Great Barrington — Bobbie Hallig will be presented on Saturday, September 14, with the Edwin A. Jaffe Award at the Berkshire South Regional Community Center gala celebration. For Bobbie, the presentation is not about her. “I feel like the community has honored me enough. I’m here tonight because I want to encourage everyone to stay in there and keep supporting community efforts as long as they can,” she said. Then, with laughter in her voice: “I am willing to keep doing it as long as I can stagger around.”
“The more I read the newspapers and see what is going on around us, I think to myself, ‘Aren’t we lucky to live in such a nice place.’ But there is an obligation to that. It’s the concern for others that enables us to sustain such a vital community.”
She adds, “We should all reinvent our commitment and our desire to keep things going in the same direction. We are such lucky people to be in Berkshire County in Massachusetts – a very enlightened state and community – and it will only remain so if we all get involved and maintain the essential things that make this community so wonderful.”
Her exuberance is contagious, and has lifted her through many fundraising campaigns throughout the years. For 50 years, Bobbie has served as an officer of the Christ Church of Mt. Washington. She is currently an active trustee with Edith Wharton’s The Mount where she is currently co-chairing a campaign to secure an endowment for the organization.
Bobbie’s tireless efforts have directly benefitted Children’s Health Program, Berkshire Theatre Group, The Nature Conservancy (which Bobbie helped to found as the first chapter in the state), Berkshire Natural Resources Council, the Rudolf Steiner School, the Mahaiwe Center for Performing Arts, and Green Berkshires, among others.
Largely her interests were, and remain in keeping the natural world natural. “The first CSA in America was in South Egremont – Indian Line Farm – and I helped the people create it with a Swiss guy who was working on a movie at the time called It’s Not about the Vegetables,” she said.
Jane Iredale, a close companion of Bobbie’s, explained that Bobbie was always one to exceed expectations. “It’s said that if you want to get something done, give it to the busiest person you know,” she said. “Bobbie Hallig has to be at the top of that list. Even when she had foot surgery and couldn’t walk, she found a scooter that she could rest her leg on so she could zip around the house and get back to business as usual. I guess it’s called indefatigable.”
Iredale added, “I like to think of her as a positive, loving spirit who never quits and does it all with a smile, a giggle and an infectious optimism that moves mountains.”
Bobbie learned the art of giving back from her family as a child in Oklahoma. “Dad was a councilman and Mom was a Neighborhood Watch person,” Bobbie recalled. “Everyone who walked in the door at our house was fed. We always had huge pots of soup or something on the stove. Need a ride to the doctor: call my mother. Need someone to watch the kids for an afternoon: call Syble (Bobbie’s mom).”
But giving back meant more than selfless generosity. “My mother was a fanatical voter, and always manned the voting booths on election days,” said Bobbie. Family giving back extends another generation as well. “My son (Oskar Hallig) is very politically active, an involved Rotarian [where Service above Self is the motto].”
Oskar absorbed her examples. “My mother always told me that giving is something learned from others. I remember hearing stories as a child about her mother who made it a habit to drop by homes of those she knew were in need to lighten the load,” he said.
Bobbie learned that deep lesson first. “When Oskar was at the Steiner School, another mother called me asking for a coat for her child. She said ‘I’ve heard about you.’ Isn’t that the reputation that we all want? If a stranger calls you for help you reach out to help. I told her, ‘You did exactly the right thing. You are a terrific mother. I’ll be there in an hour.”
Bobbie believes moments like that happen often if you reach beyond your circle. “The kind of fulfillment that you get from these actions is way beyond what you are giving. I think moments like that define the essence of what is most important in life.”
The Jaffe Award winner has had other help in her journey toward philanthropy. “Jane Fitzpatrick taught me,” she recalled. “I met her when I was chairing the Children’s Health Campaign to buy Russell House. I had no clue as to how I was going to accomplish this. I thought I should consult someone in our community who is a known giver so I called Jane Fitzpatrick and asked for a lunch appointment.”
When the two women met, Jane explained that her money was already committed at the time, but she was willing to support the project with a smaller donation. “A one thousand dollar donation,” said Bobbie. “I was delighted and said, ‘Now I only have to raise $299,000 more!’”
By the time Hallig had completed her pitch, Jane Fitzpatrick had matched her own significant donation. “Much later, when I came to know her better, she said Fay Lavan taught her to be a giver. Jane Fitzpatrick taught me, and so it goes. The circle spreads as we continue to inspire one another.”
