BCC Hosts Martin Luther King National Day of Service By Sabrina Damms, iBerkshires Staff
08:15PM / Monday, January 16, 2023 | |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Pittsfield community united Monday at Berkshire Community College (BCC) to reflect on the life and message of Martin Luther King Jr.
Monday marked the first in-person Martin Luther King National Day of Service BCC has had since the pandemic, marking a return of an event that allowed residents to give back and feel connected to the community.
Although a day of service is great, NAACP President Dennis Powell said the best way to make an impact is to volunteer all year long.
"I encourage all of us present to commit to a year of service. That's what community is all about. We shouldn't just come together for one day," Powell said.
"I just feel that we do a lot of verbal support. We just really need to take that and put it into action. So that we actually see lives change within the community," he added in a follow-up conversation.
BCC kicked off its Martin Luther King National Day of Service with a speech by Berkshire Health Systems Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer Charles Redd, who first was a nursing assistant after graduating from BCC in 1985.
In August 2022 Redd returned to the Berkshires to work with Berkshire Medical Center’s (BMC) Black Health Equity Task Force after working for Baystate Medical Center and Fairview Hospital.
He said he was taken aback by the fact that BMC did not have a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer since it was something Baystate had.
After some encouragement, the position was created in 2020, and Redd was appointed to the position where he became aware of social and economic factors that contributed to some of the concerning health statistics he encountered in his research.
Redd said the county has the potential to improve thanks to the hard work of community organizations including the NAACP, Westside Legends, Volunteers in Medicine, Berkshire Stonewall Community Coalition, among others.
"I want to talk about the true heroes in this county, to the organizations that are doing the hard work that's making this a great place to live that's making this a place where many who come from foreign countries want to come to," Redd said.
"They want to come here because of what we're able to provide for them because of the hard work of the real heroes that we don't hear about often in the newspaper or on the radio or on television."
The BCC Day of Service gave attendees a chance to give back to the community through volunteer opportunities which included painting houses with Habitat for Humanity, Bingo with members at Soldier On, and card-making for first responders.
"We really do want to bring the community together, including our residents. And so that's why it was important when BCC reached out asking if we wanted to be a part of today," Soldier On Director of Communications Casey DiCicco said.
Many volunteers remarked on how it felt to be back in person and giving back to the community through shared experiences.
"It's a great experience anytime you can have a volunteer group, but especially today with the day of service, because of COVID been able to do this for last few years," Habitat for Humanity Construction Superintendent Brent Getchell said
"So it's nice to get BCC back for the Day of Service and our AmeriCorps also here for their day of service as well."
Jacob's Pillow associate archivist Patsy Gay painted with Habitat for Humanity and also remarked on how it felt to be back in person.
"It was just really meaningful to be connected with other folks in our community. Particularly with the last few years, we've all been so separate," she said. "And so to have an in person volunteering event, again, to be connected with other groups, doing good work, is really import
Check out our full video of the event here.
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