CLOTHES, CLOTHES AND MORE CLOTHES

A U-Haul filled with bagged clothes arrives Saturday at All Saints Church in North Adams. The sale will be held in the church hall.

The second annual Clothing Sale to benefit the Friendship Center Food Pantry will be held on Saturday, October 12, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at All Saints Episcopal Church in North Adams. (Between the NA Post Office and the big parking lot).

Donations of clothing, including children’s clothes and  winter clothes, are still being accepted. In addition to the many donations we have been receiving, we’re again getting a large amount of the clothing left over this year from the ABC Sale in Williamstown.

Prices will be quite reasonable. All proceeds from the sake will benefit the Friendship Center Food Pantry, which serves more than 1,400 member households in North Adams, Clarksburg and Florida. Need is great and the pantry served a one-week record 204 (just revised) households on Wednesday, Sept. 25.

On Saturday, Sept. 28, a great group of volunteers helped us fill a U-Haul with fine clothes left over from the ABC Sale.

Those who helped, whose names I know, include Fran Berasi, Bert Lamb and Liz Boland (aka, the Amazing Berasi Sisters). Also, Sue Walker, Al Nelson, Ed Oshinsky, and Mark Rondeau. Greatly appreciated are the efforts of two recent MCLA LEAD Academy Graduates, Ben Hoyt and Nichole Klemchuk. More thanks go out to Carolyn Behr, who does an awesome job leading the ABC Sale and who has been most gracious to us; thanks, tooo, to Jack Hockridge at All Saints. Thanks, too, to Corinne Case and her group of teens.

Finally, we thank those, students and others, who were at the ABC Sale and helped us bag the clothes and fill the U-Haul. It was hard work but fun. Here are some photos:

We started loading bags downstairs at the ABC Sale, and at first it seemed kind of daunting. But the odd items in this room lifted our spirits. Above: Fran Berasi and Sue Walker. 

Bert Lamb at a rack of costume clothes. If you want graduation gowns, we now have several.

With Dozens of people working, it didn't take long to bag the items in the big hall upstairs. Pictured here is only a fraction of the bags, however.

Ed Oshinsky drove the U-Haul and helped load and unload, too.

Ben Hoyt from MCLA was a huge help in Williamstown and North Adams.

We unload the truck at All Saints in North Adams. Bert in the truck holds a pair of ice skates, which weren't put in a bag because of the sharp blades.

Nichole Klemchuk of MCLA was a great help when we unloaded the truck in North Adams.

We appreciate All Saints letting us use their fine facility.

A RECORD DAY IN TWO RESPECTS

This chart shows the monthly totals for visits to the Friendship Center Food Pantry for every month since we opened in February, 2011, to August, 2013. 2011 is illustrated in pencil; 2012 in blue ink and 2013 in red. The 2013 September resullts, which just came in with Wednesday’s totals, are 582 in four weeks. This compares to the total households served during September 2012, 558 in four weeks. This is in keeping with us running at somewhat higher numbers over last year but not greatly so.

This week we trucked in and unloaded thousands of pounds of food to feed hundreds of people. We also offered a new service for the first time: the presence of a nurse.

On Wednesday, Sept. 25, the Friendship Center Food Pantry served 135 families in its 10 to 2 session and a whopping 67 families in its 4 to 6 session for a record total of 202 families served for the day.

Our previous record for one day was 186, which we achieved once. Treasurer and pantry evening shift supervisor Stuart Crampton said, “It was a bit too much but not much too much....We ran out of many, many things, but everyone got quite a lot.  Less produce than last week, but we had two good looking beets left.”

We also signed up 13 new members. We now have served in 2.5 years of operation more than 1,400 families in North Adams, Clarksburg, and Florida.

Our volunteers are wonderful and continue to amaze.

Also on Wednesday, Amanda Chilson of Mass in Motion visited to offer healthy food samples from the types of foods we offer at the pantry. We also have a pretty consistent presence at the pantry from The Family Place, another intiative that has grown out of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition.

In an extremetly exciting development, nurse Barbara Cariddi came to the Eagle Street Room, where we sign people in for the food pantry and they fill out their menus, to offered people blood pressure checks, other screeenings and information about programs such as Ecu Health Care.

Barbara will be visiting frequently and at some point will offer flu shots as well.

