Letter from the Executive Director: Summer 2023

We blazed into summer with a Reach for the Stars launch party supporting our Campaign for Student Success. The well-attended event was at the Crazy Horse Bar and Grill at Berkshire East in Charlemont, MA, and featured local musicians Greg Smith and Tory Hanna, along with the Mohawk Trail High School Chorus. The band played well into the evening as the Mary Lyon Foundation announced a comprehensive campaign in support of students, families, and educators in West County, the community that we serve.

Our Campaign for Student Success is about reaching for the stars. We are deeply committed to expanding the boundaries of what is possible in West County. Our campaign goals reflect our unwavering dedication to supporting our community’s students, families, and educators, helping everyone reach their full potential and ensuring their limitless growth trajectory.

Your support over the last two and a half years has given us a solid foundation to move into the next phase of our campaign. We are on the way to meeting our fundraising goals and need your help during the final stretch.

We can ensure that our community’s and students’ futures are successful. Working together, we are building a better future for our community, enabling our students to blaze their trail to the stars and fulfill their dreams.

We are the only organization in western Franklin County that provides on-the-ground, comprehensive services to our youth and families. Social service agencies in Greenfield rely on the Foundation to help deliver their services to our students and families.

The Mary Lyon Foundation has provided:

– Thousands of winter coats, hats, mittens, and boots

– Hundreds of pairs of eyeglasses

– Thousands of bags of groceries and fresh produce, dairy, and fruit

– Hundreds of backpacks filled with school supplies

– Tens of thousands of dollars in emergency assistance for families in crisis

– Thousands in medical support for students

– Thousands in summer camps, childcare, and before- and after-school care for children

– Tens of thousands in scholarship support for students pursuing post-secondary education

– Tens of thousands in grant dollars to educators for innovative teaching practices

– Thousands in computer hardware and internet access to facilitate the learning process.

The Foundation is doing its part to remove the barriers imposed by poverty so that our children learn, succeed and thrive. And YOU are making that possible through your giving!

Together, we will ensure that our students, families, and educators have the tools and resources to succeed.

Thank you for seeing the value of the Mary Lyon Foundation. We appreciate your support.

Kristen Tillona-Baker
Executive Director