Berkshire Athenaeum Thanks Employees with $34K in Bonuses from Bequest

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
12:36AM / Friday, October 08, 2021Print Story | Email Story

The trustees vote to reward library workers with a bonus for their efforts during the pandemic.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Board of Library Trustees on Tuesday voted to disperse about $34,000 from the Fay Henry bequest to employees for their work during the pandemic.

Full-time employees will receive a one-time $1,000 bonus and part-time employees will receive a one-time $500 bonus.

The library has about 52 employees and 15 of them are full-time.

President Kathy Amuso proposed this to the board — including Berkshire Athenaeum Director Alex Reczkowski — for the first time during the panel's meeting on Tuesday.

Amuso said that she wanted to make sure the library's custodians also receive the bonus.

"I think it's important work that went on," Amuso said. "And I think when other areas, other businesses were closed to the public, many employees weren't even coming in, everybody at the library really did their part and we were able to serve our community and we didn't serve it the same way, but we served it differently."

Fay J. Henry and her brother, Rodman R. Henry, were fifth-generation city residents who vowed to support the community with their life savings. She passed away in 2019 and he died in 2011.

In their will, they bequeathed funding to a variety of nonprofit organizations in Berkshire County, and about $350,000 of that went to the Berkshire Athenaeum.

Amuso's proposal was met with agreement across the board.

Member Gail Molari made the motion for approval.

"I think it's a great idea," Trustee Pam Knisley said. "They really did stand up and do whatever they could to make sure that the library continues to serve the public as best they can."

Trustee John Neiner pointed out that this falls under employee retention efforts, which the board had originally discussed using the bequest in part for.

"As we're talking about other topics about retention and that sort of thing, I think it's a good gesture to show to the employees, and they really did so much work during a really hard time emotionally," he added.

"I really appreciate the things that I saw for safety and protection and they did so with heavy hearts a lot of times because of what was happening, so I think it's a really good gesture, I would support it fully."

Trustee Thasia Giles pointed out that it helps recognize that the community is still dealing with the effects of the pandemic.

"I think it helps recognize that we're still in this time of great uncertainty," she said. "And the library staff continues to navigate so many unknowns and also enforce the policies that are upholding our health and safety as a community."

To be eligible for the bonus employees would have to be actively employed on Oct. 1, 2021.

The board will be touching base with the library's bargaining unit to make sure the bonus is permissible.

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Social Service Organizations Highlight Challenges, Successes at Poverty Talk

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
08:04AM / Sunday, April 05, 2026

Dr. Jennifer Michaels of the Brien Center demonstrates how to use Narcan. Easy access to the drug has cut overdose deaths in the county by nearly half.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Recent actions at the federal level are making it harder for people to climb out of poverty.

Brad Gordon, executive director of Upside413, said he felt like he was doing a disservice by not recognizing national challenges and how they draw a direct line from choices being made by the Trump administration and the challenges the United States is facing.

"They more generally impact people's ability to work their way out of poverty, and that's really, that's really the overarching dynamic," he said.

"Poverty is incredibly corrosive, and it impacts all the topics that we'll talk about today."

His comments came during a conversation on poverty hosted by Berkshire Community Action Council. Eight local service agency leaders detailed how they are supporting people during the current housing and affordability crisis, and the Berkshire state delegation spoke to their own efforts.

The event held on March 27 at the Berkshire Athenaeum included a working lunch and encouraged public feedback.

"All of this information that we're going to gather today from both you and the panelists is going to drive our next three-year strategic plan," explained Deborah Leonczyk, BCAC's executive director.

The conversation ranged from health care and housing production to financial literacy and child care. Participating agencies included Upside 413, The Brien Center, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, MassHire Berkshire Career Center, Berkshire Regional Transit Authority, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Child Care of the Berkshires.

The federal choices Gordon spoke about included allocating $140 billion for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, investing $38 billion to convert warehouses into detention centers, cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid over 10 years, a proposed 50 percent increase in the defense budget, and cutting federal funding for supportive housing programs.

Gordon pointed to past comments about how the region can't build its way out of the housing crisis because of money. He withdrew that statement, explaining, "You know what? That's bullshit, actually."

"I'm going to be honest with you, that is absolute bullshit. I have just observed over the last year or so how we're spending our money and the amount of money that we're spending on the federal side, and I'm no longer saying in good conscience that we can't build our way out of this," he said.

Upside 413 provided a "Housing Demand in Western Massachusetts" report that was done in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Donahue Institute of Economic and Public Policy Research. It states that around 23,400 units are needed to meet current housing demand in Western Mass; 1,900 in Berkshire County in 2025.

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