Author, Correspondent to Speak at MCLA Annual Public Policy Lecture Event

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Jamie Ducharme, an author and TIME magazine correspondent, will be Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' 2021 Public Policy lecturer. 
 
She'll speak at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 7, at the college's Church Street Center Auditorium. A remote viewing option will also be available, and both options are free and open to the public. 
 
Registration for the in-person event or for the virtual option can be done here.
 
Ducharme covers health and science. Her work has won awards from the New York Press Club, the Deadline Club, and the Newswomen's Club of New York. Her first book, "Big Vape: The Incendiary Rise of Juul" — a deep-dive into the e-cigarette company Juul Labs and an exploration of the complicated search for an alternative to cigarettes — was published by Henry Holt in May 2021. 
 
Ducharme grew up in New Hampshire, earned a journalism degree from Northeastern University, and started her career as a health writer and editor at Boston magazine. 
 
In 2008, MCLA announced the establishment of the Public Policy lecture series, making public policy forums an ongoing part of the college's long-term speaker offerings, in complement to MCLA's major in political science and public policy.  

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Northern Berkshire United Way: 1970s Has Its Ups and Downs

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff

The Northern Berkshire United Way sets its highest goal yet in 1979, and the first time going over $200,000. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Over three decades, the Northern Berkshire United Community Services had raised some $3 million for its affiliated agencies. 
 
That number was announced that the organizations "fifth" annual meeting in 1974, marking the time since Adams had joined, and counting the funds raised by the North Adams Community Chest and the North Adams and Adams United Funds and Northern Berkshire United Fund. 
 
The report that year was dedicated to past 24 volunteer campaign chairs, of whom 17 were still in the area and three — Russell Lanoue, George Higgins and G. Churchill Francis — had since died.
 
The amount of money raised seemed significant for the time, but the united fund found itself struggling in the early '70s as the economy dipped and its the need for its services grew. 
 
The campaign in 1970 saw an ambitious goal of $184,952 to support 16 agencies, with Northern Berkshire Child Care as the latest addition. The drive kicked off that goal at the Midway with Chair George Bateman, but it reached only 80 percent of its goal by the end. 
 
Batemen said it might not be a financial success but "I believe it was a spiritual success" because of the hard work and enthusiasm of so many drive volunteers.
 
But President Henry Pierpan said there would be allocation cuts for 1971 despite "a substantial sum" voted from reserve funds.
 
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