Service for Mental Illness Recovery and Understanding Jan. 26

New Hope Church is well-named. A bright, cheerful, contemporary space, it was the site of the first Service for Mental Illness Recovery and Understanding in January, 2013.

The second annual Interfaith Service for Mental Illness Recovery and Understanding will be held at New Hope Methodist Church in Williamstown on Sunday, Jan. 26, beginning at 7 p.m. 

This will be an inclusive and supportive event in an informal setting. All are welcome.

New Hope is located at the corner of Main and Water Streets in the former TGL Photoworks building. 

Last year’s service was quite powerful and well-attended and this year’s service is shaping up to be the same. It will be led by the Rev. Dan Randall, the recently installed pastor of New Hope, who has planned the service. It will last about an hour. Refreshments will be available.

More than 40 people attended last year’s service, which was led by Pastor Kim Kie, who is now pastoring in Barre, Vt.

I am looking forward to it, and hope to see you there.

God Bless,

Mark

Ecu-Health Care at Jan. 17 Interfaith meeting

Michael Morelli speaks at our November Interfaith meeting, which generated much interest.

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I have known Chip Joffe-Halpern, of Ecu-Health Care, for many years. First, writing about health access issues years as a reporter for The Advocate, pretty much from the time the program started on.

More recently, Chip helped both my mother with her prescriptions health benefits and later on me with managing some of my hospital bills after a major operation.

He is a great guy, very passionate about helping people get access to affordable health insurance. So I was very pleased and called me recently, wishing to present at one of our Interfaith Action Initiative public meetings.

The Friday, Jan. 17, meeting of the Northern Berkshrie Interfaith Action Initiative will feature Chip, who is the executive director of Ecu-Health Care.

The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of North Adams. All are welcome. He will speak about health access issues and opportunities such as the Affordable Care Act.

Ecu-Health Care is a local nonprofit health care access organization, located in the Doctor’s Building on the campus of North Adams Regional Hospital.

The organization, which has been connecting uninsured and underinsured residents with affordable health care for the last 18 years, was recently named as one of 10 Navigator sites by the Massachusetts Health Connector.

One of the great things about Ecu-Health Care is that it started as an ecumenical effort!

November meeting well-attended

Our November meeting featured Michael Morelli, benefits paralegal with Community Legal Aid in Pittsfield, talking about SNAP (food stamp) benefits. Some 18 people attended this meeting of them, several for the first time.

About us

The Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initative is a group of

people of different faiths and denominations work together with others of goodwill to find ways to serve our community. It runs the

Friendship Center Food Pantry in North Adams, an emergency voucher system in Northern Berkshire, and holds monthly meetings to discuss topics and programs of civic and religious concern.

For more information, call Mark at 664-0130 or visit our page on Facebook.

Many Partners Make for Productive Service

Michelle Sylvester of WIC made healthy treats at the Eagle Street Room recently.

Friends,

Since we at the Friendship Center started about a year ago to have our visiting friends sign up first at the First Baptist Church of North Adams Eagle Street Room, the number of other programs that have come to help there have been amazing.

The Family Place of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition started visiting our people before this move, and the Food Bank of Western Mass. even did a food demonstration from the vestibule of the former Papyri Books store.

Both organzations have since come down to the Eagle Street Room, most frequently the Family Place. Another Coalition-sponsored program, Mass in Motion, has since come to the Eagle Steet room several times to encourage healthy eating.

The WIC program (see photo above) has had a presence at the Eagle Street Room, as had Bryan House of the Reconnect program aimed at young adults and run by the Berkshire Community Action Council.

One of the services we are most excited about is the presence of nurse Barbara Cariddi (photo below) almost every Wednesday at the Eagle Street Room, for such things as blood pressure checks and flu shots. And not only for our visiting friends but for us volunteers, too. In fact, I got my flu shot there from Barbara this fall.

She talled up here services between Wednesday, Sept. 25, and Wednesday, Nov. 27, and she saw 140 people, with a high number of 31 on Oct. 23.

Most recently, we have had Sherry Dunne from Louison House vist on a recent Wednesday to chat with our guests to see if they or anyone they know is homeless. Sherry is great and was an early attendee when the NBIAI was getting started nearly four years ago now.

Most recently, this past Wednesday, Jan. 8, in fact,, we welcomed Maryam Kamangar, commmunity development manager of Goodwill Industries of the Berkshires Inc. to the Eagle Street Room. She was informing people about Goodwill’s SuitYourSelf program, which helps people get suitable clothing to apply for and keep employment.

