Northern Berkshire Interfaith Action Initiative Al Nelson Friendship Center

10/22/2026

Hello Friends!

Starting today 10/22/26 we will be open from 4:30-6pm every Thursday!

Please let us know if you have any questions!

10/09/2026

09/30/2026

This Friday is the 1st Friday of October, which means it's time for our Grandparents Raising Grandchildren support group! This bi-monthly group meets on the 1st and 3rd Fridays, from 10am to noon.
1st Friday meet-ups are held at the Council on Aging in Adams and at the one in North Adams on the 3rd Friday.
If you are a grandparent who plays any level of caregiving role in your grandchildren's lives, this can be a great place to meet friends, offer advice to others, and just enjoy a snack and a cup of coffee! For more information, give us a call at 413-663-7588 or email us at [email protected]

09/07/2026

One of the things we offer besides food, are books. We offer mainly children's books but some books for adults, also. Our late volunteer and board member Robert Behr started this. He was committed to encouraging children to read.

In addition to the books at the food pantry, pictured here, books are also available at the our sign-in location at Eagle Street room of the First Baptist Church. The church provides the books offered there.

08/12/2026

We're down at the Downtown Celebration in front of 85 Main Street. Stop by and say hello.

06/29/2026

A staff member from the Food Bank will be available in the Eagle Street Room on Wednesday, July 1, from 10 a.m to 2 p.m. Only two half-hour slots are filled so far. Message us to make an appointment or inquire in person on Wednesday.

06/07/2026

REMINDER: We have added Thursday afternoon Pantry Hours

05/18/2026

On Saturday, we held a Volunteer Appreciation Dinner in the hall at the First Congregational Church of North Adams. Some 31 of our 63 total volunteers were able to attend
We have been an all-volunteer operation since we founded our food pantry in 2011.

Lisa Walker, pictured here, is our volunteer coordinator and cooked the delicious dinner. The menu: Moussaka, Roast Herb Chicken. Cheesy Yukon Gold Potatoes, Farmers Salad. She made this dinner with ingredients sourced from:

Red Shirt Farm, Lanesboro, MA
Full Well Farm, Adams, MA
Cricket Creek Farm, Williamstown, MA
Many Forks Farm, Clarksburg, MA
La Belle Farm, Ferndale, NY

We have the best volunteers in the world!

05/11/2026

The North Adams total for the 2026 Letter Carrier Food Drive in the 01247-area code on Saturday was 5,076 lbs. This compares to 5,526 in 2025 and 3,545 lbs. in 2024. Thank you to our hardworking letter carriers and to everyone who donated in North Adams, Clarksburg and Florida Mountain!

Thanks also to our friend Patti Messina, of the Northern Berkshire United Way, who once again provided pizza and water for the letter carriers and our volunteers, who weighed and sorted the donations.

Once again, as every year since 2011, we reserved an empty storefront and had volunteers with a van ready to help the letter carriers with donations as they went along their delivery routes.