Berkshire United Way

For the second year, the Massachusetts Association for the Education of Young Children hosted its conference in Berkshire County. More than 200 educators, caregivers and professionals from across the state convened at Taconic High School. Berkshire United Way’s Katherine von Haefen, in partnership with @Alicia Ginsberg, early childhood career pathway grant coordinator at Berkshire Community College, and Sarah Mitchell Muil, M.Ed., director of the Austen Riggs Nursery School, advocated to bring the conference back to the Berkshires, on a school holiday, and to focus on addressing childhood trauma with play. Anthony "Ant" Toombs from The Life is Good Playmaker Project was a fantastic presenter! Read more about our investment in this conference and supporting our local early childhood sector.

Thank you Lee Bank for the warm welcome to your celebration. We always appreciate the invite to help kick off your employee giving campaign. This year, it was a pleasure to have Manny and Vannessa Slaughter join us to speak about Focus is Our Children. They have made fans and supporters out of Lee Bank and Berkshire United Way!

Berkshire Health Systems has wrapped up its employee giving campaign and we're happy to report an increase in participation. That means more employees know that their campaign contributions truly have an impact in the community. ? ?????????? ?????? ? Thank you to our board member, Dr. William DeMarco, who was integral in making sure everyone was aware of the campaign, sent out reminders, and encouraged participation. Through the special raffle basket event, we also had an increased presence at many of the BHS facilities and were able to engage with even more employees to raise awareness and donations. There were a lot of happy winners! ?? Pam Knisley and Dr. William DeMarco ?? Calling all winners! Maureen Logan - Daniels, director of wellness & community health; Justin Rathbun, Community Health Division Coordinator; and Veronica Torres Martin, Director of the Language and Translation Services and Spiritual Care Department and former BUW board member ?? Maureen picked the lottery ticket basket winner (who is pictured with the cat themed basket winner, both from Phelps Cancer Center) ?? Fairview Hospital held their basket raffle on Halloween, which called for costumes

Katherine, Chloe and Karrie, along with our board member, Teri Billington, recently visited with Jess Vecchia and Erin Kaplan of Roots Rising at their new home and farm on Barker Road. Their vision for this space will expand and enhance their capabilities to empower youth and build community through food and farming. As a supporter from their humble "roots," it makes us proud to see how far they've come and we're they're headed!

Join your community of volunteers to support Thanksgiving Angels. Sign up today ? https://lnkd.in/eYfBArKp

Our Book Houses in Lee and Stockbridge see a lot of activity, so we entrust our volunteers from Onyx Specialty Papers, Inc. to check on them from time to time. They keep them filled with books (we always have a supply on hand) and check to see if they need fixing or refreshing. Thank you to Tara from Onyx and her daughter, Kinley (pictured), for checking on our Book House in Lee.

From the red feather to the Circle of Hope, we've seen them all. Now let us introduce you to United Way's "new" logo. It's part of their global brand refresh and we're here for it! ?? As we focus on our next century of impact, and work to build a stronger and more equitable community where everyone can thrive, we can't wait to share more with you.

Katherine von Haefen, our director of Community Impact, and Chloe Rychcik, our data analytics and training manager, are on the road more frequently these days visiting our community partners. It's a chance for us to hear about their achievements and challenges and, if possible, see their programs in action, as well as share updates and find out how we can better support the staff and the work. BUW staff and board members are always invited to join on these visits. Karrie, our marketing and communications manager, tagged along and took photos during a recent visit to Lee Youth Association's Busy Bee Learning Center. Katherine and Chloe caught up with Sharon Terry, executive director of LYA; Sharon Dolby-Capeless, Busy Bee director; and Jessica Giarolo, behavior specialist. Jessica then introduced us to a young boy who was very shy when he started but after working with him (using animal puppets), he became more sociable with the staff and other kids. Your contribution supports organizations and programs that work with young children to develop social skills and help them THRIVE.

We appreciate articles by our local media that highlight issues we are deeply involved with and advocating for. The good news is more state funding is on the way; however, there's still more work to be done to further support our local early childhood care providers. Sarah Mitchell Muil, M.Ed., director of the Austen Riggs Nursery School, sits on the advisory committee for our regular early childhood education (ECE) convenings, and has been an excellent partner in our work as we advocate for better pay and more support for our ECE providers.

Stephanie Storie brings various perspectives to our Board of Directors, from engineering roles at General Dynamics Mission Systems to certified birth doula to her current role at the Lenox Library. We were happy to have her and her family join us at the 4th of July parade only a few days on the "job." Read more about Stephanie and our other new board members ? https://lnkd.in/euKMrxCK