Ocean State store manager Jennifer Socie poses with Police Chief Jason Wood and Fire Chief Stephen Meranti on Thursday.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Ocean State Job Lot has donated $11,000 worth of personal protective equipment to city's first-responders.
"We didn't know this was coming," Fire Chief Stephen Meranti said Thursday in front of Ocean State Job Lots on Curran Highway. "We much appreciate the partnership and the community involvement and this will go to good use. It will help protect us and help us protect the public."
The cache included digital thermometers, surgical masks, KN95 masks, and face shields. The equipment will be used by police officers and firefighters responding to emergency calls to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Store manager Jennifer Socie said the donation is a corporatewide initiative and that Ocean State Job Lots' owners always look for ways to give back.
"Our owners are very philanthropic and they love to give back to the community," she said. "They saw an opportunity to really help out the first-responders."
She said the store has been collecting donations from customers for about four months now that also went toward the purchase of the PPE.
"Our shoppers really stepped up and our shoppers shop frequently," Socie said. "They would make a donation every time they shopped and every little bit helps."
Meranti said this is the second donation of PPE that Ocean State Job Lots has provided local first-responders. He added that the donation will most definitely help during the anticipated second wave of COVID-19 expected this fall.
Police Chief Jason Wood agreed.
"I think this is great and it is good to see some community support," he said. "We have always had a good relationship with Ocean State. We can use all the PPE we can get because we don't know what the fall is going to bring."
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Ocean States Job Lot is very community supportive They give me a discount when I purchase the United States Flags for Kempville Flags Inc.
Macksey Updates on Eagle Street Demo and Myriad City Projects
By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
The back of Moderne Studio in late January. The mayor said the city had begun planning for its removal if the owner could not address the problems.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Moderne Studio building is coming down brick by brick on Eagle Street on the city's dime.
Concerns over the failing structure's proximity to its neighbor — just a few feet — means the demolition underway is taking far longer than usual. It's also been delayed somewhat because of recent high winds and weather.
The city had been making plans for the demolition a month ago because of the deterioration of the building, Mayor Jennifer Macksey told the City Council on Tuesday. The project was accelerated after the back of the 150-year-old structure collapsed on March 5.
Initial estimates for demolition had been $190,000 to $210,000 and included asbestos removal. Those concerns have since been set aside after testing and the mayor believes that the demolition will be lower because it is not a hazardous site.
"We also had a lot of contractors who came to look at it for us to not want to touch it because of the proximity to the next building," she said. "Unfortunately time ran out on that property and we did have the building failure.
"And it's an unfortunate situation. I think most of us who have lived here our whole lives and had our pictures taken there and remember being in the window so, you know, we were really hoping the building could be safe."
Macksey said the city had tried working with the owner, who could not find a contractor to demolish the building, "so we found one for him."
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