Letter: Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive

To the Editor:

The Board of Directors of the Al Nelson Friendship Center Food Pantry in North Adams wishes to thank the North Adams, Clarksburg and Florida Mountain community for their generation donations to the May 11 Letter Carrier Food Drive.

We received a total of 3,595 pounds of food and personal care items.

We equally want to thank our Letter Carriers who work out of the North Adams Post Office. They again went above and beyond in collecting the donations and bringing them to the collection and sorting site. They are always a pleasure to work with.

We also want to thank the Northern Berkshire United Way, the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, and the Berkshire United Way for their support, as well all of the volunteers who helped on the day of the Food Drive.

Lois Daunis
North Adams, Mass. 

Daunis is the board president of the Friendship Center.

North Adams' Walnut Street Work to Start Next Spring

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
05:43AM / Wednesday, November 04, 2026

The city is in the process of taking 12 Oak Ave., with the hope of the contractor can use the property for staging equipment. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Work on the Walnut Street retaining wall is expected to begin next spring.

 

However, preparations for the project are starting now with the removal of trees, placement of utility poles and installation of drainage down Oak Street this fall — dependent on weather.

 

"We talked a lot about what we thought the schedule was going to be, and the contractor preferred to work on the stormwater management piece, and then move the utilities so we're not worrying about you in the winter," Mayor Jennifer Macksey told Walnut residents during a project update on Monday.

 

"The contractors will still be working up there, weather dependent. But originally, when we spoke, we talked about moving the utilities first. But we thought that it was a better plan to wait until the spring, so you won't have any disruption to your driveways."

 

She said there were concerns about depending on temporary utilities during the winter.  

 

"I think this is the best course of action to do it and do it right. It's safety, we have to think of safety not only of all of you, but safety of our contractors," she said. 

 

The city received a $2 million MassWorks grant, together with $200,000 left from flood recovery money, to rebuild the massive block wall holding Walnut Street 50-feet above a long abandoned quarry.