Maryam has spoken to me and others, and we feel there are some great opportunites for collaboration between our groups.

All of these collaborations are exciting and are part of what makes all this work a joy.

God Bless

Mark

AMDG

Nurse Barbara Cariddi is available most Wednesdays during our first session at the Eagle Street room. She sees patients in a very accessible but quite private side room.

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.

Need remains high; resources decrease

Attendance at the Friendship Center Food Pantry went “through the roof” in October (see graph). 

While this September was just a 26-household increase from September in 2012, this October we had our highest monthly attendance ever: 782 families in five weeks. This is compared to last October, when we had 640 households in five weeks. 

That's 142 households more -- like an extra Wednesday of visiting families!

Now, SNAP (food stamp) benefits, are being cut back. What will we see in November, and what can we do about it? Come to the November meeting of the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative to see what’s going on. More below.

Interfaith Action meeting to discuss decrease in SNAP benefits

The Friday, Nov. 15, meeting of the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative (NBIAI) will focus on SNAP (food stamp) benefits, including the decrease in monthly benefit amounts in November.

A funding boost passed by Congress in 2009 expired at the end of October. Households will see benefit cuts ranging from $11 to $36 per month.

Our presenter will be Michael Morelli, benefits paralegal with Community Legal Aid in Pittsfield. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in the Eagle Street room at the First Baptist Church of North Adams. All are welcome to attend.

In addition to the decrease in benefits, Mr. Morelli will also provide information about applying for SNAP, general rules about these benefits such as income eligibility and household units, and the rights that SNAP applicants and recipients have, such as appealing denials, reductions and terminations.

For more information about this meeting and recent NBIAI events, visit http://northernberkshireinterfaith.blogspot.com

October meeting a learning experience

Bear McHugh (pictured above), of Berkshire AHEC, gave us a very helpful presentation about suicide prevention at our October Interfaith Action meeting. Bear is a great guy and we learned much from him. He was a particularly good sport as he came to our July meeting at which the heat was incredible and only three people were present. So we rescheduled to October, and are very glad we did.

I have much more to write about, but no time (or energy) now. God Bless You All,

Mark

CLOTHING SALE AND MORE IN NORTH ADAMS

Some of what we have to offer. More photos below this post.

    In this post: Clothing Sale Saturday; Youth Suicide Prevention presentation on Oct. 18.

It’s finally here: The Second annual Clothing Sale to benefit the Friendship Center Food Pantry. This sale will be held on Saturday, Oct. 12, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at All Saints Episcopal Church on Summer Street in North Adams (please use lower-level entrance facing big parking lot).

Offered will be a great selection of gently used clothing at reasonable prices. All proceeds will support the food pantry — a service of the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative (NBIAI) — which has more than 1,400 member families in North Adams, Clarksburg and Florida.

The pantry, located at 43 Eagle St. in North Adams, has been open since February 2011. Currently it is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. every Wednesday.

The food pantry is busier than ever, with 3,000 lbs. of food delivered by truck every Tuesday. We set a one-day record on Wednesday, Sept. 25, with 204 families served. 

We conduct sign-ins for the pantry during its first session at the First Baptist Church of North Adams, not far south of the pantry on Eagle Street. This additional space has allowed us, through partnering with other agencies, to offer staff from other agencies the chance to connect with our visiting pantry members. The cooperating programs, so far, are: The Family Place, Mass in Motion, Project Reconnect, and, most recently, a nurse from North Adams Regional Hospital. We look forward to increasing such collaborations in the future.

The NBIAI is a group of local people of various faiths who, along with others of goodwill, are working together to serve our community. We meet monthly on the third Friday of the month at the First Baptist Church of North Adams. All are welcome.

Oct. Interfaith meeting topic: Youth Suicide Prevention

The Friday, Oct. 18, Interfaith meeting will feature Bear McHugh, of Berkshire AHEC, giving a presentation on Youth Suicide Prevention. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of North Adams. All are welcome to hear and discuss our presentation on this important topic.

A total of 15 people attended the September NBIAI meeting. This, our first-ever spiritual retreat, was led by the Rev. Jennifer Gregg of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Pittsfield and Sue Walker, pantry volunteer, NBIAI Steering Committee member and retired psychotherapist. 

Through various means, pantry volunteers and others connected with the theme “Time Apart: An Invitation to Rest after Feeding 5,000,” letting the Spirit guide their individual thoughts and our resulting group reflections in new directions.

- Mark

Here are some more photos of items we had put out as of Friday, Oct. 4 — more than a week before the sale, with many more to come.