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facebookDoing Good Radio
Doing Good is a radio broadcast heard on local NPR affiliate WHDD 91.9 FM and WBSL 91.7 FM, Robin Hood Radio and hosted by Jennifer Dowley, Berkshire Taconic President. The program features inspiring interviews with people working to build community in the Berkshire Taconic region.
Doing Good:
- inspires people to think, connect and engage within the Berkshire Taconic region
- generates awareness of the many good people working to build a better world in their own backyard
- enriches audiences through passionate and positive stories and insights
Will Conklin, Program Director of Greenagers
Will Conklin is the Program Director of Greenagers, a local environmental youth organization. Greenagers, collaborating with other community organizations, has pioneered a vibrant youth employment program in the Southern Berkshire area as well as furthering youth volunteering and service learning in the region.
Contact Information:
Website: www.greenagers.org
Email: info@greenagers.org
Phone: 413.644.9090
Address: 333 Rossetter St., Great Barrington, MA 01230
Gwendolyn VanSant, co-founder and Executive Director of Multicultural Bridge
Gwendolyn VanSant is the co-founder and Executive Director of Multicultural Bridge, a grassroots organization dedicated to promoting cultural competence and integration of diverse groups in Western Massachusetts and beyond.
Contact Information:
Website: http://www.multiculturalbridge.org/
Email: info@multiculturalbridge.org
Phone: 413.274.1001
Address: P.O. Box 320, 207 Pleasant St., Housatonic, MA 01236
Susan Weinstein, first grade teacher at Undermountain Elementary School
Susan Weinstein is a first grade teacher at Undermountain Elementary School in Sheffield, MA. Her mission in life is to bring healthy eating to her students. She is involved in many great programs and has recently won teacher of the year.
Contact Information:
Website: http://www.communityaccesstothearts.org/
Email: Sweinstein@sbrsd.org
Phone: 413.229.8754
Address: 491 Berkshire School Road, Sheffield, MA 01258
Sandy Newman, Executive Director of CATA
Celebrating the creativity of people with disabilities
CATA Direct Crafts Cooperative
Sandy Newman is the founder and Executive Director of Community Access to the Arts (CATA). CATA nurtures and celebrates the creativity of people with disabilities who shared experiences in visual and performing arts as well help to lessen the stigma of difference and disability and enhance public awareness of the valuable contributions that all individuals can offer their community.
Contact Information:
Website: http://www.communityaccesstothearts.org/
Email: info@communityaccesstotheARTS.org
Phone: 413.528.5485
Address: 40 Railroad Street, Suite 6, Great Barrington, MA 01230
Karen Pogoda, Chair of SEED
Karen Pogoda is a guidance counselor for the Pine Plains Central School District. She is the Chair of SEED, Sustaining Education Enrichment and Development, a new education enrichment fund for Pine Plains. The goal of the fund is to enhance and enrich the educational experience of the students and teachers in the Pine Plains Central School District.
Contact Information:
Website: http://www.berkshiretaconic.org/Grantseekers/guidelines_SEED.shtml
Becky Thornton, President of the Dutchess Land Conservancy
Becky Thornton has grown up with the organization, having been a part of DLC’s staff for almost 23 years DLC is a not-for-profit land conservation organization dedicated to preserving the rural character and important scenic, agricultural, forested, and ecological resources of Dutchess County, New York. Since 1985 DLC has protected more than 34,780 acres of land.
Contact Information:
Website: http://www.dutchessland.org/
Email: beckyt@dutchessland.org
Phone: 845.677.3002
Address: P. O. Box 138, 4289 Route 82, Millbrook, NY 12545
Kathy Orlando, Executive Director for Land Protection for the Sheffield Land Trust
Kathy Orlando, Executive Director for Land Protection for the Sheffield Land Trust
Kathy Orlando is the Executive Director for Land Protection for the Sheffield Land Trust and has worked there since 1991. The Sheffield Land Trust is a member-supported non-profit 501 ( c) (3) established in 1989 and is dedicated to protecting the land essential to Sheffield's natural, scenic, agricultural and rural character through a program of stewardship and by working with landowners, farmers and other partners.
