Talk to the Animals: Ways to Volunteer by Amanda Giracca Special to Berkshires Week If You Go

A PUBLICATION www.berkshiresweek.com Thursday, August 4, 2011 berkshiresweek Gentle yoga Stretching in the garden PAGE 14 ‘Dog’s life’ Norman Rockwell PAGE 8 Molly Ivins Texas liberal and gifted journalist PAGE 12-13 Hound dog BSC remembers Elvis PAGES 18-19 On the cover Best of the Week n 3 Farmers Markets n 4 berkshires Kimberly Olson and her In Good Taste: Hops and Vines n 5 daughter Ella, 4, try yoga in Lunch box: Kripalu n 5 the gardens at Naumkeag. Art fosters an arc of minds n 6 Photo by Susan Geller, Special to Berkshires Week. Gallery, crêperie and music Sheffield Antiques Show n 7 Editor A tradition shines on Katherine Abbott week A dog channels feeling n 8 n Norman Rockwell’s canine characters Entertainment Editor Talk to the animals n 9 Jeffrey Borak Ways to volunteer Editorial: To reach the editor, call Firefighters and firebrands n 10 (413) 496-6244 or write to kabbott Great Barrington’s 250th festivities @berkshireeagle.com. If you have a Leap in Ted Shawn’s footsteps n 11 question about the calendar or other listings, call (413) 496-6244 from 9 Jacob’s Pillow’s Weekend OUT a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Texas liberal laughs aloud n 12 Deadlines: Submit information for the Tina Packer in ‘Red Hot Patriot’ calendar and the other listings by noon on the Thursday two weeks before the Changing Scene: Molly Ivins n 13 Thursday publication date. A gift for gutsy journalism Advertising: To reach an advertising Stretching on the lawn n 14 representative, call (413) 496-6321, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Yoga at Namukeag Friday, at the Berkshire Eagle and at Festival forges friendships n 15 (413) 663-3741 at the North Adams Mount Washington fair Transcript. Submit ads by noon on the Just can’t wait to be King n 18 Thursday a week before the Thursday publication date. ‘All Shook Up’ at BSC Berkshires Week is published weekly Composing for Elvis n 19 by New England Newspapers Inc., 75 Abby Schroeder speaks South Church St., Pittsfield, MA 01201. It is a supplement to The Berkshire Daylights: Didgeridoos n 20 Eagle and the North Adams Transcript. Nightlife n 21 No part of this publication may be repro- Calendar n 22 duced without written permission. © 2011, New England Newspapers Inc. Eagle file Garam masala, fiddle music in the HuDost, above, will perform along with talking drums and polskas, Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., when the first block of South Street opens to Pittsfield’s annual Ethnic Fair, a free day of food, music spot and entertainment from around the world. (413) 443-6501. light AMBITION is a four-letter word. ‘If I had wings’ Who: Peter Yarrow Genre: Folk music. Former member of legendary 1960s band Peter, Paul and Mary — their performances by JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY of classics such as ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane’ and ‘Blowin’ In The Wind,’were directed by ANDREW VOLKOFF dominant forces in the musical Associated Press scene during the 1960s. Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary will play the Mahaiwe. AUGUST 3–21 Albums: More than 30, including playing at Peter, Paul & Mary (1962), Upcoming performance: Sunday Great Barrington 55 North Street Pitts eld Moving (1963), In the Wind at 3 p.m. Admission: $22, reserved seating (New Stage Performing (1963), A Song Will Rise (1965), Where: The Mahaiwe Performing Information: (413) 528-0100, Arts Center) See What Tomorrow Brings (1965) Arts Center, 14 Castle St., www.mahaiwe.org berkshireactorstheatre.orgberkshireactorstheatre.org 2 n Berkshires Week, Thursday, August 4, 2011 www.berkshiresweek.com Talk to the animals: Ways to volunteer By Amanda Giracca Special to Berkshires Week If you go ... From 8 to 10 every morning, the Berkshire Humane Society What: Berkshire Humane Society (BHS) bustles behind the Needs: Volunteers for cleaning scenes. Volunteers change litter cages/litter boxes/kennels, boxes, freshen water and fill feeding, watering, dog walking, food bowls with kibble, seeds or answering phones, administra- pellets. A trained group of vol- tive and fundraising tasks, unteers take the dogs out for facility and grounds mainte- their first walk of the day. nance, education and outreach By the time the BHS opens at (see website for complete list). 10, all animals are fresh and How to volunteer: Visit berk- clean, and a new set of workers shirehumane.org/volunteering- has arrived. BHS relies on 150 at-the-bhs/ or call Terry active volunteers to help run the Bissaillon at (413) 447-7878, shelter, which sees more than ext. 37. 