Already providing a continuum of care for young children are HCHC’s Hilltown Family Center Director Kate McKenney, HCHC Parent Child Plus Director Chris Bresnahan, Early Learning Specialist Kiirsten Cooper, and Sarah Lynn, developmental outreach specialist with Thom Child & Family Services.
Reminder Publishing photo by Amy Porter
HUNTINGTON — Several dozen Hilltown service providers gathered in Stanton Hall on April 30 to share information and look for ways to work together in the face of funding cuts and rising costs.
Kim Savery, director of community programs and grants for the Hilltown Community Health Center, handed out different scenarios describing challenges faced by families and individuals seeking assistance in the Hilltowns.
She said each scenario was one that she and other providers have encountered. She then asked people to find resources in the room that could help.
“The purpose is to get to know each other as community resource providers and have an opportunity to talk. One thing we do really well in the Hilltowns is partner together,” Savery said.
Represented in the room were several services offering help and support for families with young children, offering a continuum of care and resources from birth to age four.
Sarah Lynn, developmental outreach specialist with Thom Child & Family Services in Westfield, said her agency offers early intervention for children from birth to 18 months.
Lynn said children are referred to Thom with a medical diagnosis or who are medically complex, or if a family has concerns about a child’s development. She said that depending on the assessment of the child, the agency will connect them with a specialist who has the ability to monitor the child weekly, monthly or quarterly in their home.
Lynn said Thom works closely with HCHC’s Parent Child Plus program of the Hilltown Community Health Center, which offers home visits from an early learning specialist for children ages 16 months to 4 years old. Chris Bresnahan, coordinator of Parent Child Plus, said they provide 80 visits a month to families in the Hilltowns. She said both programs refer families to each other, and both are covered by insurance.
Bresnahan said she also refers families to It Takes a Village, which runs the Village Closet on 2 Main St. in Huntington, offering free family resources, including diapers, clothing, furniture, in addition to parent groups, classes and home visits by volunteers.
HCHC’s Hilltown Family Center runs play groups, story times and activities three days a week in four different Hilltowns, said Director Kate McKennedy. Play groups are held on Mondays from 9:30-11:30 a.m. in the Worthington Library, on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to noon at the Chester Railway Station and at 10 a.m. at the Porter Memorial Library in Blandford. On Thursdays, story time with Maggie occurs at 10 a.m., as well as story time, sensory play and crafts at 11 a.m. in the Hamilton Memorial Library in Chester. A monthly game night for all ages takes place on the third Thursday of each month from 4-6 p.m. in the Huntington Library.
Bresnahan said that families with young children in the Hilltowns have resources available to them, but isolation is still an issue for families living in remote areas, especially with no public transportation available. She said sometimes people are one broken car away from homelessness if they can’t get to work.
Members of the Southern Hilltowns Domestic Violence Task Force were also present at the gathering. Co-Coordinator Donna LaRocque introduced her new co-coordinator, Rachel Maiore, to the group. Maiore said she was happy to meet so many of the area providers in one place.
The task force works in partnership with Hilltown Safety at Home, another HCHC program represented at the meeting by Patti McManamy and Victim Advocate Mary Krol. Both work closely with area police departments, who send referrals to them when someone calls for help with a domestic violence incident, a big problem in rural areas where there is less access to services.
Also present were representatives from the Blandford Council on Aging, Highland Valley Elder Services with Meals on Wheels and other programs for seniors, and HCHC’s Health Outreach Program for Elders (HOPE), which offers free home visits for preventative and health maintenance care.
Jake Russell, new director of Community Food Resilience for the Hilltown CDC, said the agency offers grocery delivery of farm-fresh meats and vegetables to Hilltown residents from purchases at its nonprofit farm store that also takes SNAP benefits. The store, currently located at Sawyer Farm in Worthington, will move to Cummington later this year.
Michele Kenney, director of the Southern Hilltowns Adult Education Center, which offers GED, computer, business and sustainability classes for people of all ages, talked about the impact of funding cuts on SHAEC, an off-campus program of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Kenney promoted a plant sale fundraiser on May 16 in front of the SHAEC classroom on 26 Main St. in Chester from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. during Chester on Track.
Erica Wells represented Hilltowns CARE, a grassroots community group led by volunteers that focuses on mutual aid and civic engagement. She said they host multiple events in the Hilltowns every month, from potluck-style gatherings to skill-sharing workshops and virtual meetings. All of the events are all ages, free, and open to the public and are posted on their website at hilltowns-care.org.
Hilltowns CARE’s next event is a Community Planting Day on Sunday, May 17, at 2 p.m. in the CARE Garden space at 9 East Main St. in Huntington. Everyone is welcome to participate in planting seeds and starts for the upcoming season, while sharing space with friends and neighbors, Wells said. They will also celebrate being selected for the Community Greening Award from the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill.
Christina Beeke, Medicare insurance agent, and Laurie Martell, Huntington branch manager for Westfield Bank and president of the Jacob’s Ladder Business Association, were among area businesses represented at the meeting. Martell said she was happy to get the information, as a lot of people are coming into the branch asking about community resources. Also stopping by for information was Gateway Regional Superintendent Melissa Matarazzo.
After the networking portion of the meeting, Savery gathered people back together to discuss the challenges faced by residents in the different scenarios they were given. The lack of any public transportation came up frequently. Others mentioned accessibility to some of the programs that are available.
“As a provider, you feel hopeless, limited, and wish you could do more,” said one participant in response to Savery’s question about whether anyone has felt constrained as a provider.
“That is one of the reasons we’re doing this exercise,” Savery said.
After the meeting, Savery said she thought it was a good opportunity for resources in the community to get together.
“The turnout and engagement reflect the strength and resilience of our community. We have agencies that genuinely work together, guided by the needs of families and individuals. That kind of collaboration doesn’t happen by accident, it comes from shared commitment, relationships, and a belief that supporting families early helps the entire community thrive, even during challenging times,” Savery said.