Contact Information:
Website: http://www.sheffieldland.org/index.html
Email: shefland@bcn.net
Phone: 413.229.0234
Address: P.O. Box 940, Sheffield, MA 01258
David Rich, Executive Director of Supportive Housing Works, Housing US
David Rich, Executive Director of Supportive Housing Works, Accessory Housing
David Rich, Executive Director of Supportive Housing Works
David Rich is the Executive Director of Supportive Housing Works. Supportive Housing Works has created over 750 units of permanent supportive and affordable housing in the last five years and has housed over 500 homeless individuals and families. David is responsible for creating innovative public-private collaborations to efficiently, expediently and successfully house and provide services to the region's homeless.
Contact Information:
Website: http://www.supportivehousingworks.org/
Email: david@supportivehousingWORKS.org
Phone: 203.579.3181
Address: 387 Clinton Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06605
Martin Ping, Executive Director of Hawthorne Valley Association, Harvard Business School
Martin Ping, Executive Director of Hawthorne Valley Association
Martin Ping is the Executive Director of Hawthorne Valley Association, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation promoting social and cultural renewal through the integration of education, agriculture and the arts.
Contact Information:
Website: http://hawthornevalleyassociation.org/
Email: info@hawthornevalleyassociation.org
Phone: 518.672.4465
Address: 327 County Road 21C, Ghent, NY 12075
Alexa Curtiss, Margaret Derwin/Blue Sky Scholarship Recipient
Alexa Curtiss is senior at Housatonic Valley Regional High School. She is appliying to Wheelock College in Boston and is hoping to be accepted into their Child Life program, a 5 year degree program to earn a Bachelors and Masters in Child Life. Alexa was the recipient of the Margaret Derwin/ Blue Sky Scholarship in May. She learned about the scholarship by a teacher of hers who thought she was the perfect candidate. She heard the news two days before her 17th birthday and is excited for the opportunity to pursue her dreams.
Lori Rivenburgh, Executive Director, Women's Support Services, NonprofitLori Rivenburgh, Executive Director, Women's Support Services
Lori Rivenburgh is executive director of Women's Support Services, Inc. Women's Support Services' mission is to create a community free of domestic violence and abuse through intervention, prevention and education. They offer free, confidential, client-centered services focused on safety, support advocacy and community outreach. Lori is a graduate of Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY where she received a Masters degree in Counseling and Community Psychology. She joined the WSS family in May 2008. Lori has spent her career working with children and families throughout New York State. She is thrilled to be a part of the northwest corner community and looks forward to continuing to enhance domestic violence awareness and education in the area.
Contact Information:
Website: http://www.wssdv.org/
Phone: 860.364.1080
Address: P.O. Box 341, 158 Gay Street, Sharon, CT 06069
Jeff Barnet-Winsbey, Wassaic Project History
Jeff Barnet-Winsbey, Wassaic Project
David Cadwell, Coordinator, EMS Institute, Volunteering
David Cadwell, Coordinator, EMS Institute
David Cadwell is the coordinator for the EMS Institute. The EMS Institute supports the 16 ambulance squads that report to Sharon hospital and Dave has volunteered for the Cornwall Volunteer Ambulance for the past 25 years. The EMS Institute at Sharon Hospital was established in 1998 to assist the EMS providers in Sharon Hospital's service area. Funded primarily through an endowment and overseen by a volunteer board of directors comprised of EMS personnel, ER physicians and educators. The Institute provides speakers and courses on a variety of topics and maintains an inventory of literature, videos and training equipment that may be borrowed by EMS providers in our service area. They are an American Heart Association Training Center that places two certified instructors on each volunteer ambulance squad that they serve, as well as professional, affordable CPR training throughout the community.