Anyone who wishes to help us to continue to do what we do is encouraged to take part in our benefit clothing sale. Here is the announcement I sent out for the bulletins of houses of worship this week:

Benefit Clothing Sale Seeks Donations: The second annual Friendship Center Food Pantry Benefit Clothing Sale will be held on Saturday, Oct. 12, at All Saints Episcopal Church hall (located next to the North Adams Post Office) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Organizers are seeking donations of all types of clothes and particularly children’s clothes and winter clothes. Donations may be dropped off at the offices of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition 61 Main St., Suite 218, North Adams between 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m.; at the Friendship Center Food Pantry between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, or you may call Mark at 664-0130 and leave a message to arrange pick-up. All proceeds from the sale will benefit the food pantry, which in 2.5 years of operation has served more than 1,400 households in North Adams, Clarksburg and Florida.

Hope to see you at the sale!

Mark

Amanda Chilson of Mass in Motion offered a crock pot of health soup and more information about healthy eating choices. Below, we offered apples at the Friendship Center itself.

Retreat Meeting a Great Success

Sue Walker and Rev. Jennifer Gregg lead the retreat, while Stuart Crampton looks on. Below, the circle we started out in. (More photos below post).

The Friday, Sept. 20, meeting of the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative broke new ground — it was our first retreat meeting — and was a great success.

Some 15 people attended the mini-retreat, which was led by the Rev. Jennifer Gregg, pastor of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Pittsfield, and Sue Walker, a member of our steering committee and regular Friendship Center volunteer.

The topic was “Time Apart:  An Invitation to Rest after Feeding 5,000” and we relaxed and meditated up on the Gospel accounts of Jesus feeding a crowd by multiplying loaves and fishes. The mini-retreat was meant for those who serve, particullarly those involved with the Friendship Center Food Pantry.

Using the technique of “lectio divina” — or sacred reading — each was us picked out some word from the text that particularly spoke to us. We spoke of its impression on us and were then invited to express this is some creative way.

I chose the word “mountain” — the place to which Jesus retreated to pray after the miracle. My painting chose to illustrate Him going up the mountain. Others chose to draw, mediatate or free associate.

Rev. Gregg has offered and will likely facilitate further meetings for us.

Our Oct. 18 NBIAI monthly meeting will feature Bear McHugh, of Berkshire AHEC, who will give a presenation on youth suicide prevention. The meeting will start at 10 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of North Adams. (Please use Eagle Street entrance).

God Bless You All,

Mark

We broke out into different activities to express the insights of our reflection. The people at the table are drawing or painting. Below, I did a painting of Jesus ascending a mountain to pray alone after feeding the 5,000.

Peak of Vegetable Season

Various succulent vegetables in the window of the Friendship Center on Wednesday, Sept. 18. Below, at the same time, we had bags of lettuce and more available at the Eagle Street Room at First Baptist Church.

The amount of produce we have been giving out at the Friendship Center Food Pantry has increased exponentially in this, our third growing season of operation.

In addition to having bought shares at Caretaker Farm, we receive generous donations from other local farms, including Many Forks Farm and Square Roots Farm. Some of these donations come from what is left over every week from the Williamstown and North Adams Farmers Markets. The local organization Hoosic Harvest helps us do this, particullarly at the NA Farmers Market.

Local activiist Kathy Keeser is a leader of Hoosic Harvest and a real go-getter on her own in gleaning at farms and giving the results to food programs such as ours. Most recently, she made sure we were able to  give out to our friends a fine assortment of locally grown apples.

In this account, I am sure I am leaving some names out, particularly of farms. For instance, I know of one farm from Washington, Mass., which comes to the NA Famers Market and has given us produce, but I can’t remember the name!

The whole idea behind this is to give our friends the opportunity to get their hands on fresh produce, which of course is healthier and can be significantly more expensive than less nutritious foods.

On Wednesday, Sept. 28, we had all types of vegetables available both at the pantry and at our staging and sign-up site in the Eagle Street Room of the First Baptist Church of North Adams down the street.

To help give ideas on how to prepare all this produce, our friend Amanda Chilson of the Mass in Motion program locally headquartered at the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition will be giving a presentation on foods and recipies at the Eagle Street Room during pantry hours on Wednesday, Sept. 25.

Thanks to all who have helped make this explosion of produce happen!

Peace,

Mark

Cynthia Davis did a good job of getting our visiting friends to take vegetables on Sept. 18.

Busy Summer for Interfaith Action Initiative

 

Important meeting July 19th

The topic of the Friday, July 19, Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative monthly meeting will be youth suicide prevention, featuring guest Bear McHugh, project coordinator with Berkshire AHEC (Area Health Education Center).

