From The CEO
The end of the school year is upon us! With Memorial Day in the rearview mirror, summer is just around the corner (finally!).
As we wind down our school-based programs for the year, we look back a bit on all the things that have happened this year. Plus, the end of June will actually mark the end of our first fiscal year as a merged agency. It’s been so rewarding and inspirational to see how the community has come together to benefit our youth. It really does take a village, and we have one!
Meanwhile, Bowl for Kids’ Sake is officially behind us for another year and was a wonderful success. Funds raised enable us to continue to empower the children in our region.
Mark your calendars! This year’s Point 5K is set for Thursday, July 17th at the Franklin County Fairgrounds. For the creative, theme-loving folks out there, the 2025 event theme is Pirates! See below for more event information and how to register.
As always, thank you so much to our donors, grantmakers, Bigs, Littles, parents/guardians, event participants, Board of Directors, Advisory Council, and staff! We just couldn’t do all this great work without you.
Warm regards,
David Beturne, CEO
New Match
Big Sister Alison and Little Sister Neveah
Matched: 5/13/2025
Congrats to you both! You’re matched JUST in time to enjoy all kinds of fun summer activities outside. We hope to see you at the picnic in August!
New April Matches
- Little Ilyas & Big Jesus
- Little Cheyenne & Big Abigail
- Little Nevaeh & Big Barbara
- Little Jayla & Big Danielle
- Little Jaziyah & Big Catrina
- Little Gabriel & Big Kirk
Kudos to our Board
Congratulations to Board Member (and Co-Treasurer and Big Sister) Mary Rawls for being named Community Action Pioneer Valley’s Volunteer of the Year! For anyone who knows Mary, nothing about this comes as a surprise at all.
Click here for the full article.
Congratulations to Board Member (and our other Co-Treasurer!) Mike Oleksak for his recent promotion to Senior VP, Commercial Lending Team Lead!
Bowl For Kids’ Sake
Success! This year, our series of bowling events raised nearly $30,000 for our community’s youth. Thank you so much to all our sponsors, team captains, bowlers, and to everyone else who helped make this happen. Have a wonderful summer, and we look forward to seeing you again next spring!
Sponsors
Point 5K: Save The Date!
As summer rolls around, it’s time for the hottest (sometimes literally) event of the season! That’s right, we’re getting ready for another round of the Point 5K.
Join us for a leisurely stroll, sprinkled with food and drink vendors. While you meander through the 1/2 mile course, enjoy the music, summer vibes, and games.
The best part–you’re empowering our community’s youth! Through sponsorships and ticket sales, this event ensures more of our kids can have the mentor they want and need in their lives.
Supporting your community just doesn’t get any easier than this!
Thursday, July 17th
Franklin County Fairgrounds
89 Wisdom Way
Greenfield, MA 01301
Start times every 30 minutes from 4:30 to 6:30 pm
Advocacy Update
The FY26 state budget process is well underway! The most recent draft includes post-veto funding of $1.5M for the Mentoring Matching Grants line-item, compared to the previous allocation of $1.8M.
This key funding supports mentoring programs across the State and is crucial to BBBSWM. Senate legislative Champion Senator Brendan Crighton filed Amendment #731, requesting restoration of funding to $1.8M.
Recently, our own Chief Growth Officer (Chris Thompson) was pounding the pavement, contacting all our Senators to ensure this amendment gets the attention it needs and deserves.
Thank you to everyone helping to make this a reality! More updates to come soon…
Board Profile
Bart Rankin, Board Member
Where do you work and what is your role there?
New England Public Media, Supervisor of Operations and IT.
I try to fix things faster than they break. I also get to engineer live music and remote broadcasts for our Fabulous 413 show.
What inspired you to get involved with BBBS?
A strong desire to give back to my community. Also, mentorship played a critical role at an important time in my teens.
What is your vision for the future of BBBS?
Continuing the critical mission of BBBS. Finding new, creative ways to expand our reach.
What do you love most about being part of the western MA community?
Where do I start? The amazingly rich life we have here. Natural beauty, endless outdoor activities, arts, culture, local food/beer/etc. and especially music.
What are some of your hobbies and things you like doing in your free time?
Going to see live music. Hiking, kayaking. Festivals: Asparagus, Hilltown Draw-around, Garlic and Arts, Ashfield Fall, etc.
Staff PRofile
Adam Lafield, Development Manager
What is your role at BBBS?
I’m Development Manager here at BBBSWM. In short, that means I play a role in most of our fundraising plans and efforts. In addition, I find myself working quite often on marketing, too!
What inspired you to get involved with BBBS?
While I didn’t grow up in a wealthy household, I grew up with amazing influences all around me. And the older I get, the more I realize how rich my upbringing really was. At one point, I remember hearing that so many youth lacked a sense of the future. And that really struck me. The idea of not feeling like you had a future to look forward to, one with possibilities and options, was just heartbreaking. For me, this was what really hit home the importance of the BBBS mission.
What do you love most about being part of the western MA community?
While I’m certainly no world traveler, I’ve lived in several communities in our region (and grew up in Russell). Plus, I’ve had some amount of experience outside of western MA and made some observations.
The community here is just tighter and more supportive than in other places. And that does manifest differently even within each region here. I enjoyed my time in Springfield and Holyoke, having found a sense of community in both places that was quite lovely. And now that I’m back in the very rural towns, I’m moved by how much people help one another. In our recent horrific winter storm, I witnessed perfect strangers inviting people into their home to offer them food and help because they had a generator and a full freezer while others had nothing.
And then the natural, physical beauty we enjoy! We live in a unique place.
What are some of your hobbies and things you like doing in your free time?
I still try to find time for music in my life, though it’s certainly a challenge. At home, we’ve been working hard to create our own little homestead. So, much of my time is spent experimenting with growing vegetables, learning more about food preservation, and becoming better acquainted with our flock of 20 chickens. And of course, all the other tedious projects that come along with setting up a home! I also love to cook.