Wine, Beer & Chocolate Tasting to Benefit AYJ Fund

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The AYJ Fund will hold its popular fundraiser featuring "Wine, Chocolate and Craft Beer Tasting" on Sunday, Nov. 2, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Freight Yard Pub. 
 
All proceeds will support children with cancer in the local community and beyond. For a $30 donation, attendees can enjoy a selection of craft beers from Wandering Star Craft Brewery, Bright Ideas Brewing, Berkshire Brewing Company, and Grazie. Guests can also partake of samples from Chocolate Springs, the Village Chocolate Shoppe and cookies from Gimme Some Sugar. 
 
There will also be the popular wine pull, silent auction, music and more, all to support the AYJ Fund and children with cancer. 
 
The AYJ Fund provides "Smiles" packages and fun experiences for children with cancer, technology to keep them connected to friends, school and family, and funding for research to find effective treatments and, one day, a cure.
The fund has provided over 5,900 Smiles and more than $1.5 million to advance brain cancer research.
 
It was created in honor of Anna Arabia, who was diagnosed with a rare brain cancer her first year at Drury High School and died at the age of 16. Throughout her 3 1/2 years of treatment, she was always interested in helping others who were having a difficult time and the AYJ Fund continues to share her love and support.
 
To learn more check out AYJ Fund on Facebook or www.AYJfund.org.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Clarksburg Looking to Repair School Front Entrance

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Plans for renovating the bathrooms are on hold, which means the summer camp will again take place at the elementary school. 
 
Assistant Superintendent Tara Barnes informed the School Committee on Thursday that Tom Bona, who's been volunteering as lead on school repairs, said the work to bring the bathrooms up to Americans With Disabilities Act compliance couldn't be scheduled in time. 
 
"I think the concern was, as it kind of pushed towards the end of the school year, that there wasn't enough time to post and hire a contractor to meet the timeline," said Superintendent John Franzoni, participating via Zoom. 
 
He said the Berkshire Regional Planning Board considered the school could use the $30,000 in ADA grant money toward the purchase of the equipment and then schedule the work for summer 2027.
 
The town is expected to move forward with repairs to the front entrance. The concrete pad has cracked and heaved and poses a hazard. 
 
"I think it's important to prioritize that entrance way, which is in pretty bad shape, and the town has already followed through to get some bids," Franzoni said. "We got good communication from [Road Foreman] Kyle Hurlbut today about how much he was recommending to the town to request through the stabilization, I think, was $19,500 to cover the high end of the bids and any kind of contingencies."
 
The town had agreed to use any funds leftover from the school roof project to put toward other repairs and renovations at the school. Town meeting last year authorized a debt exclusion to borrow $500,000 toward the project. The roof came in around $400,000.
 
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