BUW to Present Awards at Live United Community Celebration

12:00PM / Tuesday, May 09, 2023Print Story | Email Story

Alex Reczkowski will receive the Daniel C. Dillon Helping Hands, Caring Heart Award and Vannessa Guess Slaughter and Manny Slaughter will receive the Robert K. Agar Jr. Volunteerism Award.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire United Way (BUW) will honor three community members with volunteer awards at the Live United Community Celebration on May 16.

Alex Reczkowski will receive the Daniel C. Dillon Helping Hands, Caring Heart Award, given to an individual or group who shows up time and time again for those in need.

Reczkowski, director of the Berkshire Athenaeum, is active in local and international service as a member and president of the Rotary Club of Pittsfield, volunteers with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program and has served on several boards and committees.

Vannessa Guess Slaughter and Manny Slaughter will receive the Robert K. Agar Jr. Volunteerism Award in recognition of their exemplary commitment and dedication to volunteerism.

The Slaughters have been mentoring and supporting local youth through dance, sports and literacy programming for nearly three decades. Through their organization Focus is Our Children, Vannessa runs a free dance program and Manny oversees a new afterschool homework program.

The Live United Community Celebration will take place 4-6 p.m. at Berkshire Hills Country Club, 500 Benedict Road, Pittsfield. For tickets, go to https://www.berkshireunitedway.org/events/

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Lanesborough Hopes for Continued Talks on Mall Sale

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
06:41PM / Wednesday, November 11, 2026

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Select Board is optimistic that talks for the Berkshire Mall sale will continue.

Chair Deborah Maynard and Vice Chair Juli Baker were to meet with mall owner JMJ Holdings, the Baker Hill Road District, and proposed buyer Cypress Equities on Tuesday to discuss next steps. As of Wednesday, iBerkshires had received a "we are optimistic" from Maynard on the talks. The Berkshire Eagle reported a response from a Cypress representative saying talks will continue.

Baker had updated the Select Board on Monday about the status of the sale and the efforts being undertaken by the renamed Baker Hill Business District.

Cypress Equities pulled out of a purchase-and sale-agreement with mall owner JMJ last week for the following reasons.

Not enough water service/pressure to the property to support redevelopment without constructing costly water tanks.
The current septic system and former treatment facility is not acceptable for a project of the scale and magnitude proposed.
There is existing asbestos and bad soil from the treatment system that needs to be remediated off site.
And the current structure and tax assessment of the Baker Hill Road District.

Baker has been working with what is now being called the Baker Hill Business District and said she and the district members are happy that Cypress has decided to leave the door open to more discussions and that they have been working hard to try and address the company's needs.

Last month, the town had asked state Sen. Paul Mark and state Rep. John Barrett III to support the state Department of Transportation taking over the Connector Road, funding for a mall connection to Pittsfield's wastewater treatment plant and a connection to the town's water main.

Baker said an amendment has been drafted to cap the district's taxes to not grow more than 2.5 percent a year. She noted that, historically, taxes have not grown by more than one percent per year, so it won't be difficult to meet that cap.

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