NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — This year's city and school food drive raised nearly 960 pounds of food to donate to the Friendship Center.
City workers gathered the donation boxes on Friday morning to deliver to the Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative's food pantry on Eagle Street.
"It is awesome that we are able to do this and the city of North Adams employees are just a great bunch of folks," Mayor Richard Alcombright said. "People really do chip in this time of year and they realize the needs of our community."
Donation boxes were left in City Hall, the police and fire stations, the public schools, the Spitzer Center and the library.
"This is a wonderful thing, and it shows how much this community really cares," longtime Friendship Center volunteer Richard Davis said.
The program, largely organized by Ellen Sutherland, assistant to the school superintendent, and Rosemari Dickinson, administrative assistant to the mayor, is in its fourth year. The collections has been around 800 pounds of nonperishable food annually, said Sutherland, but this year the amount increased by well over 100 pounds.
The mayor said it is a humbling experience to donate and that he is proud of the city for really stepping up to the opportunity.
"I have been blessed my entire life in this community. I grew up in a family that wasn't rich but that never really went without," he said. "You really don't internalize that until you do something like this because it makes you think about who you are helping and why and I think that is incredibly important."
Alcombright also thanked the volunteers at the Friendship Center who serve an average of 150 families a week.
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Cost, Access to NBCTC High Among Concerns North Berkshire Residents
By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
Adams Select Chair Christine Hoyt, NBCTC Executive Director David Fabiano and William Solomon, the attorney representing the four communities, talk after the session.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Public access channels should be supported and made more available to the public — and not be subject to a charge.
More than three dozen community members in-person and online attended the public hearing Wednesday on public access and service from Spectrum/Charter Communications. The session at City Hall was held for residents in Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg and North Adams to express their concerns to Spectrum ahead of another 10-year contract that starts in October.
Listening via Zoom but not speaking was Jennifer Young, director state government affairs at Charter.
One speaker after another conveyed how critical local access television is to the community and emphasized the need for affordable and reliable services, particularly for vulnerable populations like the elderly.
"I don't know if everybody else feels the same way but they have a monopoly," said Clarksburg resident David Emery. "They control everything we do because there's nobody else to go to. You're stuck with with them."
Public access television, like the 30-year-old Northern Berkshire Community Television, is funded by cable television companies through franchise fees, member fees, grants and contributions.
Spectrum is the only cable provider in the region and while residents can shift to satellite providers or streaming, Northern Berkshire Community Television is not available on those alternatives and they may not be easy for some to navigate. For instance, the Spectrum app is available on smart televisions but it doesn't include PEG, the public, educational and governmental channels provided by NBCTC.
One speaker after another conveyed how critical local access television is to the community and emphasized the need for affordable and reliable services, particularly for vulnerable populations like the elderly.
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