NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — If you see emergency vehicles at Walmart on Saturday — give them a toy.
The annual Emergency Service Toy Drive will be accepting new, unwrapped toys for needy families from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.
The emergency responders will be set up near the Walmart entrance and will be accepting suitable toys for ages zero to 12 like board games, dolls and action figures, building blocks, art supplies and sports equipment.
Toys can also be dropped off until Dec. 11 at the police station, fire station, ambulance station and Bright Ideas Brewery. Monetary donations can be dropped off at the police station to MaryAnn King's attention.
The city's Police and Fire Departments and Northern Berkshire EMS have been running the drive for about decade now.
But organizer King said this year the need is greater than ever. The drive already has 62 families and more than 120 children signed up.
"It seems likes it's going to be a tough year and we want to make sure everybody gets something," said King.
Families and children are mostly identified through the Berkshire Community Action Council; volunteers, including from Berkshire Family and Individual Resources, help organize the toys by age and wrap them up for distribution in December.
All of the donations will be given out to children in the community.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.
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North Adams Housing Trust Building Foundation for Future
By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The newly established Affordable Housing Trust has spent its first meetings determining its mission, objectives and resources.
What it has to decide is the chicken or the egg — set goals with the purpose of finding funds or getting the funds first and determining the best way to use them.
"I think that funding actually would dictate the projects that we do, rather than come up with we what we want to do, and then find a way to fund it," said Trustee Ross Jacobs last Thursday. "There may be sources we explore that will be successful. Some may not. ...
"If we start exploring funding options and get some of these wheels rolling, then we'll have a better idea within six months where some of these are going, and then what we can do."
Trustee Nancy Bullett said it may be more of doing both at the same time.
"It's almost simultaneous looking at the projects that are incorporating funding, because your funding is specific to whatever it is that you're doing," she said. "So how do you identify the projects that you want to work on, which then dictates the funding."
This will tie into the trust's objectives which could include home rehabilitation, property tax relief, emergency rent or mortgage, or support of projects undertaken by private or public developers like Habitat for Humanity.
Driscoll was getting a lesson in fly fishing from Brian Gilbert of Hilltown Anglers after a speaking to outdoor recreation stakeholders at Berkshire East in Charlemont.
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