Contact Information:
Website: http://www.emsinstitute.org/
Phone: 860.364.4665
Address: P.O. Box 91, 1 Low Road, Sharon, CT 06069
Jeff Barnet-Winsbey, Wassaic Project History
Jeff Barnet-Winsbey, Wassaic Project
Contact Information:
Website: http://wassaicproject.org/
Email: hello@wassaicproject.org
Phone: 347.815.0783
Address: The Maxon Mills, 37 Furnace Bank Road, Wassaic, NY 12592
Karen Garrity, Kent School Fund
Karen Garrity is the President of the Kent Education and Learning Foundation (KELF), a private fund that adds to the educational experience of students at Kent Center School. Its mission is to achieve educational excellence through financial and human resources, to empower students to have a deeper learning experience and to enable teachers to help their students with this goal. KELF is a fund of Berkshire Taconic.
Contact Information:
Website: http://kelfct.org/index.html
Email: info@kelfct.org
Phone: 860.927.1464
Address: PO Box 451, Kent, CT 06757
SOAR, an enrichment program for the children of Salisbury Central School, brings programs to grades K-8 to introduce new concepts and experiences besides those within the given curriculum of the school. SOAR is an endowed fund of Berkshire Taconic.
Contact Information:
Website: www.salisburycentral.org/subsite/dist/page/soar-87
Barbara Bonner, The Denise Kaley Fund
Barbara Bonner is the Fund Advisor to The Denise Kaley Fund, a fund for women in Berkshire County living in poverty and diagnosed with cancer, in memorial of Denise Kaley, who died of cancer. The fund supports day-to-day living expenses that are not covered for the patient by insurance and other funds and is a fund of Berkshire Taconic.
Contact Information:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thedenisekaleyfund
Email: info@berkshiretaconic.org
Phone: 413.229.0370
Liz Shaprio, Sharon Historical Society
Simone Joyaux, Nonprofit Learning Program
Bruce Snider, The Amy Clampitt Fund
Tim Abbott, The Housatonic Valley Association's Litchfield Hills Greenprint Program
Tim Abbott, The Housatonic Valley Association's Source to Sound Project
Tim Abbott is the Greenprint Director at The Housatonic Valley Association (HVA). The HVA's Litchfield Hills Greenprint Program began in 2006 and has helped to focus conservation efforts. HVA uses computer technology and data from local land trusts to come up with priorities for land conservation based on region. The HVA's Source to Sound Project celebrates the efforts of conservation organizations and individuals in the 2000-square mile, tri-state Housatonic Valley Watershed by a 10 day-long canoe trip from the source of the Housatonic River to its end in Long Island Sound.
Contact Information:
Website: www.hvatoday.org
Email: tim.abbott@hvatoday.org
Phone: 860.672.6678
CT Address: P.O. Box 28, 150 Kent Road, Cornwall Bridge, CT 06754
MA Address: P.O. Box 251, 1383 Route 102, South Lee, MA 01260
NY Address: P.O. Box 315, 19 Furnace Bank Road, Wassaic, NY 12592
Nancy Heaton, The Foundation for Community Health – Assistance with Mental Health Services
Nancy Heaton, The Foundation for Community Health – Assistance with Dental Services
Nancy Heaton, The Foundation for Community Health – Assistance with Trnasportation to Health Services
Nancy Heaton has served as Executive Director of the Foundation for Community Health (FCH) since February, 2004. FCH is a private, not-for-profit foundation dedicated to improving the health and well-being of the residents of the greater Harlem Valley in New York and the northern Litchfield Hills of Connecticut. To accomplish its mission, FCH makes grants, conducts research, provides technical assistance, and supports collaborations and advocacy. FCH is a supporting organization of Berkshire Taconic. The Assistance with Mental Health Services focuses on access to care for those with mental health needs. FCH works with organizations that provide an opportunity to socialize, participate in activities, provide employment training and support, and offers funding to various organizations that offer care throughout the tri-state area. The Assistance with Dental Services works to create better access to dental care with a focus on children, providing free cleanings and other dental services, as well as a mobile dental van to provide services for adults and children. The Assistance with Transportation to Health Services, works to break down all barriers that prevent people from good access to healthcare, from providing transportation to health service providers to translators for those who do not speak English. Committees design plans to streamline and make easier all aspects of access, particularly transportation.
