MEMBER SIGN IN
Not a member? Become one today!
         iBerkshires     Williamstown Chamber     Williams College     Your Government     Land & Housing Debate
Search
Downing Accepts Coalition's Hero Award, Thanks Community
By Rebecca Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
03:26AM / Saturday, June 18, 2016
Print | Email  

State Rep. Gail Cariddi talks about how Sen. Benjamin Downing has been a 'true partner' when helping introduce him as the recipient of the Northern Berkshire Hero Award on Friday.

NBCC Board Vice President Kris Maloney kicks off the annual meeting.

North Adams Mayor Richard Alcombright applauds the musicians who played during the lunch portion of the NBCC annual meeting.

NBCC Interim Executive Director Amber Besaw shows off one of the Coalition's new videos.

Chelsea Roy talked about the support she and her boyfriend Bret Logan received from the Family Place.

Teen Writing Workshop participant Sapphire Holland speaks before reading her poem.

Coalition staffer Annie Rodgers introduces the 'Ben or Then' trivia game.

A young participant raises her Ben Downing head on a stick to answer a trivia question.

Sen. Downing and former NBCC Executive Director Alan Bashevkin embrace after Bashevkin spoke about Downing, calling him 'a human bring who really really cares about the people of Berkshire County.'

The crowd at the annual meeting applauds Sen. Downing.

Sen. Downing speaks after receiving the Northern Berkshire Hero Award.


WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The proverbial glass was neither half empty nor half full on Friday afternoon but instead overflowed with praise, love and gratitude as the Northern Berkshire Community Coalition marked its 30th anniversary and said goodbye to state Sen. Benjamin Downing.

North Adams Mayor Richard Alcombright first mentioned looking at life in a "glass-half-full" way when giving opening remarks at the Coalition's annual meeting at the Williams Inn, He retold a story about an experiment on two boys — one who was locked in a room with all the latest video games and one who was locked in a room with a pile of horse manure. When researchers checked on the first boy, he sat dejected because he knew he would have to give all the electronics up. The second boy, however, was gleefully knee-deep in the manure.

What the second boy told the researchers? "I know there's a pony in here somewhere."

Here in Northern Berkshire County, the Coalition "can see through the crap," Alcombright said.

"[They] make us want to find the pony. Isn't that the Coalition?" he said. "Please let's continue to look for all those ponies."

Downing book-ended the topic of optimism and returned to the glass of water analogy after accepting the Northern Berkshire Hero Award and giving the keynote address. He spoke about how the strength of a community can be measured in how it weathers the tough time, and how the Northern Berkshire community, particularly through the formation 30 years ago of the Coalition and its continued strength and growth every year since, has done that, despite challenges from the loss of Sprague Electric 30 years ago to the loss of North Adams Regional Hospital two years ago.

"That's a choice a community makes, whether we're going to fall apart or face the challenges head-on," Downing said. "When we're at our best, it's not just the glass is half full. But we know if we work hard enough, we're going to find the water to make the glass overflow."

In between the remarks by Alcombright and Downing, the Coalition highlighted its own successes of the year, including showing two new videos made for the Coaltion by local videographer Joe Aidonidis, one spotlighting the coalition as a whole and one focusing on the Teen Writing Workshop. One of the Teen Writing Workshop participants, Sapphire Holland, read a poem she had written and talked about her involvement will many of the Coalition's youth development programs, crediting "these amazing people and these amazing programs" with her decision to attend Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in the fall to pursue a degree in arts management.

NBCC interim Executive Director Amber Besaw also introduced a local couple who had attended some of the parenting programs offered by the coalition's "Family Place" when they needed to work with state officials to regain custody of their young son.

"Being around other parents going through something similar made it easy to open up without feeling judged," said Chelsea Roy, adding that although it was a "long and dreadful ride" for her and her boyfriend, Bret Logan, she was grateful for the Family Place's programs. "It's possible to succeed."

The annual meeting also included a light moment — a trivia game called "Ben or Then" that had some of the couple hundred attendees hold large cutouts of Downing's face on a stick and attempt to answer questions about his 10 years in office as well as questions about the Coalition's 30 years in office. But the meeting ended on a more serious — if uplifting — note, as Downing looked back over the 10 years he has spent in the state Senate representing the people of Northern Berkshire County and how grateful he was to have the coalition with him on the journey.

"There's a special ingredient that none of us could put a finger on about a community doing that organically," he said while discussing how he holds up the work of the Coalition with communities around the state that are facing challenges and need ideas on how to act in a positive and proactive way. "We all up here ... shouldn't ignore or forget how special this thing is."

And while many people have thanked him for everything he has done in 10 years as he prepares to leave office, Downing said he wanted to emphasize that the gratitude goes the other way, too.

"Thank you. Thank you for giving a goofy-looking bald 25-year-old a shot to do this job," he said. "You all have made me better at my job every single day. You all have been there for me in a million different ways."

Comments
More Featured Stories
Williamstown.com is owned and operated by: Boxcar Media 102 Main Sreet, North Adams, MA 01247 -- T. 413-663-3384
© 2011 Boxcar Media LLC - All rights reserved