community

North Canaan brings aid to storm-torn south

North Canaan brings aid to storm-torn south

Supplies for the south was collected at North Canaan Town Hall. More than 500 individuals and businesses contributed to the cause.

Provided

NORTH CANAAN — On Sunday afternoon, Oct. 20, First Selectman Brian Ohler, North Canaan resident Ron Carpenter and Carpenter’s dog Remi set off from Town Hall in a truck and trailer packed with several thousand pounds of supplies destined for the mountains of western North Carolina to aid in the relief effort for Hurricane Helene.

The contents of the truck and trailer were donated by “over 500 individuals, families and businesses” from the Northwest Corner over the course of a relief drive on Sunday at Town Hall, another at North Canaan’s Pumpkin Fest on Saturday, and earlier contributions. The truck and trailer were provided by Richie and Chris Crane.

A Dollar General in North Carolina acts as a staging ground for rescue vehicles. Provided

Supplies of all types made the journey south, comprised of “the basic necessities to live,” in Ohler’s words. Cold weather clothing and equipment were especially vital with winter approaching.

“It was really heartwarming to see such support,” Ohler said. This generosity “is something that the Northwest Corner has always been known for,” he added. “Whether it’s North Canaan or North Carolina, we’re always here to help.”

Ohler, a veteran of war, first responder and emergency management professional, said he knew where the supplies needed to go to avoid being trapped in a large collection point. The team’s goal was to get supplies directly into the hands of civilians.

The trailer was filled with supplies that had been donated by the people of the Northwest Corner. Provided

With washed out bridges and roads leaving people no way to get to larger relief distribution points, Ohler said getting supplies straight to residents was paramount.

Ohler had been deployed with the Army to New Orleans to aid in the relief effort for Hurricane Katrina, but he said the destruction in North Carolina was “just so much more obvious.” The devastation was “simply unfathomable,” he said in a statement on the Town of North Canaan Facebook page.

Supplies were delivered to residents of North Carolina.Provided

Despite the monumental task of rebuilding, Ohler said residents in these ravaged towns would take the time to stop what they were doing and extend their thanks. “The towns that we were in will always be connected to the Northwest Corner of Connecticut,” he said, adding that he hopes to continue relations and relief efforts in the future.

In North Carolina alone, Hurricane Helene has likely caused at least $53 billion in damages and recovery needs and claimed 96 lives at the latest count, according to a report by Al Jazeera.

community

Latest News

Living art takes center stage in the Berkshires

Living art takes center stage in the Berkshires

Contemporary chamber musicians, HUB, performing at The Clark.

D.H. Callahan

Northwestern Massachusetts may sometimes feel remote, but last weekend it felt like the center of the contemporary art world.

Within 15 miles of each other, MASS MoCA in North Adams and the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown showcased not only their renowned historic collections, but an impressive range of living artists pushing boundaries in technology, identity and sound.

Keep ReadingShow less
writer's notebook

Persistently amplifying women’s voices

Persistently amplifying women’s voices

Francesca Donner, founder and editor of The Persistent. Subscribe at thepersistent.com.

Aly Morrissey

Francesca Donner pours a cup of tea in the cozy library of Troutbeck’s Manor House in Amenia, likely a habit she picked up during her formative years in the United Kingdom. Flanked by old books and a roaring fire, Donner feels at home in the quiet room, where she spends much of her time working as founder, editor and CEO of The Persistent, a journalism platform created to amplify women’s voices.

Although her parents are American and she spent her earliest years in New York City and Litchfield County — even attending Washington Montessori School as a preschooler — Donner moved to England at around five years old and completed most of her education there. Her accent still bears the imprint of what she describes as a traditional English schooling.

Keep ReadingShow less
our community

Jarrett Porter on the enduring power of Schubert’s ‘Winterreise’

Jarrett Porter on the enduring power of Schubert’s ‘Winterreise’
Baritone Jarrett Porter to perform Schubert’s “Winterreise”
Tim Gersten

On March 7, Berkshire Opera Festival will bring “Winterreise” to Studio E at Tanglewood’s Linde Center for Music and Learning, with baritone Jarrett Porter and BOF Artistic Director and pianist Brian Garman performing Franz Schubert’s haunting 24-song setting of poems by Wilhelm Müller.

A rejected lover. A frozen landscape. A mind unraveling in real time. Nearly 200 years after its premiere, “Winterreise” remains unnervingly current in its psychological portrait of isolation, heartbreak and existential drift.

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

A grand finale for Crescendo’s 22nd season

A grand finale for Crescendo’s 22nd season

Christine Gevert, artistic director, brings together international and local musicians for a season of rare works.

Stephen Potter

Crescendo, the Lakeville-based nonprofit specializing in early and rarely performed classical music, will close its 22nd season with a slate of spring concerts featuring international performers, local musicians and works by pioneering composers from the Baroque era to the 20th century.

Christine Gevert, the organization’s artistic director, has gathered international vocal and instrumental talent, blending it with local voices to provide Berkshire audiences with rare musical treats.

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts

Leopold Week honors land and legacy

Leopold Week honors land and legacy

Aldo Leopold in 1942, seated at his desk examining a gray partridge specimen.

Robert C. Oetking

In his 1949 seminal work, “A Sand County Almanac,” Aldo Leopold, regarded by many conservationists as the father of wildlife ecology and modern conservation, wrote, “There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot.” Leopold was a forester, philosopher, conservationist, educator, writer and outdoor enthusiast.

Originally published by Oxford University Press, “A Sand County Almanac” has sold 2 million copies and been translated into 15 languages. On Sunday, March 8, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Norfolk Library, the public is invited to a community reading of selections from the book followed by a moderated discussion with Steve Dunsky, director of “Green Fire,” an Emmy Award-winning documentary film exploring the origins of Leopold’s “land ethic.” Similar reading events take place each year across the country during “Leopold Week” in early March. Planning for this Litchfield County reading began when the Norfolk Library received a grant from the Aldo Leopold Foundation, which provided copies of “A Sand County Almanac” to distribute during the event.

Keep ReadingShow less
book talk

Erica Child Prud’homme

Erica Child Prud’homme

WEST CORNWALL — Erica Child Prud’homme died peacefully in her sleep on Jan. 9, 2026, at home in West Cornwall, Connecticut, at 93.

Erica was born on April 27, 1932, in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, the eldest of three children of Charles and Fredericka Child. With her siblings Rachel and Jonathan, Erica was raised in Lumberville, a town in the creative enclave of Bucks County where she began to sketch and paint as a child.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.