No Paws Left Behind Shelter Marking First Anniversary

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — No Paws Left Behind, the first animal shelter in North Berkshire, is celebrating one year of being open.

The shelter opened up last July at the City Yard taking on the legacy of the former Eleanor Sonsini Animal Shelter of Pittsfield with its former manager, Noelle Howland, taking on the role of executive director.

"I've learned a lot. I feel like you're just kind of growing as I started off, and I knew what I was doing, but you hit a lot of curves here and there. So I've grown a lot, even as a person being here, because I was only a manager at Sonsini for a short time," Howland said. "So being here, I've grown as a person, and I've also been able to learn a lot."

Howland said the shelter has been great and small changes have been made to keep it running smoothly.

"It's really just my policies and how we do things. I've changed a lot as we've grown, as I learn this isn't working. So we try new things, which I feel like it's every week I'm changing something, and I'm like, 'Oh, this works a lot better,'" she said.

Howland said she had a goal to get 100 dogs and cats adopted out of her shelter and she has succeeded that.

"One thing I was trying to do was hit at least 100 animals by my one year. So I'm officially at 105, it's close to 110 now because I have a couple animals, on trial going home," she said. "I really wanted to just see how many I could adopt out within my first year. ... So yeah, that was my biggest accomplishment that I wanted to achieve."

Howland said she wants people to understand that the shelter is small and can't accommodate a lot of animals and people and that she and the volunteers are doing their best to look after them.

"I know people, they struggle with the fact that we don't let the public in to see the animals. So I always try my best to explain that we're doing it for them. And I think seeing the difference of these animals here compared to like, when before at Sonsini, with the public coming in, it's a major difference. And seeing how [the dogs] decompress, and their entire behavior is just different, because they finally can relax," she said.

"I'm very heavily on working on training, because since I'm so small, I know people get a little irritated because I can't fill too many kennels, because we're so small here. So I think my thing is just trying to explain to people that we are trying our best. There's only limited people here because we're so small. So I'm like, we're all doing the best we can."

Howland said the shelter is always in need of donations of cleaning supplies and food but that monetary donations are the best as they help with vet care.

Clarksburg Students Write in Support of Rural School Aid

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
07:25AM / Sunday, March 15, 2026

Mason Langenback calculated that Clarksburg would get almost $1 million if the $60 million was allocated equally.

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Eighth-graders at Clarksburg School took a lesson in civic advocacy this week, researching school funding and writing letters to Beacon Hill that call for fulling funding rural school aid. 

 

The students focused on the hardships for small rural schools and their importance to the community — that they struggle with limited funding and teacher shortages, but offer safe and supportive spaces for learning and are a hub for community connections.

 

"They all address the main issue, the funding for rural schools, and how there's a gap, and there's the $4 million gap this year, and then it's about the $40 million next year, and that rural schools need that equitable funding," said social studies teacher Mark Karhan.

 

A rural schools report in 2022 found smaller school districts cost from nearly 17 percent to 23 percent more to operate, and recommended "at least" $60 million be appropriated annually for rural school aid. 

 

Gov. Maura Healey has filed for more Chapter 70 school aid, but that often is little help to small rural schools with declining or static enrollment. For fiscal 2027, she's budgeted $20 million for rural schools, up from around $13 million this year but still far below the hoped for $60 million. 

 

Karhan said the class was broken into four groups and the students were provided a submission letter from Rural Schools Advocacy. The students used the first paragraph, which laid out the funding facts, and then did research and wrote their own letters. 

 

They will submit those with a school picture to the governor.