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.

Colegrove Summer Program Capped With North Adams Recreation

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
06:22AM / Saturday, August 01, 2026

Mayor Jennnifer Macksey speaks with Drury intern Cypress Smith and artist Robert Fitzgerald at the summer program at Colegrove Park Elementary School. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — There were squeals of laughter as children did their best to fly planes by some of the city's most iconic structures. 

 

The planes were paper, the buildings cardboard and Main Street was a hallway at Colegrove Park Elementary School, but the setup represented nearly two weeks of creative research and design by the pupils in the public schools' 21st Century Summer Program. 

 

Local artist Robert Fitzgerald has been doing for summer camp five years, working with Grades 3 through 6.

 

"This has been an incredible summer," he said Thursday as children showed off their masterpieces to Mayor Jennifer Macksey. 

 

"The idea really grew out of a project we did last year, which was ... [Grade 4 teacher] Emma Marino had an airplane competition, and so the students we had been working with cardboard in the art room. So we built a city to surround the runway. 

 

"This year, when I asked her if she was going to do it, I said, 'Let's build North Adams.'"

 

He asked the students what was important and unique in North Adams, laughing that, of course, a lot of them went to fast food places.