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Berkshires Beat: Florida Couple Invests $500,000 in the Future of Gould Farm
12:52PM / Monday, October 22, 2018
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The small, nonprofit residential community program launched the capital campaign in early 2017 and has since raised $2.3 million to fund the construction of its first community center.


Ellen and Tom Bowler gifted $500,000 to Gould Farm.

Capital kickoff

Gould Farm kicked off the public phase of its $2.6 million Harvesting Hope Capital Campaign on Saturday, Oct. 20, announcing a lead gift of $500,000 from Tom and Ellen Bowler of Palm Beach, Florida. The small, nonprofit residential community program launched the capital campaign in early 2017 and has since raised $2.3 million to fund the construction of its first community center.

The Bowlers' lead gift honors Ellen's father, the Rev. Hampton E. Price, who served as executive director from 1961-1972.  During his tenure, Rev. Price transformed the farm's campus, systematized the work program, and brought into focus the therapeutic value of meeting together as a community. "Ellen's father had a long term vision for the farm and he had profound impact on its life and effectiveness," Tom Bowler said. "It seemed highly fitting to us to name the new community center after him, to forever memorialize his life and leadership at Gould Farm."

The gift is the largest single gift to the farm in its 106-year history, according to Phyllis Vine, chair of the Board of Directors. "Tom and Ellen have had a long association with Gould Farm. I cannot express the amount of gratitude I feel for their extraordinary contribution. We are all so thankful, humbled, and appreciative," she said.

Recognizing the value of a supportive community, Rev. Price organized the first all-farm Community Meeting in 1967. More than 50 years later, this weekly meeting remains vital to the therapeutic milieu and continues to contribute to a sense of shared participation.  

The board of directors is hoping to complete the campaign and break ground on the new community center in the spring of 2019 and is estimated to be completed by the summer of 2020. Designed as a red barn, the building will provide more than 120 guests, staff, families and volunteers who live on the farm with an additional 5,000 square feet of much-needed flexible space for more integrated wellness, music and arts activities. The larger space also opens up more opportunities for alumni, friends and Berkshire residents to attend public performances and social events.

 

Nurse celebration


Putnam Memorial Hospital School of Practical Nursing, class of 1948.

Seventy years ago, Southwestern Vermont Health Care, then the Putnam Memorial Hospital, graduated its first class of nurses from the Putnam Memorial Hospital School of Practical Nursing. Throughout its 50-year tenure, the school graduated more than 800 nurses.

In honor of the school and its alumni, SVHC nursing leadership will hold a celebratory lunch in December 2018. The group seeks alumni invitees for the event. Alumni are invited to provide their contact details to Marie Garay at 802-447-5177 or by email by Friday, Nov. 2.

The celebration will be the final event in a year-long celebration of the hospital's centennial. The year was marked by "A Century of Caring," a historical exhibit that traveled to every region the health system serves; Centennial Community Day, a free event that drew 4,000 people to the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center campus in Bennington; and signature fundraising events like the Centennial Gala, Master's in the Mountains Golf Tournament, and the Jingle Bell charity ball. 

 

Deer hunters

Hopkins Memorial Forest in Williamstown again will be open to deer hunting by special permit during the 12-day shotgun season this fall. The 2018 Massachusetts deer shotgun season runs from Nov. 26 to Dec. 18, excluding Sunday, Dec. 2, and a limited number of complimentary permits will be issued to hunters from local communities.  Applications can be submitted online or obtained from the Center for Environmental Studies.

Regardless of how they are submitted, applications are due back to the center by Oct. 27. They will be evaluated on a first-come, first served basis and permits will be issued to selected hunters by mid-November. Annually, 75 to 100 hunters are awarded permits to hunt in this research and teaching forest owned by Williams College, which closes the forest to other users during the hunt. Hunter surveys from recent seasons indicate that typically five to ten deer are harvested from the area each year.  Such reductions in the herd help to minimize browse damage to the forest’s understory and herb layer and protect ecological research areas.  

