

Mark

Photos: top: During a lull on April 6, are (l-r) volunteers Wendy Lyons, Erik Wobus, Denise Krutiak and, at the desk, Sue Walker. Below: Taken April 9, this photo shows the diminished amount of food that was left after we closed the doors on Wednesday. The boxes under the first shelf used to hold lots of extra food. They don’t anymore.

Connecting with many friends

Friends,

The Friendship Center food pantry served 36 families on Wednesday, March 9. This is up from 14 last week and 29 the week before. We served 19 families in the first 45 minutes we were open — our team of volunteers was really hopping!

On Wednesday we signed up 20 new members, and the Friendship Center now has a total of 62 families signed up as members.

But it's not about numbers, it's about helping people, making connections with our friends in the community and among each other. It’s about serving God in and through our neighbors.

So far, we seem to be on the right track. We have some fantastic volunteers, and we would welcome more, in a number of capacities. We need your help. Contact volunteer coordinator Denise Krutiak at denisekrutiak@yahoo.com or me at northernberkshireinterfaith@gmail.com. We are looking for volunteers who can help during our daytime hours and those who could help in the evening when we add evening hours down the road.

Friends from the community who are not in need of food are always welcome to come in and see what we are doing. I would love to see more of those I know and love stop in and visit.

I want to thank the members of the North Adams Youth Commission for letting Al Nelson and me speak to them last Thursday about the food pantry and ways to get youth involved. I was encouraged by the meeting that this will happen, and happen in varied ways.

I also want to thank Mike Garland and WNAW for having Maureen Gaudreau, Mark Lincourt and me on the Opinion program on Monday morning to talk about the Friendship Center food pantry and the food drive that Maureen and North Adams Commons has organized in several locations in North Adams through Friday. From what people who heard it tell me, we did OK.

God Bless,

Mark

(Photo above: Getting ready before we opened the doors at 11 a.m. are (l-r) Denise Krutiak, Gail Obrest, Shirley Davis and Sue Walker.)

Another rewarding Wednesday

Friends,

Wednesday, March 4, was a second rewarding week of the Friendship Center Food Pantry. Traffic dropped off at bit from last week's 27 families — who will be eligible to come back for food next week. This week we had 14 families come to the pantry, and with our "soft opening" successful, we will put the word out into the local media this week that we're open for business.

In another great development, our new sign is done and up and looks great. Thanks to Al Nelson for paying for the sign and for hanging it up. Katherine Montgomery dropped off a food donation and a picture to beautify the Friendship Center, and Deacon Bruce Ziter dropped off a sizable donation of food. We also received the help today of two great new volunteers.

Here are some photos. The new sign. Shirley Davis and Al Nelson clean the front windows. The sign in place. The view of St. Francis Steeple from the front window of the Friendship Center.

God Bless,

Mark

Opportunities Knock

The Dec. 17 meeting will be important. We have some exciting news. There is a possibility that we will get the use of storefront in North Adams. This will be a main item on our agenda. The person who made the offer has expressed interest in this Interfaith effort from the start and will attend the meeting. We likely will take a brief “field trip” to see the space.

On Monday I saw this 800-square-foot-space, with restroom, space for an office and ample storage space and am quite impressed with it.

As for the survey of what local faith communities are doing to meet basic human needs, an analysis of the results so far of our survey reveals several interesting patterns that show more exciting opportunities. For instance, some of the churches we have surveyed have food pantries from which they distribute food on a periodic basis. Two we have surveyed so far actually make trips to the Western Massachusetts Food Bank to pick up food to distribute. While great, these efforts are not coordinated with each other and could be expanded beyond once a month.

At last Friday's meeting of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition (NBCC), a representative of the Western Mass Food Bank expressed interest in working with us on distributing their food through faith communities.

So there is an opportunity for us to be instrumental in widening the availabllity of food through faith communities in Northern Berkshire. The space we will visit could play a part. Many churches in Northern Berkshire already collatorate in the Take and Eat program, delivering Meals on Wheels to the elderly, the ill and shut-ins on weekends and holidays. I participate through the St. Anthony Kitchen at St. Elizabeth of Hungary in North Adams. This new opportunity could allow us to make more food available to families and those who do not receive Meals on Wheels.

I think to be most effective in establising what we can do on food distribution — and other areas such as providing clothing — we should try to wrap up our faith community survey by the end of January. We already have a great start. I hope on Friday to provide a list of communities we have not yet connected with. I think we should give every faith community the opportunity to comment on our survey.

When we have gathered as much information from faith communities as we can, then we can summarize and publicize our findings. I have already produced a three-page informal summary that I used as notes for the Dec. 10 meeting, which I would be happy to share with anyone interested. So producing an analysis we can publicize when our survey is complete should not take long. I will bring my preliminary summary to Friday’s meeting.

I think a positive result of our effort so far has been more of a place at the table for the faith perspective: at the North Adams downtown celebration, at the Coalition discussion of the tattered social services safety net and, upcoming, the new Systems of Care effort that the NBCC is helping start, which I mentioned in the last post. The invitation I received for this mentioned that they wanted to have the faith community represented. With clergy being stretched enough as it is, the existence of the Interfaith Action Initiative allows for greater faith representation at various community efforts and discussions.

I mentioned in the last post the end of the Williamstown Ecumenical Association and the end of its voucher system. It was suggested to me by Rabbi Jeff Goldwasser that we invite someone with knowledge of the voucher program, such as the Rev. Peter Elvin, of St. John's Episcopal in Williamstown. I think this would be a good idea, especially as the nature of this voucher program will necessitate strong clergy involvement if it continues.

I also think we should consider inviting someone from the Western Mass Food Bank, since they are interested in our effort, and from Greater Bennington Interfaith Community Services, which runs a food and fuel fund and a free medical clinic in Bennington.

Also, we should consider going to Pittsfield for a meeting of Co-Act, which is involved in interfaith service (one of their members has came to our last meeting); and perhaps visiting Brattleboro, where there is a strong interfaith effort.

There are a couple of exciting upcoming events to mention. MLK Day in January, which will once again be a community service day. And the North County Christmas Concert willl be held at First Congregational Church in North Adams (at Monument Square) on Sunday. Dec. 19, at 4 p.m. Proceeds will benefit the St. Anthony and St. Vincent de Paul Kitchens (part of Take and Eat program) and the Berkshire Food Project.

Well, there's a lot going on to think — and pray — about.

As always feel free to comment. I hope to see you Friday.