Berkshire Grown urges community to support HIP
Great Barrington — The Massachusetts Healthy Incentives Program provides a dollar-for-dollar match for SNAP dollars spent on fruits and vegetables purchased at participating farmers markets, farm stands, mobile markets and community supported agriculture programs statewide. To date, the program has provided more than $2.9 million in fresh, healthy, local foods for low-income families, with that money going to support local farms in Massachusetts.
Berkshire Grown actively recruited farmers to participate in HIP in 2017 to increase farmers’ sales and access to locally grown food. “We’re thrilled that HIP increased local farmers’ sales of fruits and vegetables in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by nearly $3 million in the first nine months of the program in 2017,” said Berkshire Grown executive director Barbara Zheutlin. “Now we’re urging everyone to make a phone call to make sure the funding for HIP is renewed.”
Zheutlin urges Massachusetts residents to call or email their state representatives to ask them to support HIP. Zheutlin recommends that those reaching out ask the representative to:
- Sign on to a letter urging that the House Committee on Ways and Means include $6.2 million in its fiscal year 2019 budget request by contacting Carolyn Cismondi in the office of Rep. Daniel Donahue, D-Worcester, at carolyn.cismondi@mahouse.gov.
- Include HIP as one of their top three priorities when they meet with the committee to discuss the upcoming budget.
–E.E.
* * *
LitNet welcomes new board members
Lee — The Literacy Network of South Berkshire has announced the election of Rebecca Riordan and Leigh Doherty to its board of directors.
Riordan is vice president of human resources at Greylock Federal Credit Union, a position she assumed in July 2017. Riordan has more than 30 years of experience in human resources, including 20 years at Country Curtains in Lee, where she most recently served as vice president of human resources. Riordan has also held various leadership roles, including human resources manager, at the Steinbach department stores in Albany and White Plains, New York. She graduated from the State University of New York at New Paltz with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and currently volunteers on the personnel committee for the town of Lee.
Doherty has served as associate head of school at Berkshire Country Day School in Stockbridge since 2016. Prior to her employment at BCD, Doherty held roles as a classroom teacher, curriculum coordinator and consultant for the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme in Namibia and Belgium; and head of the lower schools at the International School of Boston in Cambridge and the Community Day Charter Public School in Lawrence. Most recently she was co-founder and a leadership and career coach at Designed Alliance. She holds a Master of Arts degree in leadership in international schools from Oxford Brookes University in England.
–E.E.
* * *
Crissey Farm wins wedding venue award
Great Barrington — Crissey Farm has announced its fifth consecutive year as winner of the 2018 WeddingWire Couples’ Choice Award for wedding venue.
The WeddingWire global online marketplace for the wedding and events industry annually recognizes the top five percent of professionals on the site who demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and more. The top local wedding specialists in more than 20 service categories from venues to florists are awarded the accolade. Crissey Farm was recognized as an award recipient based on reviews from newlyweds and their experiences working with the venue. Award-winning vendors are distinguished for the quality, quantity, consistency and timeliness of the reviews they have received from their past clients.
–E.E.
* * *
Nicole Chase joins Salisbury Bank as assistant vice president
Lakeville, Conn. — Salisbury Bank and Trust Company has announced that Nicole Chase has recently joined as assistant vice president, branch manager of its Lakeville and Salisbury branches.
Said executive vice president and chief retail officer Betsy Summerville, “With several years of branch management experience, I am confident that Nicole will capably lead the teams in our Lakeville and Salisbury offices, ensuring our customers continue to receive the level of personalized service they have come to know and expect.”
Chase joins Salisbury Bank with 18 years of banking experience. She most recently worked as branch manager for Union Savings Bank in Marble Dale. She lives in Ashley Falls, Massachusetts.
–E.E.
