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Youth for the Future: Baran Helping Hands

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Two brothers have decided to put their hard work into helping people through their own family business.

Baran Helping Hands was started by Nathan and Alexander Baran to help those in the community who need it. Their slogan is "Making everyday tasks easier." Whether it's moving heavy items, cleaning up the yard, trash, and more. 

"Our business is built for helping the community just as a whole, specifically maybe elderly people living alone, not able to do things on their own, who don't have anybody they can call to help them with daily things, daily tasks, or specialized tasks occasionally. So that's what we're here to help," Nathan said.

Nathan, 20, and his 23-year-old brother Alexander got the idea to start their own business but also do it as a family. They spoke with their parents and created a website.

"We wanted to run a business as a family and together, and just start something new, and help the community," Nathan said. 

Their father, Paul Baran, often comes with them to share his knowledge of certain tasks, like yard work. One weekend, the two were removing a rose bush for Meredith McCormick, since their father taught them the proper way to remove and replant.

"I come out to the jobs when it's something like removing rose bushes properly, so that they have a good chance of regenerating in the space where they're going. You know, I try to share my knowledge of years of doing things," Paul said.

The task was to replant two rose bushes but they found more than two. Moving them to the other side of the yard they had cleared out previously gave McCormick to have a nice arbor.

She said it is great to see younger people starting businesses and wanting to get out and do hard work like this. 

"I have gotten to a point in my life where I have difficulty doing some physical things. I have the desire to do them, but not the ability," she said. "So my yard had become overgrown, and to the point where I was frustrated, and I couldn't think of what to do, and I learned about Helping Hands, and asked if they would come and help me, and they did.

"And I have called them four or five times now, and each time they've come fairly quickly, done what I've asked them to do, offered to do more, and they're very pleasant to work with, and very polite."

The business charges $35 to $60 an hour for nonmedical light duty, from yard and home cleanup to garage organizing to moving furniture within the home.

The Barans want people like McCormick to feel comfortable calling them for help, knowing they have someone to turn to and not stress about things they need as much.

"I want people to have somebody to go to when they need help doing stuff, and they can't do it on their own. When people need something moved, something heavy, and I don't want them to have to think, how do I figure out how this goes from point A to point B? I want them to think about calling us to go help them with that," Nathan said.

"We would like to make people aware that there are people to call upon to help them with small tasks that they just can't do themselves or might not have anyone else to ask about in order to get done," Alexander said.

Wanting to start their own company and filling a need by helping people, has earned them the iBerkshires.com Youth for the Future designation. 

Youth for the Future is a 12-month series that honors young individuals who are making an impact on their community. This year's sponsor is Patriot Car Wash. Nominate a youth here. 

Paul said his sons have been eager to start this and they grew it on their own, stating they have always been looking for ways to be helpful.

"It wasn't anything that I believe I pushed on them when they were kids. They just grew up as being really helpful kids, and they want to broaden the range of their help, you know, out into the community and just help who they can, and have their own business doing it, so it's pretty cool," Paul said.

As for why the two brothers wanted to work together, Alexander said he trusts Nathan and has a great time working with him and Nathan said it was important to him to have this be a team effort.

"I personally have always been interested in entrepreneurship and trying to start things on my own, and seeing little success trying to start other things by myself. So we just really wanted to start something together, make it a team effort instead of individual effort," Nathan said. "We thought it would make things a lot easier and more comfortable for us as we figure it out."

Nathan said he hopes to make Baran Helping Hands his full-time position as he currently works part-time at another job. Alexander hopes to also find other part-time work and keep their business going.

"My personal hope is to scale this up. I want this to be my full-time thing. I'm working on the side right now, trying to kill as many hours as possible until this takes over as the main source of income. I don't have any end goal for scaling. I just want to start and grow it and see where it goes," Nathan said.

Pittsfield Man Creates Device to Clear Lakes of Algae Blooms

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
08:07AM / Sunday, October 11, 2026

Marc Bellora holds a jar of lake water, left, to compare to water cleaned by his Aqua Clarifier Water System.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Marc Bellora has high hopes for a device he's created to treat lakes from harmful algae blooms.

His patented water clarifier can physically remove captured material rather than letting the nutrient-rich material settle back into the lake, which occurs when herbicides are used.

"It's a long-term lake management tool that can be used to reduce legacy nutrients in lakes and ponds over time," he explained. "We built the prototype, this is a prototype. It does approximately 65 to 70 gallons per minute. It's very environmentally friendly. Can be used with air only, or we can use a low-dose potable polyaluminum chloride (PACL) or chemical on board that can help improve results."

The water clarifier barge is based on well-proven technology for water treatment, he said. "It's a self-contained, portable, mobile unit that removes algae blooms, nitrogen, phosphorus, and the associated nitrogen and phosphorus within lakes."

Bellora founded Clear Waterways Group with business partner Mark Simon. They built a prototype mobile unit and are still working out the kinks. It's taken Bellora about five years to bring the project to fruition as he is also a full-time Realtor.

He says the repurposed barge they use has a device that uses air to filter the water to separate harmful bacteria or uses a chemical at low doses. They are testing both to see how well each does at cleaning the water.

"They would do the same thing here, except they would spray it, and it blocks all that stuff together," Bellora said of the use of herbicides. "But then it drops to the bottom. So now all the nutrients that are attached in that plot go to the bottom and contribute to the legacy nutrients only to fuel next year's bloom. Ours removes it."

He said just using air alone has removed 70 to 90 percent of harmful algae where he has been operating on the south end of Pontoosuc Lake.

"Essentially, we take in the bad stuff, we take in the lake water. We separate the good stuff from the bad stuff. Clean water goes back into the lake, and the bad stuff can either be composted, or it can be taken to the wastewater treatment plant, which is what we're doing here," he said. 

Bellora explained that tiny air bubbles attach to particles in the water, making them buoyant so they rise and can be removed. The unit can operate with air alone, or with a low dose of potable polyaluminum chloride.

PACL helps through flocculation: it gathers small particles into larger clumps that are easier for air bubbles to capture. He said this can help remove dissolved nutrients that air alone may not capture as effectively. 

Bellora said he was inspired to build something like this after noticing the lakes he enjoys being shut down because of algae blooms. 

The city issued a health advisory for Pontoosuc in August, warning residents not to swim or come in contact with the lake water because of an algae bloom. The cyanobacteria can cause skin irritations, vomiting and diarrhea and nerve or liver problems. 

Bellora previously worked for a company that used traditional dissolved air flotation (DAF) systems to treat water. In that role, he traveled around the country to work at paper mills and food-processing plants.

That experience gave him a practical understanding of DAF, and while flying between jobs, he would see green ponds and wonder whether the technology could be adapted to treat lakes.