The meeting will be held from 10 a.m. to noon in the Eagle Street Room of the First Baptist Church of North Adams. All are welcome to come and discuss this very important topic.

We wil also speak with Jess Dennis, the Team Leader for the new strategy team that is forming in North Adams to look at youth alcohol and substance abuse prevention. She is interested in making connections and getting involvement from the faith community in this effort.

Hospice discussion very informative

A total of 15 peoplle attended the June 21 meeting of the Initiative, where we welcomed Gloria Richard, patient care coordinator for VNA & Hospice of Northern Berkshire. We had a great and wide-ranging conversation about this vital service.

Gloria Richard, foreground patient care coordinator for VNA & Hospice of Northern Berkshire, speaks at our June meeting.

Here is some of what Gloria had to say:

“Thank you for having me. I really appreciate being here. And hospice is something that is very near and dear to my heart. I actually took care of loved ones of my own before I became a hospice nurse. I was a nurse but I wasn’t into working for hospice at that point. 

“But I felt that it was just something so important and that I really

appreciated having hospice for family members that we kept at home to keep them comfortable, to live out what the hospice philosophy is, to be able to be in your own surroundings, the place of their choice where they want to be in, to be comfortable, to die with dignity and respect. I believe in what I work is basically what I want to say.”

She points this out to the nurses she works with:

“I try to train our nurses and tell, whether we’re in the homecare side or the hospice side, that when you’re going into somebody’s home, you’re entering their realm, they’re in charge, and you need to basically listen to them, listen to their wishes and desires and let our work be something that keeps them comfortable and have the dignity of respecting in their home.

“Hospice focuses on the whole family as a unit, not just the person that has the disease process. We treat everyone as a unit, whehter its a family member or a caregiver. It could be a friend, it doesn’t have to be a blood relative. We also take care of patients on the hospice program that will die in the nursing home. And that’s stiil their ‘home,’ and we treat it as we’re going into their home and that the nurses and home health aides and the caregivers that work for the nursing home are their family.

“So when someone passes that’s been a resident there at the nursing facility for many years the family members are also the caregivers and they belong as well, so we offer social services and our bereavement program to the caregivers even in a facility, not just the families that take their people  iin their home.”

Hospice has a team that works together, Gloria said.

“The person’s primary care physician is always in the loop; they (tpatients) don’t necessarily have to go out to the doctor’s appointment to see the doctor; we have a very good working relationship with our local doctors;  and most all of them if we ask them to from the hospice perspective will make a home visit at some point in time if we really feel that that’s needed.”

Hospice volunteers can also give a caregiver a respite.

“We have medical social workers, we have home aides, certifiied nursing assistants that can do personal care, we have volunteers that can just go out and sit with patients. Say a family member has to leave, they just need a couple of hours for themselves, they need to go to the hairdressers for themselves because we also proport ‘take care of yourself’ because caregiving is so stressful and really we want to take care of the person that’s doing the caregiving as well.

“So we’ll coordinate for a volunteer to go sit for a couple of hours, read a newspaper to your loved one, play a game of checkers, do a puzzle, just be silent if that’s what they need but just for somebody to be there.”

She noted that it’s a difficult topic to talk about oftentimes. “A lot of patients don’t necessarily bring it up with their families. A lot of families may be afraid to bring it up with the person they love that’s going through the disease. The physicians may not feel comfortable bringing it up yet because they’re waiting for the patients to say ‘I’ve had enough, whay are my options?’

“I personally think it’s a very good idea for people to know a little bit about hospice before they need it, because so often we’re getting people actually coming on to service literally in the last days of their lives, and we just don’t have a lot of time to work with them.”

And “almost every insurance has a hospice component to it that they will cover services.”

Hospice is not only about terminal cancer but also  frequently applies to other end-stage diseases. There are occasionally cases where someone condition markedly improves.

“We actually have live discharges, and that’s OK, people have a right to revoke their benefit if they choose,” she said. “There is no penalty...your insurance covers that. “ People can go back on hospice and be covered by insurance if and when necessary.

Rev. Dave Anderson of First Baptist North Adams is the hospice head of pastoral care and our own NBIAI Steering Committee member Corinne Case provides pastoral care and bereavement support. In fact, I first met Corinne at a bereavement group she ran in 2010.

This is an important topic, and even though I have dealt with this issue in my own immediate family more than once, I still learned things from Gloria’s presentation, which went on much longer than presented here.