1,000 animals come through Training: Feline care — shadow each year. a worker for a day; dog care — “It’s a calm oasis,” said volun- orientation and training classes teer coordinator Terry Bis- saillon. Volunteers settle into a quiet routine, she said. “It’s very What: The Good Dog Foundation rewarding.” Needs: Dog and human pairs to It’s so rewarding, in fact, that provide animal-assisted there’s currently a waitlist to therapy in various community become a volunteer. But, Bis- Courtesy of the Humane Society institutions saillon said, there’s always a A Berkshire Humane Society volunteer dog-walker takes a break with Rocks. How to volunteer: Fill out the chance that a slot could open Good Dog Team pre-screen up. BHS formed in 1992, taking “People respond to animals,” teers, responds to disasters and find facilities for those emer- form at thegooddogfounda- over for the Massachusetts said Susan Fireman, executive public health emergencies. gency shelters for pets through- tion.org/prescreen.asp Society for the Prevention of trainer for the tri-state chapter. Corinne McKeown, associate out the county. One is already Norman Rockwell Museum: Cruelty to Animals. The origi- “A Good Dog team’s loving sup- director of the Berkshire MRC, in place near Monument Moun- Therapy dog search Mondays nal shelter was in the basement port can be a very healing type focuses on resiliency. In 2009, tain High School. through Sept. 12, 1 to 2 p.m. of a cow barn, and it moved to of thing.” under the auspices of the group, “The goal is to identify one in Tri-state area contact: Susan the current shelter on Barker It is easier to reach a person the Berkshire Disaster Animal central and north county as well Fireman, (518) 398-5249 Road in 2002. Within the first with disabilities through ani- Response Team (DART) was and have enough volunteers Training: Extensive course (fee year, the shelter was at full mals, she said. formed “out of a heightened fully trained that we are able to included), which trains, certi- “Someone with a physical dis- awareness and growing concern set it up and operate it if need- capacity. fies, and insures person and ability might be much more for the vulnerability of animals ed,” McKeown said. Aside from taking in strays dog. Placement in facility upon motivated to go for a walk if in disaster situations,” she said. n and animals surrendered, BHS graduation of training course. has obedience classes, a spay they are walking a dog,” she “If people have to evacuate Hancock Shaker Village in and neuter service, and a pet explained. and go to an emergency shelter, Pittsfield can offer quiet time with What Berkshire DART food donation service. A team that visited an autism they cannot bring their pets to cows, pigs, chicken and sheep. “It wouldn’t be possible with- center encouraged a 17-year- the shelter. Therefore, people The village re-creates Shaker Needs: Places for animal shelters, out volunteers,” Bissaillon said. old boy to speak for the first risk their lives not evacuating life and promotes principles various functions in shelters n time. when they should — because that were core to the Shaker (set -up, registration and intake, BHS offers opportunities for Students’ reading rates also they don’t want to leave their existence: equality, community, feeding, animal handling), humans to volunteer with animals, have increased from 96 to 140 pets,” she said. sustainability, responsible land veterinarians, operations. but The Good Dog Foundation words a minute when reading to a During the recent tornadoes stewardship, simplicity and How to volunteer: Register with puts pets to work alongside their dog, she said, because dogs pro- in Springfield, four Berkshire quality in work. MA Responds, a volunteer owners. The largest animal-assist- vide a “nonjudgmental audience.” DART members joined the The farm, replete with her- management system, at ed therapy program on the east But more always are needed. response — assisting with itage breed animals, represents www.MAResponds.org coast, The Good Dog Foundation The Norman Rockwell Museum search and rescue, sheltering, what Shakers had, said Laura Training: www.wmdart.org/ trains dog and human duos, called will hold searches for Good Dog trapping, setting up food and Wolf, director of operations and training.html a Good Dog Team, to go into therapy dogs on Mondays from 1 water and going door to door marketing. schools, nursing homes, health- to 2 p.m. through Sept. 12. telling residents where to go for The staff invites volunteers What: Hancock Shaker Village n care facilities and other centers to food, water and information ages 16 and older to assist with How to become a volunteer: provide emotional and therapeu- The Berkshire Medical Re- and to drop off or recover lost mucking out stalls, taking care www.hancockshakervillage.org tic support to a variety of different serve Corps (MRC), a group of animals. of chickens and collecting eggs people. medical and non-medical volun- Now DART’s key goal is to each morning.

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