Market 32 Raises Money to Fight Rare Disease

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SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — Price Chopper/Market 32, in collaboration with its trade partner Freihofer's Baking Co., has raised more than $19,000 to help fight rare disease.
 
The supermarket chain partnered with Cure Rare Disease (CRD), a nonprofit biotech organization with a mission to enable and finance the development of lifesaving genetic medicines for rare and ultra-rare populations previously deemed too rare to treat.
 
"Price Chopper/Market 32 is proud to support Cure Rare Diseases in raising funds that help with the development of lifesaving medicines for patients who have nowhere else to turn," said Mona Golub, Price Chopper/Market 32's vice president of public relations & consumer services. "We are grateful for the generosity of our valued trade partner, Freihofer's, and our customers and teammates, all of whom helped raise these much-needed funds."
 
Price Chopper/Market 32 promoted the purchase of specific Freihofer's products in its stores during May and June 2023 with a designated donation to CRD from every select purchase.
 
"We're grateful to Price Chopper/Market 32 for their support," said Rich Horgan, Cure Rare Disease founder and president. "This year's campaign, with support from Freihofer's, raised more than $19,000 and will help us develop new, potentially lifesaving therapies for patients with ultra-rare neuromuscular disorders. We want to thank customers for their continued support of our mission."
 
 
 
 
 
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Child-Care Providers Want Mental Health Support, Better Wages

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler and Early Education and Care Commissioner Amy Kershaw host a listening session on early child care at BCC on Wednesday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Local child-care providers called for mental health support and equitable pay at a listening session with state officials this week. 

"We don't provide resources for our educators so that they have a strength in the classroom. They're putting out fires constantly. How are they educating? How are they teaching?" said Elise Weller, senior director of child care services at 18 Degrees.

"The social-emotional development of these children is so important."

Katherine Von Haefen, director of community impact at Berkshire United Way, said a single parent with school-aged children needs to make between $70,000 and $80,000 annually just to meet basic needs and a great many local parents are not making that mark — including teachers.

"Just over half of our population now in Berkshire County is considered to be economically challenged, working yet still struggling to make ends meet. Too many of our local educators are part of this economically challenged population," she said.

"Frequently we hear directors sharing stories of staff refusing raises or bonuses so that they do not lose out on key benefits. This is not OK. Early childhood compensation is truly a very complicated issue and one that frankly, has not yet been fully successfully addressed across the country. It's one that's complicated yet, we still need to look at a variety of possible solutions. Multiple solutions that can be piloted and road tested before engaging in large-scale efforts."

Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler and Early Education and Care Commissioner Amy Kershaw hosted the childcare listening session Wednesday at Berkshire Community College. The panel also included state Outdoor Recreation Director Paul Jahnige, Alvina Brevard of the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, and Undersecretary of Education Mark Reilly.

"We know that there are some really difficult barriers facing this particular field: accessibility, affordability for families, opportunity, and so we will be discussing, I'm sure, all of that," BCC President Ellen Kennedy said.

"I am particularly committed to this. I am the parent of a son who is now in his thirties with a son who was at a child-care center but my son went in at eight weeks old and I have shared on one or two occasions that it was the professionals in the child-care center that made me a better parent, that actually taught me how to parent, and I am forever in their debt for the ways in which they helped me help my son."

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