NBT Bank Donates Berkshire County Community Organizations

11:49AM / Wednesday, March 18, 2026Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. NBT Bank representatives presented 13 area organizations with year-end contributions totaling $29,000 as part of NBT's Days of Giving campaign in Berkshire County.

The donations supported food assistance, clothing donations, counseling, housing, healthcare, heating and veterans' needs.

NBT Bank Massachusetts Senior Commercial Banking Relationship Manager Aidan Gilligan; Market Manager Amanda Goewey; Business Banking Officer Michael Hogan; and Branch Managers Abby Rossi, Amber Wilson, Al Bedini, Stephen Raftery and Trey Sondrini visited the organizations in December and presented each with donations.

"As a community bank, NBT is honored to give back and support local organizations that make our communities better places to live and work," said Gilligan. "Getting out into the community to meet the amazing people behind these impactful organizations is one of my favorite parts of my role. There is nothing more important than local support."

The organizations receiving funds from NBT included:

Sheffield Food Assistance
The People's Pantry
Berkshire Food Project
Al Nelson Center Food Pantry
Living Hope Community Church
Berkshire Nursing Families
Berkshire Community Action Council
Berkshire Veterans Outreach
Berkshire Helping Hands
Roots Rising
Pittsfield Community Food Pantry
Berkshire Grown
Construct Inc.

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GOP Senatorial Candidate Deaton Pledges Independence in North Adams Campaign Stop

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:31PM / Wednesday, October 28, 2026

GOP candidate John Deaton speaks to local residents about his positions during a campaign stop on Tuesday. The attorney says he's running on the GOP ticket but his stance is firmly independent.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — U.S. Senate candidate John Deaton was in the Berkshires on Tuesday as part of a statewide listening tour to hear residents' concerns ahead of next week's election.

His tour over a couple days included stops across Western Mass, including Greenfield, Pittsfield, Lee, and South Hadley.

Although Deaton is running as the Republican nominee against longtime Democratic incumbent Edward Markey, he said he identifies as an independent and he chose to run as a "non-Trump" Republican because he saw no viable path to victory as an independent candidate.

The attorney said he reached that conclusion after polling as an independent and finding that the Republican nominee was projected to receive approximately 30 percent of the vote, while the Democratic nominee was expected to receive about 40 percent.

"There's a lot of things we can do if you just put people over politics. I'm not going to be loyal to a person, i.e., President Trump, or anyone else … I'm not going to be loyal to a party. I'm not going to be loyal to a political agenda," he said.

"I'm only going to be loyal to people and if you take that attitude, then you can work with any president. You can work with any party in power … I would just ask people to vote for the best candidate in each race. Don't go by party."

Deaton kicked off his trip to Berkshire County at the North Adams American Legion where he heard from several people, particularly those expressing grievances over the North Adams Housing Authority's high rise on Ashland Street.

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