Contact Information:
Website: www.fchealth.org/index.php/site
Email: info@fchealth.org
Phone: 860.3645157 or Toll-Free: 800.695.7210
Address: 155 Sharon Valley Road, Sharon, CT 06069
Jenny Hansell, North East Community Center's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA)
Jenny Hansell, North East Community Center's Family Support Program
Jenny Hansell, Millerton Farmer's Market
Jenny Hansell is the Executive Director of the North East Community Center which serves residents of North East Dutchess and Litchfield Counties. The North East Community Center’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) has IRS-trained volunteers prepare income taxes for low-income families in order for them to get their maximum refund, held at the North East Community Center in Millerton. The North East Community Center’s Family Support Program at the North East Community Center in Millerton is funded by donations that bring young families together, from pregnant mothers to toddlers, and allows children to socialize and develop relationships with each other, while at the same time allows parents or caretakers to come together to offer support to each other. The Millerton Farmer’s Market, a teen employment program in partnership with Millerton schools where farmers bring and sell their harvest, and local teenagers make and sell goods such as soap, jam, and fresh fruit, is sponsored by the North East Community Center.
Contact Information:
North East Community Center’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA):
Website: www.neccmillerton.org/taxes.html
North East Community Center’s Family Support Program
Website: www.neccmillerton.org/family_toddler_programs.html
The Millerton Farmer’s Market
Website: www.neccmillerton.org/millerton_farmers_market.html
North East Community Center:
Email: jenny@neccmillerton.org
Phone: 518.789.4259
Address: P.O. Box 35, 51 South Center Street, Millerton, NY 12546
Dan Bolognani, Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area
Dan Bolognani is the Executive Director of the Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area. TheUpper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area works with local organizations to help them to promote themselves in ways that they would not be able to on their own. The goal is to provide a management framework to foster a close working relationship with all levels of government, the private sector, and the local communities in the upper Housatonic Valley region to conserve the region’s heritage while continuing to pursue compatible economic opportunities. The Upper Housatonic Valley National Hertitage Area is here to assist communities, organizations, and citizens in Connecticut and Massachusetts in identifying, preserving, interpreting, and developing the historical, cultural, scenic, and natural resources of the region for the educational and inspirational benefit of current and future generations.
Contact Information:
Website: www.upperhousatonicheritage.org
Email: info@HousatonicHeritage.org
Phone: 860.435.9505
Address: 24 Main Street, PO Box 493, Salisbury, CT 06068
Catherine Tatge, Cornwall Consolidated School Fund for Excellence
Catherine Tatge, Global Village Media
Cornwall Consolidated School Fund for Excellence is designed to expand the horizons of the students of the Cornwall Consolidated School by exposing them to new cultures, meeting children from different parts of the state, and introducing them to new experiences and learning opportunities. Catherine Tatge is the founder and Artistic Director of Global Village Media (GVM). GVM focuses on telling stories, building bridges between cultures and peoples, and finding ways of telling stories through filmmaking. Tatge and her husband have brought this concept to several local schools, where it has been embraced by students, teachers, and administrators.
