Join us as we hear from Robin Bialecki ED of the Easthampton Community Center about her dedicated approach to helping the community meet its needs. 

Under her leadership (since 2008) the ECC has grown to helping all four counties reach the gaps that they have in their respective needs. From food insecurity, housing, job loss, relocation, and more, the ECC has risen to the level that the clients demand (open 7 days). Robin and her team have a hard time saying no and as a result have steadily increased their capacity to serve more and more clients for over 46 years. As one of the only gluten and allergy free pantries in WMA they get many requests for food specific and sensitive care products. Robin gets this done through her over 200 volunteer staff that help throughout the year, including Pat Brough, Sales and Marketing Director for Finck & Perras Insurance. 10 years ago, he helped co-create the much beloved event Give Em the Bird 5K which is a benefit for the ECC. In 2015, they raised 10,000 and they now hope to raise more than 35,000 this year. With over 55 sponsors, I think they have a shot at having their best year ever.

WMBS Seg 3 -- Robin Bialecki & Pat Brough

WMBS Seg 1 -- Robin Bialecki & Pat Brough

WMBS Seg 4 -- Judith Fine

WMBS Seg 3 -- Judith Fine

WMBS Seg 2 -- Judith Fine

WMBS Seg 1 -- Judith Fine

1/22/24: Political Gold with Josh Silver: the White House, the Senate & the House. Steve Sanderson: the NEF Adult Spelling Bee. Duke Goldman—he’s front-page news: the World Series, the Negro Leagues & remembering Luis Tiant. Marissa Labozzetta: “The Men Who Walk in Dreams.”

Marissa Labozzetta: “The Men Who Walk in Dreams.”

Newman on the DEATH PENALTY

Duke Goldman—he’s front-page news: the World Series, the Negro Leagues & remembering Luis Tiant

Steve Sanderson: the NEF Adult Spelling Bee

You have to love a person who has spent 43 years in a career and when asked ‘When are you retiring’ their response is, ‘When I don’t have anything else to learn’. Sheriff Karl Leonard of Chesterfield, Virginia, is that person.  For his entire career, he’s been a public servant; from a military career to the Chesterfield Police Department to the Pentagon and now the Sheriff of Chesterfield County, and despite all he’s experienced, he continues to understand the human condition and find ways to be progressive to help those under his watch.  His transparency in taking over the Sheriff’s office is refreshing, as he’s the first to admit that there was no Sheriff's instruction book. When his jail was inundated, daily, with locals, addicted to Heroin he trusted his instincts and felt that a higher power was guiding him.  This led to the creation of the HARP program, a peer mentor-run program that over the last eight years has successfully helped 3500 people, overcome not just Heroin but other drug or alcohol addictions. As Sheriff Leonard says, ‘There’s a lot of good people behind bars, and there are bad people too, that deserve to spend their lives there, but that’s a small percentage of incarcerated people, and when you learn about (the good people) and their life and the challenges they grew up in, since birth, these are good people with bad circumstances presented to them…’

The Hustler Files Ep 89 - Believing There Are Good People Behind Bars

Podcasts from all of the local show on WHMP Radio in Northampton, MA. including Talk the Talk with Bill Newman and Buz Eisenberg, The Hustler Files, The Western Mass Business Show, and Panorama.

The Hustler Files Ep 89 - Believing There Are Good People Behind Bars

WHMP Radio

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