The school collected more than 1,000 items of food for the food pantry in Pittsfield.
RICHMOND, Mass. — Students at Richmond Consolidated School recently concluded their annual food drive and sock drive, having collected 578 pairs of socks and more than 1,000 items of food.
According to Student Leadership Team coordinator Zachary Houle, a special education teacher, students in Grades 5 through 8 take on the leadership roles of a project that they choose based on the positive impact they believe it will have.
"They look for a service project that will impact people right here, around our community," Houle said.
For the past few years this project has been a food drive for the South Community Food Pantry at South Congregational Church, 110 South St., in Pittsfield.
Food pantry is open to everyone and is the only food pantry in Berkshire County that delivers to those unable to get to the pantry.
Students have also helped serve at community meals for seniors at the Richmond Council on Aging. Last year, they expanded their efforts to include handing out socks and cards to seniors at the COA as well.
This year the school collected socks for all ages with some donated to seniors at the COA as well as to the food pantry for distribution.
Houle described the role student leaders take on: collecting the donations from each homeroom, counting and sorting the items, and packing them up for distribution.
He commended the following participants for their leadership during the project: Catalina Baltazar, Dylan Conuel, Luciella Curletti, Mathilde Daire, Charlotte Greer, Lucia Naventi, Alisa Yefremov, Livia Yefremov, Emily Leonard-Miller and Kayleigh Dimassimo.
The whole school participated by collecting donations, including children in pre-kindergarten.
"There are many people struggling in a variety of ways, particularly around the holiday season and in the winter. I am proud of our little school, for thinking about others and contributing to their well-being," said Superintendent and Principal Beth Choquette.
While the service project is not tied directly to specific curriculum, she said it embodies the school's mission to provide opportunities for everyone to become mindful, caring individuals in a climate that encourages citizenship among other qualities.
Students were rewarded with a movie and hot cocoa on Friday, the last day of school for the year.
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Big Votes Await Pittsfield City Council
By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Tuesday is a big day for Pittsfield, as the City Council will take a final vote on the fiscal 2025 budget, a five-year trash contract, and water and sewer rates.
These will be taken in council chambers at the meeting beginning at 6 p.m.
The proposed $215,955,210 spending plan is a 5 percent increase from the previous year and includes a $200,000 cut to the schools. Councilors preliminarily OKed the number a couple of weeks ago with a last-minute cut to the district's budget after "unprofessional" comments from School Committee members.
This drops the school budget to $82.6 million.
All other city departments were preliminarily approved without adjustments over four hearings.
The Pittsfield Police Department budget is proposed to rise 4 percent from $14,364,673 in FY24 to $14,998,410, an increase of about $614,000. A 2.5 percent increase is proposed for the Department of Public Services, rising about $287,000 from $11,095,563 in FY24 to $11,382,122.
Mayor Peter Marchetti has also submitted orders to appropriate $2.5 million from certified free cash to reduce the FY25 tax rate, borrow an aggregate sum not exceeding $10,192,500 for general fund capital expenditures, borrow an aggregate sum not exceeding $7,700,000 for enterprise fund capital expenditures, and transfer and appropriate $234,000 from the public works stabilization fund to the Department of Public Services.
Councilors will also be tasked with the city's trash collection for the next five years, with contracts on the table between the City of Pittsfield and Casella Waste Management, Inc. for solid waste and recyclables collection and for the operation of the Casella-owned transfer station at 500 Hubbard Avenue.
Following three community meetings to engage residents, the council preliminarily approved the five-year contracts with Casella last week. This agreement uses automated collection instead of unlimited trash pickup VIA 48-gallon trash and recycling toters provided at no cost.
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