Our Story
The Civitan Club of the Berkshires is a service club founded in 1957. Currently, we have 34 members and focus on community service, fundraising, and member fellowship. The Club is part of Civitan International, a world-wide service club. The Civitan International website Civitan.org will tell you all about it.
While interrupted by COVID-19, our regular fundraisers include the annual SoupFest, a Field of Dreams fundraiser and a bucket brigade in front of Walmart.
As Club members, we do a lot of running around getting prize donations for raffles, looking for soup providers, getting sponsors, and working during the events.
All of the SoupFest net income goes to local soup kitchens and food pantries. Other income is donated to a list of community organizations and charities. Also, we give a scholarship to a student at Pittsfield High School, Taconic High School, and Berkshire Community College.
In addition to giving away money, we volunteer at local events such as Feed Our Sheep dinners, the Adopt-a-Highway Clean-up Program, the Christian Center Westside Community Day barbecue, Berkshire Community Action Council's Warm Clothing Boutique and Salvation Army bell ringing. Every Christmas Eve morning, Civitan's prepare and deliver a meal to the elderly and shut ins. Also, Special Olympics events are always on our calendar. We volunteer for local bowling tournaments, and the Annual Dinner Dance. As a result of COVID, we have added a bottle and can drive, food drives, toiletry and warm clothing drives as other ways to serve local food pantries and service agencies.
We meet on the second and fourth Tuesday of the month between September and June. Some members attend almost every meeting; others attend about once a month. As a member, you would be expected to participate in Club activities; but you do not have to do everything. No one does everything. Just do as much as you are able to do. The choice is yours.
For more information about membership and the Civitan Club of the Berkshires, contact us at administrator@civitanintheberkshires.org
or call 413-329-3324.