She noted that though hospice has been around in this area since the 1970s, there is “still not good enough awarenss because it’s a difficut topic for people to want to talk about.”

Mark Lincourt moves on, but not too far

Mark Lincourt gets ready to drive the spot relief truck during the 2013 North Adams Letter Carriers Food Drive.

In other news, the Friendship Center Food Pantry continues to be busy. At times it seems like things are leveling off, at other times not so much.

This May, for instance, we served just 8 more households during the month than we did in May 2012. This June, however, we served 92 more households than last June.

A bittersweet development is that Mark Lincourt, a founding member of the Initiative, largely responsible for making the food operations of the pantry successful from the start, has moved on — but not far. He has started a new position as Network Capacity Coordinator for Berkshire County for the Food Bank of Western Mass. 

The good news is that we will be seeing a lot of Mark in his new role and possibly as special guest host of our Initiative cable TV show “In the Company of Friends.”

Taking over as food distribution coordinator and taking Mark’s seat on our nine-member Steering Committee is Rich Davis, who has ably helped run the food operation — and more — since the pantry opened.

This change will necessitate some adjustments. We need a handful of special volunteers to take on some vital behind-the-scenes tasks for the food pantry. We need a relief driver one or more Tuesdays a month to bring our food back from a depot in Pittsfield. 

We also are seeking volunteers to help clean the Friendship Center on weekends (vacuuming, mopping, dusting etc.).

If interested in either of these jobs, please call Mark Rondeau at 664-0130 or email him at markrondeau@earthlink.net.

Rich Davis, center, at 107 Main St, hub of activity during the 2013 Letter Carriers Food Drive.

Thanks for reading all or part of this and God Bless,

Mark Rondeau

Many Heroes Make it Happen

Al Nelson speaks at the Annual Meeting. (Photo courtesy Bert Lamb)

At the Tuesday, June 4, annual meeting of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, Al Nelson and Mark Rondeau accepted the annual Northern Berkshire Hero Award on behalf of the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative. Here is a transcription of what was said during the award ceremony.

It presents a good idea of the philosophy behind the NBIAI and the Friendship Center Food Pantry, the debt owed to so many people for our success so far, who our friends are, and our vision for the future.

ANNUAL MEETING SPEECHES TRANSCRIPTION

Al Bashevkin, executive director of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition:

"Now it's time for, perhaps one of the most...This another very important part of our of our annual meeting and it's the presentation of the Northern Berkshire Heroes Award. So I want to ask my friend, Mayor Dick Alcombright, to come up. The mayor is a former recipient of the Northern Berkshire Heroes Award in 2007. And Mayor Alcombright is leading North Adams during some difficult times, and you do it with heart, you do it with saavy, and at times -- a sense of humor. 

North Adams Mayor Dick Alcombright: 

"Thank you everyone. [Unintelligible] I am not going to go there. Although I will say I am a bit embarassed. It is not casual Tuesday at City Hall, and when I saw Al with a jacket...My jacket's on the back of my chair at work, which doesn't help here. So I feel a bit intimidated by that. 

Before we get into this presentation, I really want to say, when we look at the Coalition, the work that's done and the people that are served and we try to close our eyes and envision a community, this community, this greater Northern Berkshire Community without it. It's frightening at some level. And I don't know if we get there during this program or not, but I really want to thank Al Bashevkin, and I hope you will all join me in thanking Al. 

So in April of 2010, the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative came together as a group of people of faith and good will to find ways to serve our greater community. They were looking for a project to take on, and when the BCAC food pantry closed, they found it. Boy, did they find it. 

The Friendship Food Pantry opened in February of 2011 in a small space donated up at 43 Eagle Street in North Adams, and remains as an entirely volunteer organization. They have sustained a pantry that serves significant needs through grants, donations, and the dedication of a solid and highly dependable group of volunteers.

At the pantry, they strive to treat all recepients of services with dignity and respect and as to the Friendliness, thuse the name, the Friendship Center. They currently serve about 1,300 members in North Adams and the greater region. And the pantry’s open Wednesdays from 11 to 2 and 4 to 6, I believe.

The organization survives solely on the dedication and love of community of those that play a role in its success. So, that said, I want to call up Mark and Al, please, Mark Rondeau and Al Nelson. [5:00]

Mark, thank you so much for not wearing a jacket. [Laughter]. So much. These two gentlemen specifically were the catalysts behind this program, and so much has been said about both these guys, of course most sealed in court documents. [laughter] Now, I’m just being silly here. These two fellas, they continue to serve their faith and their greater communities at a remarkably high level.