Contact Information:
Cornwall Consolidated School:
Website: www.cornwallschool.org
Phone: 860.672.6617
Address: 5 Cream Hill Road, West Cornwall, CT 06796
Global Village Media:
Website: globalvillagemedia.org/index.html
Email: dlasseur@globalvillagemedia.tv
Phone: 212.222.5677
Address: 485 Central Park West, Suite 6B, New York City, NY 10025
Jeff Lloyd, The Jane Lloyd Fund
The Jane Lloyd Fund was founded by the Lloyd family after her eight year battle with cancer. They wanted to respond to the generosity of the community, who helped Jane when she was in need so that others in the community might experience the same sense of well being in their own time of need. The fund was established at Berkshire Taconic to benefit cancer patients and their families with financial help in the Connecticut towns of Canaan, Cornwall, Falls Village, Kent, Salisbury and Sharon.
Contact Information:
Website: www.thejanelloydfund.org
Email: info@thejanelloydfund.org
Patricia Tremblay, Salisbury Visiting Nurses Association
Patricia Tremblay, Hospice
Patricia Tremblay is the Salisbury Visiting Nurses Association (SVNA) Executive Director. The SVNA serves the Northwest Corner of Connecticut, providing nursing, therapy, home health aid, and social work services to people who are not able to leave their homes for a variety of medical reasons. With a staff of nearly 50, SVNA provides health services in the home, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. SVNA is the only visiting nurse agency in the area that has the capability of offering 24-hour care.
Contact Information:
Website: http://salisburyvna.org/
Email: info@salisburyvna.org
Phone: 860.435.0816
Address: 30A Salmon Kill Road, Salisbury, CT 06068
Deron Bayer, Kapteyn Prize Recipient
Deron Bayer, history teacher, theater director and head football coach of Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village, CT, won the first annual James C. Kapteyn Prize in 2009. The Kapteyn Prize is awarded to candidates who teach in secondary schools and display excellence and passion within their classroom, inspire their students, as well as devote themselves to a life of learning, both in and outside of the classroom.
Contact Information:
Website: http://kapteynprize.org/
Jerilynn Tiso, Kent Social Worker
Jerilynn Tiso is a Kent Social Worker who handles the needs of those in need of various social services, notably fuel aid through state programs and a fuel bank in Northwest Connecticut. Tiso uses Berkshire Taconic’s Neighbor to Neighbor Fund to aid members of the community in home and property repairs, and the Jane Lloyd Fund to aid cancer patients in funding their treatment and living costs while undergoing treatment.
Contact Information:
Website: www.townofkentct.org/social-services
Email: socialservices@townofkentct.org
Phone: 860.927.1586
Ed Downey, Simmons Summer Enrichment Scholarship Program
Ed Downey, Tabor Foundation
Ed Downey, Violet H. Simmons Scholarship Program
Ed Downey serves on the Board of both the Tabor Foundation and the Violet H. Simmons Scholarship Program. Violet H. Simmons was a history teacher in Millerton for over 40 years, whose career inspired a scholarship in her name which has been awarded to over 30 Webutuck High School students who show a well-rounded understanding of the world, a sense of inquiry, proactivity, and a desire to help their community. The Tabor Foundation Fund, originally founded to help aspiring doctors go to medical school, now exists to help individuals who plan to undertake training in a field of healthcare and to seek employment in Northeast Dutchess or Northwest Connecticut. Both are adminstered by Berkshire Taconic.
Contact Information:
Email: grants@berkshiretaconic.org
Barbara Douglass, Northwestern Connecticut Community College
Barbara Douglass is the President of Northwest Connecticut Community College (NCCC). NCCC introduced an associate degree nursing program in January 2011 thanks to a grant from Berkshire Taconic. Douglass worked to fund this program in order to ease the shortage of nurses in area hospitals and throughout Connecticut, and it will depend completely on private funding.
