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Berkshires Beat: PCTV to Air PSAs for 29 Nonprofits
12:31PM / Monday, April 02, 2018
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This PSA for BFAIR is one of 29 produced free of charge by Pittsfield Community Television. The PSAs will air April 3-16.

A public service

Pittsfield Community Television has completes its anuagural PSA Days production event. In a four-day production marathon, PCTV completed 29 individual television Public Service Announcements as a gifted service to the participating nonprofit organizations.

Over the course of two months, PCTV worked with each of the 29 nonprofits to create a PSA tailored to each organization’s media needs and message. These videos are already being utilized in a multitude of applications such as fundraising and outreach. With the high cost of media production, many of these organizations had not been able to achieve their outreach goals and thus, the objective of PCTV creating an annual donation of its professional production capabilities.

PCTV will premier all of the twenty-nine PSA’s over a three-week period by cablecasting them Tuesdays from April 3-16 at 8:30 p.m. on Access Pittsfield Channel 1301. PCTV will also make available on April 3 all of the PSAs for streaming on its YouTube channel.

Participating nonprofits were AdLib, Elder Services of Berkshire County, First United Methodist Church of Pittsfield, Berkshire Environmental Action Team, The Eagles Community Band, Friends of the Berkshire Athenaeum, Gladys Allen Brigham Community Center, Berkshire Children and Families, Berkshires Jazz, Berkshire Natural Resources Council, Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity, Western Massachusetts Council of The Boy Scouts of America, Moments House, NAMI Of the Berkshires, Retired Senior Volunteers Program, Pittsfield Parade Committee, Berkshire Athenaeum Seed Library, Berkshire Business and Professional Women, BFAIR, Berkshire Historical Society, Pittsfield Fire Department, Tyler Street Business Group, League Of Women Voters Of The Central Berkshires, Pittsfield Adult Learning Center, Berkshire Place, Working Cities Pittsfield, Berkshire Theatre Group, UCP Of Berkshire County and Berkshire Pathways.

 

Choo-choo!


This 1941 locomotive has joined the BSRM fleet.

The Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum has recently acquired another historic locomotive to allow for more flexibility in the type of service and seating capacity it offers to riders on its Hoosac Valley train rides out of Adams. Built in 1941, locomotive no. 1849 originally served the Boston and Maine Railroad, once stationed in the nearby Mechanicville, N.Y., rail yard. The General Motors, 600 horsepower diesel-electric was later sold to Holyoke Water Power in 1959. It was assigned to the Mt. Tom power station in Holyoke where it spent the next five-decades switching coal hoppers in the plant’s yard until 2014 when new owners GDF Suez shut it down. An initial attempt was made by BSRM to acquire the locomotive but company officials had yet to determine whether it would be sold or transferred to another operation.
 
After permitting was secured, demolition of the plant began in 2017. In early January 2018, BSRM was notified that the locomotive was schedule for destruction. Immediate contact with the demolition company allowed for the potential scrapping to temporarily be halted. BSRM quickly made arrangements to inspect the 76-year-old equipment. Much like a vintage automobile tucked away in a barn and forgotten about for years, the relative isolation of the plant protected the locomotive’s historic qualities and made it, in the words of BSRM's Chief Mechanical Officer Tom Delasco, "a time capsule."
 
Soon after, terms of a purchase were finalized, and Pan Am Railways delivered the locomotive to North Adams on the evening of March 15. The acquisition of the locomotive serves two purposes: to preserve a historic and locally relevant piece of railroad history and to provide additional pulling power for a conventional passenger train operation. The BSRM intends to move traditional passenger cars from their Lenox facility to provide a two-car train set that will not only showcase the locomotive but also expand capacity for the popular train rides now known as the Hoosac Valley Train, which currently use a one-car rail diesel unit for passenger trips.
 
BSRM will launch its formal 2018 season on Memorial Day weekend with departures from downtown Adams. This will be a change from the two previous seasons where a refurbished baggage car was used as temporary ticket office, gift shop and boarding location in North Adams. The town of Adams is now building a boarding platform and train station building in Adams to complement the train ride experience. The town expects the platform to be in service by the end of June. Online ticket sales are available starting the end of April.

 

Work on the Pike

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is beginning construction work and maintenance activities in the Berkshires on 1-90, the Massachusetts Turnpike, this month. MassDOT encourages drivers to be mindful of these potential impacts and to use caution as there will be intermittent lane closures to facilitate this work. Those traveling through the area should reduce speed and use caution.

Deck repairs at mile marker 2.5 Eastbound in West Stockbridge will begin April 2 and continue through June. Deck repairs at mile marker 10.0 Eastbound and Westbound in Lee also begin April 2 and continue through June. Environmental Services will perform remediation work at mile marker 34.2 Eastbound in Russell on April 2. This will be a one day activity. Deck repairs will be begin April 9 at mile marker 30.1 Eastbound in Blandford and at mile marker 32.9 Eastbound in Russell and continue through June. In additionn, bridge painting on Route 20 at the I-90 overpass in Becket begins April 16.

