The Institute for the Musical Arts in Goshen will hold a fundraiser on Sunday, Jan. 20, for the internationally known LBGT Asylum Task Force based out of the Hadwen Park Congregational Church in Worcester.
The event will feature musical performances by June Millington, Diana Alvarez, ZoKi, Willa Mamet, and other guests including members of the Asylum Seekers Choir. Individual asylum seekers will also share their personal narratives with those in attendance.
The church’s task force has been in existence for 10 years and provides food, housing and a monthly stipend to LGBTQ immigrants who arrive in the United States with legal visas and are seeking asylum. Members of the task force also take the immigrants, many of whom are professionals, to things like interviews, grocery stores, and driver’s education classes.
The total cost of these services is roughly $25,000 a month, which comes almost entirely from private donations and other churches.
The Hadwen Park Church has become known globally as a haven for LGBTQ refugees fleeing horrific and life-threatening homophobic attacks or threats in their country of origin.
The task force is run by Al Green, a 28-year-old church deacon from Jamaica who understands the plight of gay refugees, as he was once stoned after leaving a theater with a gay friend in his homeland.
Zoe Lemos, a 15-year-old 10th-grader at the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts High School and IMA participant, is organizing the fundraiser.
A talented musician dedicated to social justice, Lemos has been raising money for the task force for four years by playing music on the street in Northampton.
This event will feature an intergenerational mix of local musicians, many of whom are queer first- or second-generation Americans.
The concert will begin at 4 p.m. and be held at the IMA’s Big Barn, 165 Cape St. (Route 112).
Tickets are $20 for adults and $5 for youth. The LGBT Asylum Task Force is a non-profit and all donations are tax-deductible.
For more information and to purchase tickets go to: www.ima.org/concert
The Baker-Polito administration recently announced that Worthington is one of the 30 Massachusetts cities and towns that have been designated by the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) as Green Communities.
The town will receive $128,495 in funding to be used toward energy-efficient projects that help fulfill the town’s commitment to reducing municipal energy consumption by 20 percent.
“Its exciting,” said administrative assistant and Green Communities Committee member Peggy O’Neal. “We are going to meet next week to figure out where to start.”
O’Neal said the committee will likely tackle the town’s outdated municipal heating systems.
With the latest designation, 240 of the state’s municipalities — 68 percent, have earned a Green Communities designation.
The 30 new Green Communities are now eligible for grants totaling $4,866,648. Since the program began in 2010, DOER has awarded over $100 million in grant funding to the commonwealth’s cities and towns through designation and competitive grants.
HUNTINGTON — Gateway Regional High School sophomore Sebastian Szklarz is an avid hiker who sets out on different explorations every week with the school’s Outdoor Club.
Each week, in preparation for the hike, he makes sure to bring several 13-gallon trash bags with him, and during the trek he picks up trash and garbage left behind by others.
Outdoor Club adviser Dawne Piers-Gamble says it was Szklarz’s idea to clean up along the way and that he is consistently diligent about the task.
“I just think it’s a problem that people are leaving their trash out there,” Szklarz said. “I feel like I can’t just do nothing about it.”
Piers-Gamble estimates that Szklarsz regularly collects about 40 gallons of trash each hike.
Szklarz hopes that others will learn from his example and says that if everyone does a little, it will make a big difference.
Ideas for this column on life in the hilltowns can be sent to Fran Ryan at Fryan.gazette@gmail.com.