No Paws Left Behind Shelter Marking First Anniversary

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — No Paws Left Behind, the first animal shelter in North Berkshire, is celebrating one year of being open.

The shelter opened up last July at the City Yard taking on the legacy of the former Eleanor Sonsini Animal Shelter of Pittsfield with its former manager, Noelle Howland, taking on the role of executive director.

"I've learned a lot. I feel like you're just kind of growing as I started off, and I knew what I was doing, but you hit a lot of curves here and there. So I've grown a lot, even as a person being here, because I was only a manager at Sonsini for a short time," Howland said. "So being here, I've grown as a person, and I've also been able to learn a lot."

Howland said the shelter has been great and small changes have been made to keep it running smoothly.

"It's really just my policies and how we do things. I've changed a lot as we've grown, as I learn this isn't working. So we try new things, which I feel like it's every week I'm changing something, and I'm like, 'Oh, this works a lot better,'" she said.

Howland said she had a goal to get 100 dogs and cats adopted out of her shelter and she has succeeded that.

"One thing I was trying to do was hit at least 100 animals by my one year. So I'm officially at 105, it's close to 110 now because I have a couple animals, on trial going home," she said. "I really wanted to just see how many I could adopt out within my first year. ... So yeah, that was my biggest accomplishment that I wanted to achieve."

Howland said she wants people to understand that the shelter is small and can't accommodate a lot of animals and people and that she and the volunteers are doing their best to look after them.

"I know people, they struggle with the fact that we don't let the public in to see the animals. So I always try my best to explain that we're doing it for them. And I think seeing the difference of these animals here compared to like, when before at Sonsini, with the public coming in, it's a major difference. And seeing how [the dogs] decompress, and their entire behavior is just different, because they finally can relax," she said.

"I'm very heavily on working on training, because since I'm so small, I know people get a little irritated because I can't fill too many kennels, because we're so small here. So I think my thing is just trying to explain to people that we are trying our best. There's only limited people here because we're so small. So I'm like, we're all doing the best we can."

Howland said the shelter is always in need of donations of cleaning supplies and food but that monetary donations are the best as they help with vet care.

Vermont National Guard Members Depart From North Adams

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
04:20PM / Friday, June 05, 2026

About 50 people waved flags to the see the Guardsmen off on their bus. The members were staying in North Adams because of a lack of hotel rooms in Bennington, Vt.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Residents came together Friday to see some Vermont National Guard members off.

 

The American Legion Riders organized a send off for a group of 75 or so Guard members who were staying at Hotel Downstreet.

 

"We are going to escort them to the Bennington Armory," Riders President Mike Lewis said. "They are going to gear up there, and then I am not sure where they are going. I don’t even know if they are all going to the same place."

 

Fifty or so people met in the Hotel Downstreet parking lot to show their appreciation. They waved flags and held signs. A bagpiper was also present.

 

The Riders contacted the Fire Department who helped organize the send off. North Adams Police cruisers and Northern Berkshire EMS were also on site to help see the bus off.

 

Lewis said there was not enough rooms in Bennington for the National Guard members. He added because of the trend to use vacant hotel rooms as low-income housing, the group had to look toward North Adams.

 

It's not clear where these Guard were off to, but about 500 members of 3-172 Infantry Battalion were expected to go to the Middle East with U.S. Central Command. According to Vermont Digger, this deployment was scheduled prior to the strikes on Iran.