Barbara Alfange joins our Board

Barbara Alfange of Leverett who has volunteered for over 10 years was voted onto the board of directors. Barbara has worked in a couple of different capacities at the Center: first at the food pantry counter, then as an intake worker and this last year she has taken on sharing the oversight of the intake desk with Everett Hatch.

Barbara brings to the board experience with administrative work having most recently been in charge of the student employment program and the work-study operation at Smith College in Northampton. She has retired now, but was employed last in the president's office at Lehigh University. Prior to that she was employed in the treasurer's office at Cornell University where she was responsible for medical insurance claims and workmen's compensation.

Barbara has volunteered on the Town of Leverett's Conservation Commission and Town Library Board. She only resigned so that she could form a Friends of the Library organization because libraries in general are feeling financial hardship and Leverett's Library is experiencing some of that and she wanted to help.

Barbara's heart is definitely in the right place and we appreciate the many years of volunteering that she has given us and will continue to do both as co-leader at the intake desk as well as our new member of the board of directors. Welcome Barbara!

Thank You TFHS Alumni

The Turners Falls High School Alumni group, "Lending a Helping Hand" sponsored a food drive that benefited the Franklin Area Survival Center. Nancy Holmes is there leader. They placed collection boxes at the Turners Falls Water Department, Turners Falls Fire Station, Seth & Eva's at 115 Avenue A, the food pantry at our location, Scotty's Store at 106 High Street, and at the 2nd Street Baking Co. at 69 Second Street. They made up tri-fold flyers and placed them in strategic spots all around the county. They even requested monetary donations if the donator could not get to the sites to donate food. They collected from February 1st to 14th. This wonderful group raised $155.00 and collected 262 pounds of food. We thank them from the bottom of our hearts!

Website in the Works

We are currently working with RileyInteractive on setting up a brand new website. John Riley, the owner and creator of RileyInteractive has many years of experience in setting up, hosting and designing websites. I am sure he will get us up in running in the next couple of months. As soon as everything is ready I will place our location on this blog, so keep an eye on us. The board of directors of the Franklin Area Survival Center extend our thanks to John and RileyInteractive for assisting us with our web design needs.