Belchertown Justice Collaborative

07/11/2025

Hi Folks--It's been years. And there's been a lot of genuine terror in the world since we last spoke. There are a lot of reasons we haven't been around. The long and short, though? This youth grew up, graduated from college, became lawyers, made movies, got new jobs, and continued in our own ways to fight, hope, and advocate for the world we want to live in.

We want to close this chapter officially, with transparency, and reflection.

In June of 2024 the BJC closed out all of their bank accounts and donated the remainder of their funds to direct humanitarian aid in Gaza. This money totaled approximately $2,000. It was money that was originally set aside to compensate members of the organization for their leadership efforts. But in the end, we could not in good faith pay ourselves for our activism while watching years (YEARS) of a live streamed genocide. We cannot imagine anything better we could have done as our final action than donating to direct humanitarian aid.

So, we're all still out here, fighting, although we won't be doing it with this group anymore (our accounts are empty, email passwords long forgotten, and you can consider this our last post). We hope you're out here doing the work too, in all the forms that it takes. It's a movement, not a moment. And at this point, it's gonna have to be a revolution. Free Gaza, F*ck Ice.

If you're looking for ways to contribute direct aid to Gaza (and yes, you should be), consider the attached fundraiser. They're a journalist led mission to deliver trucks of potable water to civilians.

Thank you all for being here, Belchertown. We'll always be grateful for the years we shared and proud of the work we accomplished together. Thank you for the hope you helped us grow in difficult times, may it carry us all into many more years of advocacy, urgency, disruption, and joy.

Since we began on , we have successfully delivered 200 water trucks, each carrying 5,000 liters of clean water to besieged North Gaza.

05/23/2022

Thanks so much to everyone who came out yesterday to learn about Belchertown history and the importance conservation in combatting climate change 🌱🙌

05/20/2022

Due to extreme heat tomorrow, our town history and conservation discussion and free craft will be held in the Belchertown town hall auditorium. Free frozen treats provided!

05/18/2022

This Saturday, spend your afternoon at the Cold Spring Conservation area behind the Cold Spring school, learning about the land that makes up Belchertown and why it’s important to make conservation a priority in your life! With Indigenous teacher, writer and artist Ella Nathanael Alkiewicz! If you can't make it on Saturday, the event will be livestreamed on Facebook so you can watch from home live or after the fact! Rain date Sunday May 22nd!

05/16/2022

Belchertown election today! Polls are open from 8am-8pm at the high school gymnasium. Every vote counts!

05/11/2022

Open call for artists from Workshop13/ArtWorks Gallery in Ware! ArtWorks Gallery is putting on its first Pride show this year and they want your art! To submit your work or learn more click this link: https://www.workshop13.org/call-to-artists-show-your-pride

04/22/2022

Happy Earth Day Everyone! We hope that you are enjoying the day spending time outside and reflecting on your relationship with the earth, with nature, and with the climate. We believe that there is no sustainable future without decolonization, and so we'd like to take some time today to acknowledge and promote resources related to Indigenous activism, education, and futures. We'd like to invite you all to spend some time exploring these resources, and maybe doing some of the wonderful family friendly activities listed here!

Activities For all Ages! Ask your family to go with you on a nature walk in a local park, around your backyard, or on a hiking trail! Pay special attention to the plants you see. Do you know their names? Be sure not to touch or eat plants that you don’t know, but take a good look at them -...

02/02/2022

We want your feedback! It was great to meet so many of you last week at the recall election. We were there to support the democratic process and to spread the word about some of our current projects that we need your input on. If you haven’t already, please take a minute to take a brief survey about your experiences of climate resiliency in Belchertown AND vote for which images you want to see on our next public mural! (Links to both in the comments. It should take less than five minutes to fill both of them out!)