Williamstown EMTs Are Pretty In Pink For Breast Cancer Awareness Month

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Village Ambulance employees are garnering a lot of attention this month for looking pretty... in pink.

EMTs and staff are wearing pink uniforms to show their support for breast cancer awareness month.

The staff designed embroidered polo shirts — with a pink ribbon on the left right side and a their logo on the right left — to wear for the month of October.

"We wanted to do something fun, something different to show our support,"Angela Swistak, who was one of the employees behind the idea, said on Friday.

Swistak and her co-worker Sean Peltier thought it up in the summer and had Cheshire-based Grapevine Embroidery & Design embroider the shirts — after receiving approval from the boss of course. And when the shirts came in last week, nearly all of the staff jumped on board to don the pink.

"We've had an overwhelming response," Swistak said. "Every year now we'll do this."

The polo-shirts have not only been highly supported by staff but everywhere they go, they are hearing compliments. From emergency room staff in multiple hospitals to nursing homes, the shirts are gaining attention. Godfrey said an Albany-based TV station called in the morning after hearing from staff at Albany Medical Center about the shirts.

"We've been getting a lot of feedback from emergency room staff," General Manager Shawn Godfrey said. "We've got an amazingly positive response."

The support is another level for the ambulance company which already has rainbow ribbons on their vehicles in a sign of support for all types of cancer.

Tags: ambulance service,   breast cancer,   cancer,   

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Williamstown Housing Trust Commits $80K to Support Cable Mills Phase 3

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The board of the town's Affordable Housing Trust last week agreed in principle to commit $80,000 more in town funds to support the third phase of the Cable Mills housing development on Water Street.
 
Developer David Traggorth asked the trustees to make the contribution from its coffers to help unlock an additional $5.4 million in state funds for the planned 54-unit apartment building at the south end of the Cable Mills site.
 
In 2022, the annual town meeting approved a $400,000 outlay of Community Preservation Act funds to support the third and final phase of the Cable Mills development, which started with the restoration and conversion of the former mill building and continued with the construction of condominiums along the Green River.
 
The town's CPA funds are part of the funding mix because 28 of Phase 3's 54 units (52 percent) will be designated as affordable housing for residents making up to 60 percent of the area median income.
 
Traggorth said he hopes by this August to have shovels in the ground on Phase 3, which has been delayed due to spiraling construction costs that forced the developer to redo the financial plan for the apartment building.
 
He showed the trustees a spreadsheet that demonstrated how the overall cost of the project has gone up by about $6 million from the 2022 budget.
 
"Most of that is driven by construction costs," he said. "Some of it is caused by the increase in interest rates. If it costs us more to borrow, we can't borrow as much."
 
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