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Seniors Jakob Wood and Cecilia Marszalek take in donations Friday morning. The school is accepting donations through Wednesday.

McCann Students Collecting for Kentucky Tornado Relief Effort

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — McCann Technical School students are collecting items to help a fellow technical school in Mayfield, Ky., affected by a devastating tornado.
 
"We heard that part of the Mayfield School District is a technical school. They have a SkillsUSA and BPA chapter just like we do," McCann Principal Justin Kratz said. "So we wanted to see what we could do to help. We got some students and faculty together, and they were fired up to help out."
 
On Dec. 10, a long-tracked tornado moved through western Kentucky, causing damage and death in 11 counties.
 
A table has been set up in McCann's lobby. SkillsUSA and Business Professionals of America (BPA) students are managing the donation table in shifts, boxing up donations, and sending them out to Kentucky.
 
"They are volunteering in the morning, collecting during their lunches, and volunteering after school," Kratz said. "We are trying to get things out as soon as we can, and we will keep going to get as much community involvement as we can."
 
Friday morning senior Jakob Wood, a business technology senior, was working at the desk with classmate Cecilia Marszalek, a computer assisted drawing student.
 
"It has been pretty good. We have had a lot of gifts," Wood said. "It has been an amazing experience how much we have gotten in two days."
 
Kratz said he has been amazed, but not surprised, by the outpouring of support from the community.
 
"The McCann families and faculty have been phenomenal," Kratz said. "It is a tough time right before the holidays, and we have been blown away by how much people were willing to contribute."
 
Kratz said donations of supplies have been coming in steadily but also cash donations. Kratz said Friday morning a group of students were at BJ's purchasing listed supplies.  
 
He said he thought that the table, already full of donations from the morning, was "just the tip of the iceberg." 
 
"We have more groups in the community that told us things are coming on Monday, and they are getting ready to mobilize over the weekend," he said. "We have been getting phone calls from people saying they have trucks of stuff they want to drop off Monday." 
 
That being said, Kratz expects a busy day Monday.
 
Kratz said he has been in communication with the Mayfield Technical School principal. He said they had an understandably quick email correspondence.
 
"I can't imagine what they are going through, but I did get a quick message back," he said. "I can't even imagine how busy they are. We think we are busy. I can't imagine what they are going through getting students and families back on their feet."
 
The collection table will be set up through Dec.22. A changing list of needed supplies can be found here.

Tags: donations,   McCann,   

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Guest Column: Governor Healey Stands With Workers — And We Stand With Governor Healey

By Colton AndrewsGuest Column
Massachusetts is a union state, built by workers, protected by workers, and powered by workers. And right now, only one candidate for governor has proven she's willing to fight for us every single day: Maura Healey.
 
Governor Healey doesn't just show up for photo ops. She shows up when it matters. She shows up when jobs are on the line. She shows up when workers need a champion who won't flinch, won't fold, and won't sell them out.
 
Her expansion of Project Labor Agreements didn't just "support" workers; it will spur the creation of more than 15,600 new jobs across the Bay State. That's real paychecks, real benefits, real careers. And she knows what every contractor in this state knows: union labor delivers superior work, on time, under budget, every time.
 
Healey is also building the next generation of skilled workers. She invested $70 million to expand career and technical education and opened 2,500 new training seats at schools across Massachusetts. That's not a promise, that's action. That's a governor who understands that strong apprenticeship programs are the backbone of a strong economy.
 
She's also put more than 200 union members on boards and commissions across Massachusetts. She wants workers in the room. She wants workers shaping policy. She wants workers' voices heard, not ignored, not sidelined, not treated as an afterthought.
 
And here in Western Mass, Governor Healey has done something no governor has done in decades: she shows up. She listens. She invests. She treats Western Massachusetts like the beating heart of the commonwealth, not a forgotten corner.
 
Her opponent, Mike Minogue, is a Trump mega?donor who backs Trump's agenda, an agenda that has made life more expensive and more difficult for working families. Minogue would bring those same policies to Massachusetts, and we know exactly who benefits from that playbook: corporate executives, not workers.
 
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