PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires held its ninth annual nonprofit awards last week honoring the contributions of those who have helped the community in their own way.

 

The gathering at the Country Club in Pittsfield on Tuesday included the introduction of new nonprofit Executive Director Samantha Anderson, who steps in for retiring founder and director Liana Toscanini. State Reps. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, John Barrett III and Leigh Davis attended the event.

 

Toscanini, who created NPC in 2016, was honored at the conclusion of the evening to mark her decade leading the organization. 

 

"Founders don't just lead organizations, they are the organization in the deepest sense," said NPC Board President Emily Schiavoni. "Their relationships, their instincts, their fingerprints are on everything, and when someone has poured a decade of herself into building something from the ground up, the act of stepping back is not a simple handoff, it's an act of extraordinary trust and courage that brings me to what Leanna actually built." 

 

NPC became something of a chamber of commerce for nonprofits under Toscanini's guidance, creating a hub of support for leadership and networking for the small and large nonprofits that fuel much of the activity within the Berkshires. 

 

She developed more than two dozen programs, including Get on Board, which helps connect community members with nonprofit boards, and a giving-back guide, volunteer fairs, and a resource directory.

 

Schiavoni described Toscanini as a great mentor who has had a big impact in strengthening local nonprofits.

 

"Liana didn't set out to build an institution, she set out to solve a problem. She saw every day the isolation, the resource gaps, the quiet struggles of small civic and nonprofit organizations working hard to serve our community with too little support," Schiavoni said. "For years, she was on the ground with them, hands on, learning what they needed and what was missing, and from that deep practical understanding, an idea took shape in 2016. 

 

"She brought together leaders from across the nonprofit and business sectors, modeled in part after a chamber of commerce. The Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires was born a central hub of information connection and support for an entire sector that had long needed one."

 

The evening also honored Sabrina Allard, deputy director of Railroad Street Youth Project in Great Barrington, with the Executive Leader Award. Allard, in a video recording, credited her team and said "leading with heart and compassion at this particular time when humanity is so needed feels really important."

 

The Board Leadership Award went to Liliana Antanacio, co-founder of Latinos413. She dedicated her award to her fellow board members, saying leadership is not just an individual achievement but a team effort.

 

"We're looking at what other organizations nationally are doing and what works for our community, what makes sense in serving the community, that where we live, where we are in the Berkshires," she said."So we definitely face a lot of challenges. So that is what makes our work meaningful, and we want to continue doing what we do, serving, giving back, and supporting our community, highlighting our community."

 

The Volunteer Award went to Lisa Alberti, a tutor support specialist with Literacy Volunteers of the Berkshires who has clocked some 400 volunteer hours. She has expanded many of the programs and the quality of the programs at LVBC that serves some 100 students.

 

"Our volunteers are customizing the learning experience for every one of their students and working individually, so they're incredibly dedicated people," she said, adding the students "are people who you know have two or three jobs and still find the two or three hours a week to come in and be tutored and to do their homework. I mean, their level of dedication to becoming part of the American culture and being a part of the Berkshires is just amazing, so that's a privilege to then to spend time with them and hear their stories."

 

Samya Rose Stumo Youth Leadership Award was presented to Gloria Williams for her strong impact and leadership. She is a part of the Rites of Passage and Empowerment Program (ROPE) and Price Memorial AME Zion Church and also volunteers with many different organizations.

 

Williams expressed gratitude for the award and said she advises people to say yes to everything to be able to open the door of opportunity for themselves, like it has for her.

 

"I see the community, and I see a need for that kind of leadership and that kind of help, because I know I come from a family that I definitely relied on," she said. "People say it takes a village to raise a child and I definitely relied on that community and that village ... I just want to be able to give back in some kind of aspect."

 

The Rock Star Award was given to Jennifer Golin, a coordinator and family support specialist at Child Care of the Berkshires for being reliable, innovative, and having a positive attitude.

 

"When people come in, they're looking for resources or just for play groups, someone to talk to. It's just giving back and helping them find what they need, and I'm just being so grateful, and just feels good," she said. "I love that it's different every day. I don't know what I'm going to be going into. It's always something different to do."

 

The Unsung Hero Award went to Kathryn Benson with the Berkshire Food Project for always putting others first and guiding volunteers in daily operations, overseeing inventory rotation, ensuring food safety, sanitation, and facility standards.

 

"Berkshire Food Project provides almost 200 meals a day to people who are experiencing food insecurity," she said. "It is a huge operation, made very simple, because of the fact that we have wonderful volunteers. Without them, we could never achieve what we achieve on a daily basis. So, providing food for our less fortunate is just an extraordinary thing that we do each day."

 

The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Cathy Marchetto, a clinical coordinator at Berkshire Health Systems. She co-founded Operation Better Start to address child and adolescent health, especially nutrition and wellness, from birth through young adulthood and perinatal women, the program provides medical, nutrition, behavioral, and social support services, regardless of ability to pay.

 

The program just started out with her and another person and has since grown to add more people like nurses, dieticians, social workers, and more support staff. Now that she is retiring after 40 years, she is honored and happy to have seen the difference she has helped make.

 

"Just seeing it evolve and our reach in the community just expanded, and that to me is so rewarding," she said. "I'm so grateful for this honor, and I want to thank Berkshire Nonprofit and all the sponsors, Berkshire Health Systems, because they've been very supportive and allowing us to do this kind of work, friends and families and colleagues, and I am so grateful, because it's just a perfect, perfect capstone to my career, and it just helps me to realize that I did make a difference."

 

The Founders Choice Award was presented to William "Smitty" Pignatelli for his exceptional, long-standing support of Berkshire nonprofits and the nonprofit sector . 

 

Toscanini presented it to the former state representative for South Berkshire, speaking highly of his character and what he has helped do for nonprofits and the community. 

 

"Smitty's guiding principle is to help someone every day, and try to imagine the ripple effect of that, right over 40 years, nearly 40 years of community service, public service," she said. "For many nonprofits, Smitty's assistance was a game changer, and that includes when he secured an earmark for NPC right after COVID, when it was really, really critical. So, we can't thank him enough for that."

 

Pignatelli thanked his colleagues and counterparts for their work in helping secure earmarks and commended the Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires for its work and collaboration as well as Toscanini for her vision and passion with nonprofits.

 

"What this organization's been able to do over the last 10 years is pull the nonprofits together to work in partnership and greater collaboration that wasn't happening before, COVID maybe changed everything for the better, but what she's doing now is the bigs and the smalls actually working together," he said. "So I would argue with anybody that it's the economic engine of Berkshire County, our creative economy, the Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires have put it on the spotlight. They now have their name in the state budget, which I think is really important ...

 

"Thank you to all of you for the great work that you continue to do, and to all the honorees here today, keep up the good work. It's what makes the Berkshire special."

 

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article gave incorrect information about the Youth Leadership Award. iBerkshires regrets the error.