Contact Information:
Website: www.nwcc.commnet.edu
Email: bdouglass@nwcc.commnet.edu
Phone: 860.738.6406
Address: Park Place East, Winsted, CT 06098
Willie Hallihan, Salisbury Winter Sports Association
Willie Hallihan serves on the Board of the Salisbury Winter Sports Associations, a Salisbury tradition for 80 years, this all-volunteer organization has fostered the exhilarating sport of ski jumping among all ages and generations. SWSA continues to improve its snowmaking capabilities, ensuring that the Eastern National Ski Jumping Championships will remain an annual event in Salisbury, CT
Contact Information:
Website: www.jumpfest.org
Email: info@jumpfest.org
Phone: 860.435.0019
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 196, Salisbury, CT 06068
Satre Hill Address: 80 Indian Cave Rd. Salisbury, CT 06068
Mariella Ribbeck, NED CORPS Client Advocate
Mariella Ribbeck is a NED Corps Client Advocate. Berkshire Taconic formed the Northeast Dutchess (NED) Fund in 2002 to improve the quality of life in Amenia, Clinton Corners, Dover Plains, Millbrook, Millerton, North East, Pine Plains, Stanford, Washington, Wassaic, Wingdale and their hamlets. In 2007, NED created NED CORPS, with a support of a single donor, a program that provides two bilingual client advocates who travel to meet with clients in these areas. The client advocates connect clients with social services that provide health insurance for children, translation assistance, emergency relief, free prescription drugs, food, shelter, mental health programs and other services. Ribbeck is bilingual, and helps up to 5 people a day with pinpointing services which they are eligible for, assisting with the application process, and certifying them for services which they are already receiving.
View Client Advocates Schedule
Zoe Fedorjaczenko, David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village, CT
Zoe Fedorjaczenko is the chair of the development committee at the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village, CT. The mission of the D.M. Hunt Library is to provide library resources, services, and programs that help to fulfill the educational, information, cultural, and recreational needs of the community in an atmosphere that is welcoming and friendly. The library staff offers Saturday Sessions and year-round children’s programs. The Board of the Hunt Library recently began to organize various committees in order to help it to have a more lasting and deeper effect on the community which it serves as a result of its participation in the Nonprofit Learning Program, which is sponsored in part by Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.
Contact Information:
Website: www.huntlibrary.org/Hunt_Library/Home.html
Phone: 860.824.7424
Address: 63 Main Street, PO Box 217, Falls Village, CT 06031
HousingUs is a tri–state collaborative effort of nonprofit organizations and community leaders to promote broad–based affordable housing options in towns throughout the northwest corner of CT, northeast Dutchess and Columbia Counties in NY and southern Berkshire County. The mission of HousingUs is to dramatically increase the rate of affordable housing development in the tri–state region. Among the ways HousingUs attempts to close this gap is through its initiative to help people create accessory apartments in their homes.
Contact Information:
Website: www.berkshiretaconic.org/housing/index.shtml
Email: jayer@housingus.org
Phone: 413.229.0370 x105
Address: 800 N Main Street, PO Box 400, Sheffield, MA 01257
Gary Schiro, Hudson Opera House
Gary Schiro is the Executive Director of The Hudson Opera House which offers over 1,000 programs and events every year, over 80% of them free to the community. The Opera House also offers multipurpose space, exhibition space, and workshop space for various classes and programs for community members of all ages. The Hudson Opera House is one of the oldest surviving theatres in America.
Contact Information:
Website: www.hudsonoperahouse.org
Email: gary@hudsonoperahouse.org
Phone: 518.822.1438
Address: 327 Warren St., Hudson, NY 12534
Jenny Hansell, North East Community Center
Jenny Hansell is the Executive Director of the North East Community Center which serves residents of North East Dutchess and Litchfield Counties. The mission of the Community Center is to create a warm, welcoming, and nurturing place for all those who it serves. Services include education programs for new parents, teenagers, and young children, a car service for the elderly, and a farmer’s market located in Millerton, NY, which serves to include all members of the community, from new farmers to teenagers who make and sell goods in order to learn more about various aspects of running a business.
Contact Information:
Website: www.neccmillerton.org/index.html
Email: jenny@neccmillerton.org
Phone: 518.789.4259
Address: P.O. Box 35, 51 South Center Street, Millerton, NY 12546