 

Smoke-free MCLA

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts has received a $15,000 grant from the American Cancer Society in support of "Tobacco-Free MCLA." The project aims to develop a 100 percent tobacco-free policy across the campus within one year, in recognition of the importance and implications that tobacco can have on the health of MCLA students, faculty and staff.

To address the issue of premature death from cigarette smoking, the American Cancer Society, under the direction of its new Center for Tobacco Control, launched the "Tobacco-Free Generation Campus Initiative" to accelerate and expand the adoption and implementation of 100 percent smoke- and tobacco-free policies on college and university campuses across the nation. MCLA has approved a tobacco-free policy, to take effect this fall, that will prohibit smoking and other tobacco use on all property owned or operated by the college. This policy – which aims to provide a healthy living, learning, and working environment for the campus community – is intended to reduce the health risks related to second-hand smoke, as well as other adverse effects of smoke and other tobacco use.

According to the American Cancer Society, of the roughly 20 million college and university students in the United States, more than 1 million are projected to die prematurely from cigarette smoking. While approximately 90 percent of smokers start by age 18, fully 99 percent start by age 26, underscoring the importance of supporting those in the young adult age group with more effective prevention and cessation efforts, while eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke and all tobacco use in their learning environments.

 

Aid for BCC

The Berkshire Community College Foundation is offering more than $50,000 in scholarship aid to new students. The application deadline for new students to apply for a scholarship from the Foundation is Tuesday, April 17.

The scholarship money available from the BCC Foundation can help new students with their first year expenses like tuition, fees and books. To apply, new BCC students can go online. Last year, the average award for scholarships from the foundation was $1,650.

The Berkshire Community College Foundation is a nonprofit corporation established to encourage and receive gifts in support of the mission of the college. Gifts from alumni, students, corporations, friends, faculty and staff are used to further the college's mission. The foundation manages an Annual Fund, more than 150 Scholarship Funds, and other funds created to support the college. In addition, the foundation owns and operates the building in Great Barrington that provides a permanent site for the college's South County Center.

 

Acupuncture clinics

Great Barrington Community Acupuncture Clinics will be held the second and fourth Thursday of the month starting April 26. Clinics will be held at 39 Railroad St. in Great Barrington from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The cost is sliding scale of $20 to $50 plus $10 initial free. Call 413-644-9488 for more information or to make an appointment.

 

Trauma conference

A full-day conference titled "Protecting Ourselves From Vicarious Trauma" will be held at Berkshire Hills Country Club, located on 500 Benedict Road in Pittsfield, on Thursday, April 5, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.  Lunch is included in the registration fee of $60, with an additional fee for participants earning continuing education credits. The continuing education credits being offered include: continuing medical education (5.25), nursing (5), licensed marriage and family therapist (5), licensed mental health counselor (5), substance abuse counselor (5), psychology (5) and social work (5).

This conference is sponsored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness Berkshire County, Berkshire AHEC, Berkshire Coalition for Suicide Prevention and The Brien Center and will be presented by Laurie Markoff. Markoff is a licensed psychologist and the director of Trauma Integration Services for the Institute for Health and Recovery in Cambridge, Mass., where she provides training and consultation to help agencies to enhance their capacity to provide trauma-informed, integrated care.

The conference will assist participants in recognizing the signs of negative impacts from work-related encounters and provides strategies and practices for preventing or mitigating these negative impacts.

The morning session will delve into aspects of work-related trauma that can occur following encounters with difficult and painful circumstances. The afternoon session will focus on strategies to strengthen or regain mental and emotional balance. School administration and personnel, law enforcement, House of Correction Officers and administrators, physicians, social workers, psychiatrics, LHMCs, nurses, substance abuse counselors, LMFT’s, first responders and community members are strongly encouraged to attend this conference. For more details, call Brenda at 413-443-1666.

 

Lola Greene Legacy Scholarship

Applications are now being accepted for the Lola Greene Legacy Scholarship. A one-time grant of $250 to $500 will be awarded to a graduating high school senior from Berkshire County who is planning to continue to study Latin and/or the Classics in college. The scholarship will be awarded based on scholastic achievement with emphasis on Latin study and related activities, future plans to continue Latin and Classics studies, and demonstrated leadership and good moral character.

Lola Greene taught at Mount Greylock Regional High School from 1984 through 2000. During this time, she developed the school's Latin program and Junior Classical League into one of the most successful programs in the state. She instituted toga and catapult contests, won numerous teaching awards, and has a place in the school's Hall of Fame. Greene lived a life filled with integrity, compassion, and love for all those around her.  She was a dynamic and dedicated educator who inspired her students to achieve to the best of their abilities.

The deadline for submitting a scholarship application is April 28, 2018. For further information and application materials, go online or send an email inquiry. Donations to the scholarship are welcomed and can be sent to the Lola Greene Legacy Fund, P.O. Box 1117, Hancock, MA 01237.

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