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North County Bids Farewell to NBCC Leader Bashevkin
By Tammy Daniels, iBerkshires Staff
10:45PM / Wednesday, June 24, 2015
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NBCC's outgoing founder Alan Bashevkin was surprised at his farewell party with Red Sox paraphernalia and that the Sox were retiring his number (which really wasn't true.) See more photos here.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — It's been a series of goodbyes for Alan Bashevkin.

The founder and longtime leader of the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition announced in March that he was stepping down after 29 years "to try something different."

Community and agency officials have taken notice: the state Department of Public Health awarded him the 2015 Commissioners Leadership Award in April, he said his goodbyes at the annual NBCC meeting last week and on Friday was presented the Berkshire Community Action Council Difference Maker Award.

Still, nearly 100 people including friends and family attended his farewell party on Tuesday at the Holiday Inn, filling up two rooms of the Richmond Grille as images from Bashevkin's nearly three decades flashed onto a screen.

"Every time I goofed up, he came to my rescue. Now when he goofs up, I go to his rescue," said a teary Shirley Davis who began working with Bashevkin on a neighborhood program early on that recently culminated in the new UNO Neighborhood Center. "I love you."

There was a lot of love and memories being passed around about the infamous "nudger" who got programs and pilots moving by connecting and, well, nudging agencies, officials, individuals in the right direction.

"Everyone in the room is better for that, everyone in North Adams is better for that," said state Rep. Gailanne Cariddi, who has known Bashevkin since their school days.

"Al created an atmosphere within the community whereby we all felt safe discussing topics that you might say were less than popular," said Mayor Richard Alcombright. "Al put topics on the table that were discussed outside the realm of government, outside the realm of judgment, and Al gave us the format."

It came off to some as "sitting in a circle singing 'kumbaya,' " but the monthly forums sponsored by the coalition brought diverse and sometimes competitive voices together to determine their own direction, he said.

"You see the rainbow before the sun even peaks through the clouds," the mayor said. "The difference is you see the person and not just the people."

Ruth Blodgett, senior vice president at Berkshire Health Systems, said she was new to the "nudging code" but appreciative of the response she'd received from the coalition and Bashevkin.

"This coalition thing is pretty darn special that you guys have going on up here," she said. "Sometimes we don't know how special something is in our own back yard but the coalition is pretty unique."

The agency began in 1986, at a time when the city was suffering from the closure of Sprague Electric and other businesses.  

"This community at its best is Al Bashevkin," said state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing. "It's a spirit that filled a void here in North County at an incredibly traumatic time. It brought people together."

Mixed in with the laudatory comments were some good-natured joshing. Northern Berkshire School Union Superintendent Jonathan Lev, a childhood friend of Bashevkin's, gifted the Red Sox diehard with a Yankees cap. Local historian Joe Manning made the presentation of a framed Red Sox shirt with the name Bashevkin and "29" on it.

Former NBCC Board President Steve Green emceed the event, and joked that he'd received some job offers for Bashevkin from the Red Sox, Patriots and the White House. "Please come to Washington as soon as possible and use your group work skills to get Congress moving again," read Green.

Green also presented him with a plaque indicating a bench would be dedicated on his behalf at the UNO Community Center.

Rabbi Jarah Greenfield of Congregation Beth El in Bennington, Vt., offered two blessings and charges and the staff of NBCC sang an ode to their former boss to the tune of The Eagles' "Hotel California."

Bashevkin, not surprisingly, spent time in his remarks thanking the many people who had served with or partnered with the coalition over the years, including former Mayor John Barrett III and especially former U.S. Rep. John W. Olver.

"My leaving is with mixed emotions, it's not like I'm just kind of going. I'm pretty ambivalent about it," he said. "I love this job, I love the people I'm working with and, over the past few weeks, you've been very kind in recognizing what these past 29 years have meant to me and to the North Berkshire community ... It's time for me to take time to do those things I haven't had time to do in my life.  

"It's time to simplify life and it's time to move on."

The staff at NBCC serenade former boss Alan Bashevkin at his farewell party #farewell

Posted by iBerkshires.com on Tuesday, June 23, 2015
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