Letter: April Is National Volunteer Month

To the Editor:

Kindness and Compassion.  April is National Volunteer Month.

Why do people volunteer? What do they get out of it?

We're taught from a very young age that we will feel good if we help others. It's true, volunteering gives us a sense of meaning, of purpose.

Thanks to a website, nextdoor.com, people can post requests for help. I just saw such a request from someone who knew of an elderly woman who was unable to walk her beloved dog and would have to give him up if she couldn't find help walking him. "Her health is declining, and the dog is her best friend."

Diane Perault
Williamstown, Mass.

Williams College Lone Suitor for Development of Water Street Lot

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
11:15AM / Thursday, April 16, 2026

Williams College hopes to replace the current Facilities Services building on Latham Street and use that space for a new  athletics complex. 

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — If the town accepts an offer from Williams College, a 1.27-acre lot that long has been eyed as a possible venue for housing and economic development instead will find a use similar to its history.

 

The college was the lone respondent to the town's request for proposals to purchase and develop 59 Water St., a dirt lot known around town as the "old town garage site." This was first reported Wednesday by Greylock News. 

 

If successful, the college plans to use the former town garage property for the school's Facilities Services building. Or it could be turned back into a parking lot.

 

Williams' offer includes a $500,000 upfront payment and a 10-year agreement to make $50,000 annual donations to the Mount Greylock Regional School District according to the proposal unsealed on Wednesday afternoon.

 

If it closes the deal, the college said it will explore development of a three- to four-story Facilities Services building with "a structured parking facility providing approximately 170 spaces."

 

"[I]f site constraints impact our ability to develop both structured parking and the Facilities Services building, our backup proposal is to develop the parking structure with approximately 170 spaces, also with capacity to support institutional and public needs," the college's proposal reads.

 

The college's current Facilities property at 60 Latham St. has an assessed value — for the .42-acre lot only — of $113,000 and an annual property tax bill of $1,606, according to the town's website.