Due to possible conflicts with other forest uses, no other hunting, aside from the 12-day deer shotgun season, is allowed in Hopkins Forest. The college gives preference in awarding permits to its neighbors, although, in the past, hunters have come from across the state to hunt the forest's rugged terrain.

 

Rockwell symposium

Norman Rockwell Museum's Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies and the D.B. Dowd Modern Graphic History Library at Washington University in St. Louis announce a call for proposals for "Illustration Across Media: Nineteenth Century to Now," a symposium to be held at Washington University from March 21-23, 2019. The deadline for proposals is Nov. 1.

The interdisciplinary conference will explore the history, context, and theory of illustration in the United States from the 19th century to now. A vital component of the visual cultures of advertising, design, publishing and entertainment, illustration is omnipresent in modern America. Yet its historical, contextual and theoretical specifics — from modes of production, distribution, reception and repetition to mandates of communication and consumption — remain relatively unexamined by scholars, art critics and practitioners. Likewise, a taxonomy of the field — shared definitions of illustration, for example — is lacking.

The symposium aims to bring together scholars and researchers across multiple fields including art history, history, visual and material culture studies, American Studies, consumer studies, book arts, childhood studies, literary criticism, media studies, and more who would like to join others in constructive conversations focused on developing the emergent field of illustration studies.

Interested scholars are invited to email proposals for 15-20 minute papers, together with a 2-pp CV by Nov. 1 to Jana Purdy, Norman Rockwell Museum by email.  Proposals should include: name, mailing address, contact number(s), email, title of paper, and an abstract—maximum 200 words—of the paper. Applicants will be notified by Nov. 26 regarding acceptance of their proposal. For more information and a list of proposed topics, visit the Rockwell Center website.

 

S&Co. grants

Shakespeare & Company is the recent recipient of two education grants from the Mass Cultural Council. The Company was awarded $33,700 through the MCC's Cultural Investment Portfolio and $16,000 through MCC's YouthReach for the company's nationally recognized Shakespeare in the Courts program.
 
The Mass Cultural Council has approved a spending plan for the new fiscal year that will invest more than $14 million in a range of grant programs, services, and initiatives to support the arts, humanities, and sciences in communities across Massachusetts. The new spending plan increases grant awards for nonprofit cultural organizations, communities, and artists, and significantly boosts investment in creative youth development and education in schools and communities statewide.
 
The Mass Cultural Council works to expand access to quality, creative learning experiences for young people in schools and community settings through a range of grant programs and initiatives. One of those initiatives is YouthReach, a program that supporting nonprofits that empower disenfranchised young people through in-depth learning and skill-building in the arts, humanities, and sciences.
 
The Education program at Shakespeare & Company is one of the most extensive theatre-in-education programs in the Northeast, and has reached more than a million students since 1978 with innovative performances, workshops, and residencies. Guided by Kevin G. Coleman and Education Programs Manager Jennie M. Jadow, the artists, teachers, and directors of the Education Program continue to develop and refine programs for elementary, middle, and high school students and teachers across the country.

 

Winter Blitz

Hundreds of students from Williams College, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and Bennington College will take part in the annual Winter Blitz day of weatherization on Nov. 10. During their day of service, these volunteers will travel across northern Berkshire County and parts of southern Vermont to weatherize homes, free of charge to homeowners, for the upcoming winter.

Volunteers from the three colleges will go out in teams of five or six students to provide basic comfort measures, such as installing window kits, door sweeps, hot water pipe insulation, energy-efficient light bulbs, and more. All materials are paid for by the Williams College Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives, and each group will be led by a trained team leader. Weatherizing these homes will save money for the residents. Weatherization can save homeowners 25 to 40 percent on their heating and cooling bills and contributes to our global mission of reducing energy consumption.
 
Homeowners who are seeking to lower their energy costs and who cannot weatherize themselves are encouraged to sign up for this free program. If you are interested in having volunteers come to your house to weatherize through Winter Blitz, contact the 2018 Winter Blitz Planning Committee by one of three ways by Nov. 1: sign up online, call 413-217-4717 and leave a voicemail, or send an email.

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