NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Motorama donated more than $10,000 in grants to a dozen charities and nonprofit organizations this year. It's the largest amount the car show has donated to date. 

 

The annual event has been filling downtown North Adams with "anything with an engine" since 2011, and making donations to local charities since its inception. It's been a joint effort between a volunteer steering committee, the Night CruZers of Berkshire County and the city's Office of Culture and Tourism.

 

"I'm thrilled to work with this team every single year, all of you and the Motorama crew and the Night CruZers are just a pleasure to work with," said Mayor Jennifer Macksey in welcoming volunteers and beneficiaries to her office on Tuesday afternoon for the check presentations. "What we love the most about Motorama is that it gives back to the community, and all of the good work that all of you do in the community for everyone from our littles to our 100 year olds and beyond and our four-legged friends."

 

Receiving donations were AYJ Fund, Berkshire County Head Start, MS Support Foundation, Berkshire Wildlife Services, Child Care of the Berkshires, Veterans Services for Northern Berkshire, Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action (Al Nelson Friendship Food Pantry), Northern Berkshire United Way, No Paws Left Behind, PopCares Inc.,  Wreaths Across America, and Berkshire Food Project.

 

"I want to tell you that this puts us over the top, and we've got all the veterans graves covered this year," said Deborah Forgea, who has been organizing with Wreaths Across America since 2017. The effort puts more than 3,000 wreaths on the graves of servicemen and women across the city.  

 

Director of Community Events Lindsay Randall noted that Adams Community Bank was the top sponsor this year, and "they made a donation of $5,000 with the agreement we would give half of it back to the community."

 

Organizations applied for donations through the Office of Tourism and a committee ranked the amounts based on requests and needs. 

 

"We just want to thank everybody for supporting our community and giving back to our community," said Randall. "This is our way to give back every year. Motorama just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and we do it for all of you that are in this room. So thank you for your hard work and dedication."

 

Motorama founding member Joseph Dean said the event has the best sponsors of any car show anywhere. 

 

"A lot of people pick up a lot of money for this show, and this is why, at the end, we have this to give away," he said. Second off, it's a pleasure working with this city. There are some places guys try to get car shows off the ground, and the city fights them tooth and neck.

 

"This city welcomes us and it makes it so much easier. Also, the Night CruZers Club, can't do it without them. And they gave $3,000 out this year to local charities from their club. So we had a total of $13,000 on car shows back into the area ... It's the best year we've ever had, and I hope next year is bigger."