Know a seventh or eighth grader interested in having an adventure this summer? Berkshire Community College will facilitate one for you, when it offers its "Tech Adventures" program in July.

Free to students and families, the program offers hands-on, interactive activities focused on math, writing and manufacturing. Participants will visit local manufacturing companies to see products and meet employees; there will be a field trip to Windsor, Vt. museums to observe the roots of manufacturing and view glass blowing demonstrations; and there will be recreational activities both on and off the BCC campus.

Lunch and transporation to activities is included, with area drop-off and pick-up sites at 7:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. at the Allendale Shopping Center and Williams Street Plaza in Pittsfield.

The program runs from Monday, July 12 through Friday, July 23. For more information, contact Kathy Dion at 413-236-5252 or kdion@berkshirecc.edu.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — WJJW, 91.1 FM, the student-operated non-commercial radio station at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, will hold a 24-hour fundraising marathon and album sale on Saturday, May 8.

  The marathon begins at midnight (Friday night) and ends at 11:59 p.m. Saturday. Listeners can call the station at 413-662-5110 with a donation pledge, or stop by the studio on the third floor of the Campus Center. Any amount is appreciated, and there will be prizes available.

The album sale will be held from noon to 4 p.m., Saturday, also on the third floor of the Campus Center. WJJW has thousands of used vinyl records from all music genres dating back to the late 1960s. Bulk discounts will be available. The sale is cash only, and all sales will be final.

Proceeds from the events will be used toward the purchase of a new sound board and equipment for web streaming.

Donations can also be sent to WJJW, Student Government Association, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, 375 Church St., North Adams, MA 01247; checks should be made payable to the Student Government Association/WJJW.

For more information on the marathon, contact station manager Charlie Schnitzlein at CS3967@mcla.edu; on the album sale, contact WJJW faculty adviser Jim Niedbalski at 413-662-5418.

The Northern Berkshire United Way  invites the public to attend its annual Victory Celebration breakfast, to be held on Thursday, May 27 at the Williams Inn.

The program will include a wrap up of the 2009 – 2010 campaign, and will honor volunteers and donors from the campaign. The Northern Berkshire United Way supports 23 member agencies in meeting the needs of the Northern Berkshire community.

The breakfast begins at 7:45 and is open to the community. Tickets are $15.  RSVP to the Northern Berkshire United way at 413-663-9062 by May 24.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity held a dedication and groundbreaking ceremony for a new home they will be building in the city's Morningside area to help a low-income family achieve home ownership. Attendees of Saturday's groundbreaking at 94 Lincoln St. included Mayor James M. Ruberto, Ward 2 Councilor Peter White, members of the Morningside Advisory Committee and Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity’s Executive Director Carolyn Valli.

The Kehoes, a family of 11 (nine kids and two parents) will move into their new six-bedroom, two-bathroom home when work is completed. Members of the family have helped with the building of other families' homes in Pittsfield, learning such skills as installing sheetrock, framing, siding, insulating, and electrical work. Work on their home is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity is collaborating with community partner Taconic High School, whose carpentry students will be working on the home, along with Habitat for Humanity volunteers coming from as far away as New York City. See more photos, passed on to us by Kimberly Rawson and Dawn Carberry, on our Facebook page.

Next Saturday, mail carriers with routes in Pittsield, Dalton, Hinsdale and Lanesborough will be doing more than delivering and picking up mail.

Letter carriers will be collecting non-perishable donations for a food drive conducted by local branch No. 286 of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), in conjunction with the U.S. Postal Service and Berkshire United Way, on May 8. Donations will be distributed later to a number of local food pantries by volunteers from Berkshire United Way, Berkshire Community Action Council and Berkshire Youth United.

The NALC "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive is held nationwide and is the largest one-day food drive in the country. According to NALC, last year 73.4 million pounds of non-perishable donations were collected across the country, and this year the NALC expects to reach a record one billion pounds collected since the drive's inception in 1993.

The drive is held annually on the second Saturday in May in more than 10,000 cities and towns in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.

Residents interested in donating food should put their non-perishable items in bags and leave them by their mailbox.

For more information visit www.berkshireunitedway.org. or www.nalc.org/commun/foodrive/