In 2005, Seinea Wildfield founded Hilltown Families as a simple email listserv to connect families living in rural western Massachusetts with community-based educational events and resources.
Today, Hilltown Families has over 6,000 subscribers who receive its free weekly e-newsletter, which connects them to hundreds of participating institutions and organizations that offer thousands of multigenerational events, classes, workshops, trips, self-directed activities and other learning opportunities.
“Community-based learning has the potential to effect real change by creating a culture of intentional learning,” Wildfield said.
Hilltown Families promotes the idea that this learning strategy unites community members through shared interests and experiences, establishes a shared history, and deepens a connection to the places they live.
This sense of place in both children and adults then cultivates strong and sustainable communities, and helps community members understand how they and their region are connected to the rest of the world.
“Empowered with the right tools, communities can take action to create a culture of intentional learning that makes education inclusive, accessible, and intergenerational, while strengthening a sense of place, supporting community resilience, and moving towards environmental sustainability,” Windfield said.
The success of Wildfield’s creation has garnered a great deal of interest from communities near and far who want to replicate what Hilltown Families has accomplished.
In response, Wildfield is now mentoring and training organizers in places as far apart as Honolulu and mid-coast Maine, developing a framework to help other communities create their own networks and working on a book about her strategies for community-based education.
She continues to write for and consult with Hilltown Families, but the organization is now in search of a half-time executive director to help lead it forward as it continues to grow.
Detailed information on the position and about Hilltown Families can be found at: Hilltownfamilies.org.
Beginning and experienced grafters are invited to attend a winter scion swap on March 4 at the Cummington Community House.
Alan Suprenant, a local orchardist, will be offering a presentation on scionwood (the shoot or twig of a tree) collection and storage, as well as tips on grafting.
Attendees do not need to bring their own scionwood. The event begins at 1:30 p.m. and is a nice opportunity to learn from local neighbors and get started in the art of grafting and orchard management.
For more information on this event contact Sadie at: 634-5013 or go to hilltownseeds.wordpress.com.
The folks at the Hilltown Resource Management Cooperative are hoping that residents will help lead the charge in getting old batteries out of the waste stream where they pose a serious threat to the environment and public health.
The Hilltown Resource Management Cooperative (HRMC) provides free recycling services for rechargeable batteries and cell phones at all HRMC member-town transfer stations.
Member towns include: Ashfield, Chesterfield, Cummington, Goshen, Huntington Middlefield, Plainfield, Westhampton, Williamsburg and Worthington.
Button and lithium batteries, as well as rechargeable batteries and regular batteries from cell phones, laptops, iPods, rechargeable razors, battery charged toothbrushes, flashlights and hand-held vacuums may be brought to the transfer station.
Please note that each battery should be individually placed in a plastic zip-lock bag before being stored together with other rechargeable batteries in order to reduce the very real risk of fire.
Button batteries should be placed on a clear piece of packing tape with a second layer of tape used to secure the batteries so that they do not come in contact with one another, yet can still be identified at the transfer station.
Non-button type lithium batteries should be individually bagged.
Domestically manufactured alkaline batteries (AA, AAA, C, D and 9 volt) made after 1996 no longer contain mercury and can be disposed of with your household trash.
For more information on batteries and the handling of other items, see the “What do I do with” link on the HRMC website at hrmc-ma.org.
Ideas for this column on life in the hilltowns can be sent to Fran Ryan at Fryan.gazette@gmail.com.