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Close to 200 residents at Hillcrest Commons received cards and gifts this holiday season from community members. Many of them were thanks to Kristen Vella Wiliams, who has organized the gift-giving for a number of years.

Hillcrest Commons Residents Receive Christmas Gifts & Cards

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
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Hillcrest was able to accommodated visitors this holiday.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Santa was good to the folks at Hillcrest Commons this year.
 
Each resident received a gift and a card or picture from generous people who enjoy giving back.  
 
Almost 200 residents received presents thanks to Kristen Vella Wiliams, who began providing gifts to residents who did not have family members in 2014. The nursing and rehabilitation center could not be more thankful for Vella's program and the joy it brings to everyone at the facility.
 
"I really can't say enough as to what they do and how it's grown,"  Admissions and Marketing Director Deirdre Tozer Hayes said. "I mean, I think when she started it was like 24 gifts for the unit, Unit 3, that she started with."
 
One hundred and nine of the gifts were wish list items that residents requested, such as T-shirts, sweat shirts, and slippers. But the wish list items were not all apparel — one person requested a Chinese meal and received a gift certificate from Vella's elves.
 
The other residents were given items that anyone can appreciate such as blankets and stuffed animals.
 
"It also is a benefit to our staff," Tozer Hayes added. "Because when they see one of us or we give something to the staff to get to them, that reaction, that person being somebody they don't even know who's given them a card, even our staff talk about the joy that they see in that resident and how it warms them on that day as well."
 
For years now, residents at Hillcrest Commons have received holiday cards or pictures from people near and far. There were about 200 sent and every resident was able to receive one.
 
The facility has had a long-standing relationship with Crosby Elementary School, whose students send drawings. They are also sent cards from various individuals and this year, ones from a senior center in New Lebanon, N.Y.
 
The cards are sent yearly just by word of mouth. For the residents, it lets them know that strangers are thinking of them.
 
"It's amazing, we still get a variety of people and people from across the state to be honest, who send us cards, and send pictures and things like that," Tozer Hayes explained.
 
"That hasn't stopped, we've never made an additional request, I have one or two who might call saying, 'Would you still like them?' And we always say yes, because it really has a positive effect on our residents in terms of receiving that."
 
The week before Christmas, a DJ came in for a small party at which residents had egg nogand cookies.  
 
For the holiday, Vella and her elves were able to personally deliver gifts to residents and there was a piano performance in the common area next to a Christmas tree.
 
In accordance with the state Department of Public Health, visitors are allowed with a screening at the front desk. Residents are also able to visit their loved ones.
 
This year's holiday festivities were especially important because the facility had to quarantine last year because of COVID-19. 
 
At the end of 2020, the facility had a devastating surge and suffered the loss of 42 residents; 75 percent of residents were infected along with many staff members. The community stepped up during that time and Hillcrest Commons received more than 20 different forms of support from community members such as gifts, cards, food deliveries, caroling outside of residents' windows, and a parade around the building.
 
"We can't thank enough, people who take the time to send things into us, and are thinking of us," Tozer Hayes said. "And as I said, Vella and how she coordinates all her little elves, that purchase special gifts for our residents."

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Pittsfield CPA Committee Funds Half of FY24 Requests

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A few projects are not getting funded by the Community Preservation Committee because of a tight budget.

The projects not making the cut were in the historic preservation and open space and recreation categories and though they were seen as interesting and valuable projects, the urgency was not prevalent enough for this cycle.

"It's a tough year," Chair Danielle Steinmann said.

The panel made its recommendations on Monday after several meetings of presentations from applications. They will advance to the City Council for final approval.  

Two cemetery projects were scored low by the committee and not funded: A $9,500 request from the city for fencing at the West Part Cemetery as outlined in a preservation plan created in 2021 and a $39,500 request from the St. Joseph Cemetery Commission for tombstone restorations.

"I feel personally that they could be pushed back a year," Elizabeth Herland said. "And I think they're both good projects but they don't have the urgency."

It was also decided that George B. Crane Memorial Center's $73,465 application for the creation of a recreational space would not be funded. Herland said the main reason she scored the project low was because it didn't appear to benefit the larger community as much as other projects do.

There was conversation about not funding The Christian Center's $34,100 request for heating system repairs but the committee ended up voting to give it $21,341 when monies were left over.

The total funding request was more than $1.6 million for FY24 and with a budget of $808,547, only about half could be funded. The panel allocated all of the available monies, breaking down into $107,206 for open space and recreation, $276,341 for historic preservation, and $425,000 for community housing.

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