Friendship Center volunteer Erik Wobus, left, Doppelgangers President Robert Donnelly, Director of Food Distribution Mark Lincourt, Doppelgangers Vice President Chip Beckwith and volunteer Fran Morandi were at the center on Eagle Street.
North Adams Motorcycle Club Aids Friendship Center
By Andy McKeever iBerkshires Staff 10:45PM / Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Mark Lincourt helped carry the donations into the Eagle Street center.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Doppelgangers motorcycle club surprised the Friendship Center with a pickup truck full of donations Wednesday evening after collecting them from the area over the past two weeks.
According to club President Robert Donnelly, the group put boxes and posters in various local businesses and its clubhouse on Oct. 12 to collect food and clothing.
On Wednesday, Donnelly and Vice President Claude "Chip" Beckwith dropped off three boxes of food and multiple bags of clothing, enough to fill the truck bed.
In total, 182 pounds of clothing and blankets and 123 pounds of food.
"We want to be good neighbors," Beckwith said. He said the group had been looking for ways to help the community.
The Friendship Center has picked up where the Northern Berkshire Food Pantry left off when it closed two years ago. Entering its second holiday season, Director of Food Distribution Mark Lincourt said it now serves more than 1,100 families throughout North Berkshire.
The new pantry was started on Eagle Street by the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative and received its first donation in February 2011. Lincourt said the center's operations have grown tremendously in the last two years.
The volunteer group distributes food to families in need. The Doppelgangers' clubhouse is in the Crystal Hard Hat's former location on Union Street. The club is private — with about 15-members — for owners of Harley-Davidson and Indian motorcycles.
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