Eileen, left, with Darlene. "The people in this house become your family. I feel like this is my second family.” It has taken Eileen Haggerty many years and a lot of jobs before finding her niche. After raising her two girls, and working 10 years as a home health aide, mostly with the elderly, she [...]
People ask Tannya Romero about her Plan B. She tells them there is no Plan B – the plan is to go to medical school. Spend five minutes with Tannya and it’s hard to doubt her. She’s focused, articulate, and determined. She came to the Berkshires from Ecuador 10 years ago with no English. She learned t [...]
Franck Felix started working at The Ponds at Foxhollow as an intern while in high school. He was hired when he graduated 20 years ago. This month The Ponds threw him an anniversary party for his two decades of hard work, commitment, and positive attitude. The general manager Edward Pelkey considers [...]
Site Manager Craig, Residential Support Charlie, and Assistant Manager St. James It takes a team to manage a group home. But it takes a committed and passionate team to make that home a supportive, happy place for the individuals who live there. At a home in Richmond, at least 10 staff members wor [...]
Berkshire County Arc received two loans totaling $635,000 that helped build a new home in Lanesboro to give new lives to four men with brain injuries. Funding for $435,000 came from the State Facilities Consolidation Fund, and $200,000 from the Federal Home Loan Bank. “This is part of a larger, state [...]
Posing in the front yard of her program. Jamie Sigoski intended to go to school to learn sign language, but never did. By chance, while working at Berkshire County Arc, one of the individuals she oversees cannot hear. “So they sent me to an intensive training program to learn to sign,” she said. To [...]
Mary Manzolini has not only the longest history of attending any Berkshire County Arc program, she and her family are one of the initial 11 families that conceived and launched BCArc in 1954, Kenneth Singer told some 240 people at BCArc’s 65th Annual Meeting on Friday at the Berkshire Hills Country C [...]
Rachel Nicola made the choice to work with adults over children a few years ago because adults with disabilities, she said, “have been through some tough times over the years, they weren’t always treated so well.” “I connect on a unique level with the adults in my program,” she said. “They put a smil [...]
Berkshire County Arc Chief Operating Officer was awarded the national U.S. Arc's 2019 NCE Exemplary Mentor Award in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 14, and the Mass. Provider's Council Award of Excellence one week before that. At the ARC event, Hyatt told the crowd, “I have always believed that I have a re [...]
Sopheary Larrow recognizes her uncanny knack for managing tough behavior from individuals with developmental disabilities. “Connecting with them and redirecting them emotionally comes easy for me,” she says. “They are my dear friends and when things aren’t going well for them, I feel it. Some people [...]