Letter: Bond Will Be a Reliable Community Leader

To the Editor:

When looking toward the future of this great city, it is important not to neglect the voices of the younger generations. It is also important not to underscore the value community service has in shaping a candidate. Coming from an MCLA student and soon to be officeholder, I believe the person to best connect with our youth and represent the value of community service is Lynette Bond.

The most important memories I've made as a college student were through active volunteerism. As a person who dedicates my time in such a way, I can see how volunteer work has influenced Lynette Bond as a person, and how it will shape her tenure as the next mayor of North Adams. Through her dedication as a foster parent, her time in the Peace Corps, and her intense dedication toward the Colegrove Park Elementary School project, she has proven to me that she will be a reliable community leader.

I have been able to call North Adams my home for 22 years. MCLA was my school of choice because of this beautiful city I have been able to call my home. I think the school is especially emblematic of our community's younger demographics, and it makes me pleased to see who younger people want as their leader. The feedback we have received from the overwhelming majority of them? The future is with Lynette.

With students who want to make North Adams their home after they graduate, and have taken on our community as one that represents them, Lynette is an especially symbolic person to take office as our next mayor. Lynette may not have been born in North Adams, but she chose our city as her home like so many others here do. I am confident in Lynette's experience, transparency, and communicative nature to lead our city for the next two years. I hope with all this information in mind, you will vote for her assuredly on Nov. 2.

Joshua Vallieres
North Adams, Mass.

Joshua Vallieres is a candidate for North Adams School Committee. 

Northern Berkshire United Way: 1980s Sees Double the Growth, Double the Need

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:16AM / Monday, July 13, 2026

Northern Berkshire United Way is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. Each month, we will take a look back at the agency's milestones over the decades. 

 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Northern Berkshire United Way rolled through the "Me Decade" on a high. 

 

The "Massachusetts Miracle" ushered in a boomtime — despite gloomy local indicators like the relocation of Sprague Electric, loss of Adams Print Works in a massive blaze, and Photech's bankruptcy.

 

The agency failed to reach its fundraising goals only two times during the decade even as the region's needs grew. For the first time, homelessness and substance abuse were listed among its allocations.

 

Fundraising grew by leaps and bounds as critical human service relief agencies asked for more. An estimated 36,000 people in North County were being served by the agency's affiliates. The funds went to support between 14 and 17 agencies over the decade for health services, youth support, mental health, child care, and family needs. 

 

NBUW was making enough toward the end of the 1980s that it could provide help to nonmembers such as the Dalton Community Chest, a rape crisis center and two homelessness initiatives. It also worked with the Piton Foundation of Colorado on venture funding, including for a peer mentoring program at Drury High School 

 

Mary G. Dailey had given her first dollar to the original Community Chest in 1935 as a worker at Arnold Print Works. As keynote speaker at the 1981 kick off, she credited North Berkshire's generosity as "enthusiasm."

 

"I'm all for enthusiasm," she told the 150 gathered at the Eagles Hall that fall, with her sister, Catherine, as toastmaster. "No other characteristic, with the possible exception of kindness, has contributed so much to happy and successful living."