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Food Pantries Awarded Berkshire Bank Foundation Grants

By Joe DurwinSpecial to iBerkshires
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Berkshire Bank foundations donated $23,000 to more than two-dozen local food pantries.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire County's 23 food pantries on Wednesday each received a welcome boost in funds going into this year's holiday season. 

Each was awarded a grant of $1,000 by the Berkshire Bank Foundation and Berkshire Bank Foundation-Legacy Region, formerly the Legacy Banks Foundation.

The presentation was one of the first major joint charitable awards co-presented by these two philanthropic branches following the merger of Berkshire Bank and Legacy Banks. These grants celebrate the successful merger of the two by reinvesting back into the community, said Director Peter Lafayette, who helms both foundations.

"You people are really the unsung heroes," Lafayette told grant recipients gathered in the lobby of the Colonial Theatre.

These funds come as a shot in the arm to many cash-strapped pantries, going into a winter season in which many charities and assistance programs foresee heavy demand from local families.


Food pantries that received grants covered a range of churches from several denominations, as well as secular food pantries and organizations serving veterans.

The list of organizations includes the Williamstown Food Pantry, the Christian Center, Christian Assembly Food Pantry, Friendship Center Food Pantry, First Baptist Food Pantry, Hinsdale Food Pantry, Lee Food Pantry, People's Pantry, Soldier On, Reigning Love Food Pantry, Sheffield Food Assistance Program, and South Congregational Food Pantry. 

Pantries at St. Agnes, St. Charles, St. Mark, St. Stephen and St. Joseph all received grants as well, as did Berkshire Food Project, Veterans Food Pantry, and the Salvation Army in North Adams and Pittsfield.

The two foundations have also supported a number of such facilities this year in nearby New York, Vermont, and in the Pioneer Valley, not included as part of this particular award presentation.

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EPA Lays Out Draft Plan for PCB Remediation in Pittsfield

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Ward 4 Councilor James Conant requested the meeting be held at Herberg Middle School as his ward will be most affected. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric have a preliminary plan to remediate polychlorinated biphenyls from the city's Rest of River stretch by 2032.

"We're going to implement the remedy, move on, and in five years we can be done with the majority of the issues in Pittsfield," Project Manager Dean Tagliaferro said during a hearing on Wednesday.

"The goal is to restore the (Housatonic) river, make the river an asset. Right now, it's a liability."

The PCB-polluted "Rest of River" stretches nearly 125 miles from the confluence of the East and West Branches of the river in Pittsfield to the end of Reach 16 just before Long Island Sound in Connecticut.  The city's five-mile reach, 5A, goes from the confluence to the wastewater treatment plant and includes river channels, banks, backwaters, and 325 acres of floodplains.

The event was held at Herberg Middle School, as Ward 4 Councilor James Conant wanted to ensure that the residents who will be most affected by the cleanup didn't have to travel far.

Conant emphasized that "nothing is set in actual stone" and it will not be solidified for many months.

In February 2020, the Rest of River settlement agreement that outlines the continued cleanup was signed by the U.S. EPA, GE, the state, the city of Pittsfield, the towns of Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington, and Sheffield, and other interested parties.

Remediation has been in progress since the 1970s, including 27 cleanups. The remedy settled in 2020 includes the removal of one million cubic yards of contaminated sediment and floodplain soils, an 89 percent reduction of downstream transport of PCBs, an upland disposal facility located near Woods Pond (which has been contested by Southern Berkshire residents) as well as offsite disposal, and the removal of two dams.

The estimated cost is about $576 million and will take about 13 years to complete once construction begins.

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