Some of you heard me say at the last Neighborly awards, and certainly it applies here, what my mother taught me many many years ago that the greatest gift that you can give anyone is the gift of time. These guys give this most precious gift day in, day out,. And today, we pause here to give you both and your organization our thanks for all you have done, all you do, and will do long after this moment passes. Thank you, Mark, thank you, Al, and all at the Friendship Center for everything you do in giving that most precious gift of time. (6:24) (applause)

Mark Rondeau, co-founder of the Interfaith Action Initiative: 

Thank you. I’m extremely happy to accept this award with my dear friend Al Nelson on behalf of the Interfaith Action Initiative, we’re accepting this award on behalf of a lot people, some who are here, some who aren’t.

The Initiative would not exist and would not have thrived without the support of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition. Indeed, Al and I got the inspiration for the Initiative three years ago at a Coalition forum on the intersection of faith and the community.

With churches closing and consolidating and fewer clergy and several of those clergy still around part time and in any case doing more with fewer resources, the time seemed right to see if laypeople from various faiths and denominations working together with others of goodwill could find ways to serve the community.

So with support and encouragement from Al Bashevkin, Al Nelson and I started convening monthly meetings, talking to various groups and individuals, trying to find a project that didn’t duplicate anything existing.

And as the mayor said, near the end of 2010 we found a project in the emergent need for food pantry services in Northern Berkshire, in space on Eagle Street in North Adams, donated for our use by Lois and Mike Daunis. 

(Lois isn’t here, but she works at the Coalition).

The Friendship Center Food Pantry opened in February 2011. A short time later, at the instigation of our treasurer, Stuart Crampton, we took on administration of a faltering emergency voucher system in Williamstown, not only keeping it operating but expanding it into North Adams and Adams.

For our next initiative, with planning by three members of our clergy, we co-sponsored a very successful service for mental illness recovery and understanding this January at New Hope Methodist Church here in Williamstown. We plan on this being an annual event.

But of course what we are best known for is the Friendship Center Food Pantry. We are open 52 Wednesdays a year — and part of the reason some of our people aren’t here is they’re getting ready for tomorrow — with a roster of about 1,300 families served in North Adams, Clarksburg and Florida. Each household is eligible to get food every other week, but we never turn anyone in need away.

Support from the community has been phenomenal. It has come from individuals of all kinds, from those in need themselves to those with plenty. Our public schools, including the Clarksburg School, which has done a drive for us for two years, our public schools, agencies, letter carriers, houses of worship, businesses, farms, colleges, clubs and many more have given and given again.

Friends coming in to give us donations have ranged from the North Adams Girl Scout Troop 11097 to the Doppelgangers Motorcycle Club. I particularly want to thank our local officials, especially Mayor Alcombright — who made me feel good about not wearing a tie — who assisted us in setting up the pantry and since has instituted an annual city food drive and has helped us in numerous other ways.

The Interfaith Action Initiative is an all-volunteer organization, and we have the most dedicated, innovative, patient, compassionate volunteers you will ever see. Many I didn’t know before we started, and they are now dear friends.

And this is important, because as important to me as what we do is how we do it. We strive to treat all those we serve cheerfully, with friendship, patience, and respect. We call it the Friendship Center for a reason. As a faith-based organization, we are entitled to avoid the word “clients” and we do. It divides those involved into “us” and “them”  — so we call those we serve “friends,” for we are all in this together.

Moreover, I see what we do and how we do it as a statement against the prevalent dehumanizing attitude that would reduce people merely to what they produce and consume, measuring the worth of an individual by the size of his or her bank account. We see each individual as having absolute worth as a unique child of God.

For the future, we want to build an Interfaith organization that lasts. One that passes our ideal of service on to the young. We’d like to do more on faith-related topics, perhaps offering an interfaith support service for caregivers.

We hope eventually to provide more services in a bigger facility, perhaps partnering with other groups and agencies. By the way, we’re already doing partnering,

Beyond charity, we’d like to search out paths to empowerment and justice for ourselves, for our friends, for the entire Northern Berkshire Community.

I thank you for this award from the bottom of my heart. I see so many in this room having given their lives to service. You too are heroes. May God bless you all. Thank you. 

Al Nelson, co-founder of the Interfaith Action Initiative:

When we told Al Bashevkin that both Mark and I would be speaking, he said “Well, I’m going to go out and buy a hook.” He did, he told me yesterday. “How many pages do you people have?” I said, “Quite a few.”

