Ventfort Hall Announces New Board Members

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Appointed to the board were Joanna Case, Lucy Kennedy, Polly Roston, and Christina Wagner.
LENOX, Mass.— Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum announces the appointment of four new members to its board of directors. 
 
Appointed to the board were Joanna Case, Lucy Kennedy, Polly Roston, and Christina Wagner.
 
Joanna (Jo) Case is a resident of Lee and is the Development Manager at Hancock Shaker Village. She holds an MA in Public History and an MS in Information Science with a specialization in archives and records management from SUNY Albany, and a BA in History from Siena University. Originally from Central New York, Jo brings experience across museum and public history roles, including curation, collections management, research, and public programming.
 
According to a press release: 
 
Lucy Kennedy has a BA in English from the University of Michigan and an MA in English at Stanford. She planned to teach high school English but found herself doing corporate training at a bank instead. From there she went on to get an MBA from Harvard Business School. She began her post business school career in advertising but soon moved on to product development and market research, primarily for banks and insurance companies.  Although, through her education and career she lived all over the US, she was born in Massachusetts and was happy to retire to Lenox in 2010. In retirement she has been able to pursue two great interests: travel photography and local history. In pursuit of the latter she has served previously on the Ventfort Hall Board, on the Berkshire Historical Society Board, the Lenox Historical Commission, and the Lenox Historical Society Board.  She has compiled a history of Lenox at www.lenoxhistory.org and written an ebook "Lenox at 250."                                                                  Polly Roston relocated permanently from New York City to Stephentown, NY in 2023. She was Director of Development at small independent school and has been involved in a myriad of non profits as a volunteer and board member, focusing primarily on coordination, fundraising, and volunteerism. Polly is married with two children. Her passions include travel, cooking, and languages. At Ventfort Hall, in addition to joining the board, she is a Tea and Talk volunteer and serves on the fundraising committee.
 
Christina Wagner is a graduate of Wesleyan University whose career spans finance, fashion, and the creative arts. After early roles in investment banking and equity research with Lehman Brothers in New York and London, she built roots in Los Angeles where she helped to establish the Community Association at the Westside Waldorf School and guided buying and operations for a luxury boutique in Malibu. She later co-founded Bau-Da Design Lab, Inc., producing music videos for artists including Prince, My Chemical Romance, Seal, John Mayer, Motley Crüe, Slipknot, and many others. These projects took her across the country, where she managed large crews, coordinated complex locations, and built trusted client relationships. Christina continues to serve as Executive Producer at Bau-Da, helping to facilitate creative work for major corporations such as Pepsi and other global brands. Known for her clarity, organization, and vision, she excels at turning ambitious ideas into impactful results.
 
 
 
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Josh Billings Athletes Can Support Local Non-Profits

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. - A new fundraising initiative is giving participants in  one of the Berkshires’ most recognized community traditions a simple way to support local  nonprofits.
 
Launched this year by the Josh Billings RunAground and Mill Town Foundation, the Finish Line Fund allows participating teams to select a Berkshire-based nonprofit and invite friends, family members, colleagues, and others to support the organization through a  team fundraising page.
 
With time still remaining before the Sept. 20 event, participating teams already have raised more than $16,000 for local nonprofits.
 
“The Finish Line Fund is about expanding participation in local philanthropy,” said Andy Wrba, Program Director at Mill Town Foundation. “You don’t need to make a large gift to have an impact. When hundreds of people contribute $10 or $20 to organizations they care about, those individual gifts can add up to something significant. We want to make local  giving accessible, personal, and connected to an event people are already excited to be part of.”
 
Rather than directing all fundraising to a single beneficiary, the Finish Line Fund places the  choice in the hands of participants. Teams select a Berkshire nonprofit that is meaningful to them and use their own networks and personal stories to build support for the organization.  Donations made through each team’s fundraising page go directly to its selected nonprofit.
 
The initiative reflects a peer-to-peer approach to philanthropy in which individuals become  ambassadors for the organizations and causes they value. In addition to raising funds, the  program is designed to introduce more people to Berkshire nonprofits, expand their networks of supporters, and encourage community members to see themselves as active participants in local giving.
 
To encourage broad participation, Mill Town Foundation will also contribute an additional $500 to the nonprofit represented by each of the five teams that attracts the greatest number of individual donors. The incentive is based on the number of unique supporters – not the total amount raised – reinforcing the message that gifts of every size matter.
 
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