Cathy's Corner

The BCARC individuals that were part of this group are Kathy Clark, Hazel Yetz, Jason Martini, Ed Therrien, Michael O'Donnell, Karen Kennedy, Debbie Goddard, and Sonny Wiater. 
  The day also would not have been possible without the cooperative effort of many agencies, wonderful sponsors, and a host of volunteers.  BCARC individuals, along with singing, also were willing to give their time and effort to help in making this day a successful one.  Ed Therrien and Tom Coutherut arrived early to offer their services to carry in supplies and help with setup for vendors.  Michael Kuvent, Heide Curtis, Greg Hughes, and Cathy Crofut helped to staff the BCARC display table. 
   The agencies that have learned to work so well with one another over the past seven years on this event are: Ad Lib, Inc., Berkshire Brain Injury Support Group, Berkshire County Arc, Berkshire Family and Individual Resources, Carson Center for TBI Services of Western MA, Department of Mental Retardation, Goodwill Industries of the Berkshires, Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, Meridian Associates, Sullivan & Associates, Inc., and UCP Association of Berkshire County.
   A special thanks to everyone who helped to make the day a wonderful success!

   Recently I attended Berkshire Disability Pride Day at the Berkshire Mall. The purpose of the day was to educate people about disabilities and how they affect the people who have them. The mall was crowded with booths that represented many vendors who work with people who have disabilities. The booths were designed to educate people and show what they did, and each of these booths had many pictures.  Berkshire County Arc was one of the vendors that had a booth. 
   My favorite booth was the one that displayed  art projects made by people who were disabled. All of the projects were very colorful and impressive. Two of my watercolor paintings were shown as well, one of flowers and one of a cat. I was proud because so many people were seeing my artwork.
   There was a lot of good music during the morning at the mall. There were people who sang by themselves, and groups of people who sang too. The Happy Hearted Voices sang and I liked hearing them. It was nice to see so many people that I know performing.