He said, “Well the hook is ready, so watch it, keep an eye out for that.”

On behalf of the initiative, that includes its volunteers, and many food and monetary donors, and the hundreds of friends that we welcome, it’s an honor to receive this year’s heroes award.

We are very grateful to the Coalition, because if it wasn’t for the Coalition, perhaps we wouldn’t even be here today. It’s been a great partnership, it is a great partnership in everything that we do in our development and our ongoing activities. It’s also an honor to be in the company of individuals and organizations that have preceeded us in receiving this award.

Mark made note of the short history of the Initiative and its ministries. And I’ll just note and close by commenting on our volunteers and our hundreds of friends. 

Volunteers: They are of various faiths, denominations, along with others with a passion to glady join in the mission. Sometimes, you might find this difficult because we don’t always get together on theology  — but the volunteers are Catholics, there are Methodists, there are Congregationalists, there are Baptists, there are Episcopalians, Jewish, yes, Muslims, and Buddhists. And there may be others that I’m not aware of. 

We pray together, this group prays together, at meetings, every meeting that we have. And every Wednesday, before opening the Friendship Food Pantry doors, we come together in a prayer circle and pray together.

As Red Sox sportscaster Joe Castiglione often says: “Can you believe it!” Yes, it can be done, it should be done, and it is done here in Northern Berkshire and we’re proud of it..

Prayers put our hearts and our minds in the proper place, showing the way in all that we do.

There are some heated moments, however, and you knew I was going to say it, between Red Sox and Yankee fans, never a dull moment. And there is one Met fan, one Met fan, that person’s in the room today. I would just like to say to that Met fan, Thank you for sweeping the Yankees last week.

Nevertheless, despite our differences in that category, we have a lot of fun together, in a very serious time, when serving our communitites. It’s amazing how all the volunteers with special gifts fall into place to accomplish all that must be taken care of. Some are able to give an hour or two on Wednesdays; others can stay all day; others are there several days during the course of the week.

Why do they volunteer? You’ll have to ask them. I really don’t know why. Several are here today, others are traveling to pick up two to three thousand pounds of food today, which they do every week, every Tuesday. Two to three thousand pounds. 

Now our friends, they’re coping with meeting basic needs, let me emphasize that. They are coping — very, very difficult, meeting basic needs. Life is difficult. How well do you know your neighbor? Next door? On your street? In your neighborhood? How about your Northern Berkshire communities? How well do you know all of your neighbors? Or most of your neighbors?

It’s been an eye-opening experience in the short time that we have welcomed our friends. Through the Friendship Center, taking applications and reviewing menus, we do engage in very food-spirited, friendly conversation, developing very trusting relationships. It’s not just food. 

A gentleman in conversation would say, “I can’t take that. I don’t need that on the menu.” Why not? “I don’t have any pots or pans to cook anything in.”

A young lady with a young child: “No, I can’t accept any refrigerated items.” Why not? “I don’t have a refrigerator. And I don’t have a bed for my child or for myself. We are sleeping on the floor.”

And then every once in a while, the answer is, to an address, “I’m homeless.” I do have to think for a few moments before you continue the conversation, and what you’re going to do.

Let me tell you, the friends that we speak of are very grateful for the help, some are in this room today. They say it to us face to face. And they put it in writing, many times, each time they come, on their menus. “We are grateful, thank you, thank you.” “You are angels.” “I don’t feel poor coming to the Friendship Center.” “It’s a good place for me to come to lift my spirits.”

Have you ever waited in a food pantry line, on a sidewalk, in all kinds of weather, say for about 45 minutes? Some of our friends have. But with the Good Lord’s help we found a solution to that. We now are in partnership with the First Baptist Church, folks go to the church, inside the church, in what we call the Eagle Street room. They start there, fill out their paperwork, and then when time allows and we can get folks into the Friendship Center, they just walk a short distance up the street. That’s helped a lot.

Food is not the only problem, as I noted. As neighbors and community leaders, we have to do some more work to meet these needs, so give us some of your time as volunteers. Thank you ever so much for your food and monetary support. It helps to make better and neighborly communities here in Northern Berkshire. It does make a wonderful and meaningful difference. We see it in so many that come as our friends.

Thank you and God bless. 

(Note: As of this posting, the entire Annual Meeting is being shown on NBCTC community access channel 15 on Saturdays at 5 p.m.)

Some of the many volunteers and contributors who make it all happen, one recent Wednesday at the Friendship Center.