image description — Pat Masoero, financial director of the Christian Center, shows some of the children's games and activities at the annual Community Day on Saturday.

Christian Center Holds Community Day, Celebrates 130 Years

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:02AM / Tuesday, July 26, 2022Print Story | Email Story

The Civitan Club has been providing picnic food for the event for a number of years.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A portion of Robbins Avenue was filled with a celebration on Saturday as the Christian Center held its annual Community Day and marked 130 years as an organization.

"To be honest, for the last 130 years, the Christian Center has done essentially the same thing," Executive Director Betsy Sherman said, explaining that the center offers food, clothing, paths to jobs, and referrals to housing with the goal of helping people have a more secure life.

It was founded in 1892 as the Epworth Mission by the Methodist Church and has been at its current location since 1906. Sherman explained that in the late 1800s, many immigrants came to the West Side looking for a better life.

They were in need of basic necessities, which led to the first iteration of the Christian Center.

"All of these people needed housing, they needed food, they needed clothing, they needed a place to live," Sherman said. "And that's what we've been doing."

The free celebration included kids' games and prizes, arts and crafts, a bouncy house, and food provided by the Civitan Club of the Berkshires. Community agencies including Berkshire United Way were also present at the event to offer information about their services.

The Civitan Club is an all-volunteer, non-profit, service organization and has been providing food at the event for a number of years. The menu included hamburgers, hot dogs, pasta salad, chips, and dessert all free of charge.

"Our mission is to analyze the community's needs and provide service volunteers to help organize and do whatever needs to be done," President Janet Smargie said.

At the end of the day, any leftovers is donated to the Christian Center or another similar organization.

Sherman said the center got a small grant to address safety issues in the house for women and children and is looking to do that work in the near future.

"We're thinking of combining that with the fire safety week in October to make a big push for fire safety in the fall and winter and around Halloween," she explained. "So these are some things we've been talking about and they'll firm up."

The Christian Center offers a food pantry Monday through Thursday from 10 to 1 and on Friday from 8 to noon; a clothing and housewares boutique on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 9 to 1; a hot lunch Monday through Thursday from noon to 1 and a cold lunch on Friday from noon to 12:30 p.m.

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Advocates Request Pittsfield Office of Neighborhood Safety

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:23AM / Monday, August 31, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Advocates want an office of neighborhood safety within the City of Pittsfield following a string of gun violence incidents this summer.

Last week, during a virtual meeting, the Pittsfield Freedom Project called for public health interventions, such as violence interrupters, hospital violence intervention, and a neighborhood trauma response team.

"I'm sure everyone is aware; there have been at least four shootings. I've heard from people in the community that there have been more than that, but these are the ones that have resulted in injuries," said filmmaker Jenny Herzog.

"Resulting in one homicide and at least seven injured over the last couple of months."

Recent shooting incidents in Pittsfield ranged from June 18, when a person died after being shot in the area of Tyler Street and Pleasure Avenue, and another person was injured, to August 18, when one person was injured after shots were fired on Circular Avenue.

Herzog produced the documentary "Hear Me," which explores the impact of poverty and gun violence on young people in Berkshire County. Attendees also heard from local advocate and fourth-generation Pittsfield resident Kamaar Taliaferro, CEO of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence Ruth Zakarin, and Ben Snyder, a sociology professor at Williams College.

"Here we are again in another cycle of gun violence, without the tools we need, seemingly without the will to demand the tools, and even if we did, without leadership that would even understand what we're asking for," Taliaferro said.

"And it's not like we don't have the resources to build what we need. At least $1.3 million has come into Pittsfield every year for the past six years, targeted to interrupt the cycle of gun and gang violence that we are in this moment. And dating back even further, Pittsfield has received gun violence prevention money and has received gang violence intervention money since like 2014. Since the last time there was this like emergent cycle of gun violence in our community."