Northern Berkshire MLK Jr. Day of Service

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Committee invites the public to the annual Northern Berkshire MLK Jr. Day of Service to celebrate the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with this annual day of volunteering. 

Gather Monday, Jan. 15, as the Northern Berkshire community celebrates the life, principles, and ideals of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by participating in a "Day of Service." A celebratory luncheon will follow.

The celebration begins at 8:30 a.m. at MCLA's Church Street Center with coffee and pastries. Volunteer site service will take place from approximately 9:30 a.m. to noon. 

This is a family-friendly event and there are projects appropriate for all ages and abilities. Participants will choose from numerous sites to provide service to the community, including: Louison House, Sweetwood, Goodwill Industries of the Berkshires, weatherization for homes, meal prep/delivery sites, ROOTs Teen Center, as well as projects onsite at the Church Street Center, like mitten, blanket and card making.

Participants will return to the Church Street Center at 12:30pm to share a free luncheon and community celebration, enjoy local entertainment and hear uplifting words in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. The annual Peacemaker Award will be presented during the lunchtime celebration. 
 
This year, the MLK Jr. Day of Service announced the annual Peacemaker Award will be given to Reverend Mary Frances Curns.
 
This "A Day On, Not a Day Off" event is free and everyone in the community is encouraged to volunteer and celebrate our Northern Berkshire community. Volunteers can pre-register online at https://bit.ly/MLK_day_2024 or by calling the NBCC at 413-663-7588.

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Geothermal Switch Lowers System Cost for North Adams School Project

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The cost estimates for the Greylock School project are coming in slightly under budget — including the planned geothermal system. 
 
Initial estimates for the alternative heating system came in at $5 million — $3 million over budget. 
 
"We realized this is never going to work at this cost and we needed to think about the system a little differently," said Jesse Saylor of TSKP Studio, the school's designer, told the School Building Committee on Tuesday. "So we reached out to the well designers and came up with an alternative design, which we feel is much more appropriate for your site."
 
A redesign from using vertical wells to horizontal wells, reduced the costs to $1.5 million.
 
Saylor explained that the drillers had gone down more than 440 feet, through soil and more than 200 feet of bedrock and hit the aquifer, which had to be capped off because of the pressure. 
 
"So our design heading into the cost estimate was to shorten the depth of the wells. Let's not penetrate into that aquifer. Let's just go down 400 feet," he said. "They wanted to carry steel casing all the way down the 400 feet of depth, because the concern is that aquifer depth may vary across across your site, and so that was driving up the initial cost."
 
That vertical system would have required 66 wells and cost about $5 million. Instead, the system will now run horizontally at a depth of about 20 to 30 feet. 
 
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