Faith R. Scarborough Community Service Award
The Community Service Award was established in memory of Faith R. Scarborough, a civic leader who served on the Board of Selectmen from 1978 to 1981 and was active in the Visiting Nurse Association, St. John’s Church, Williamstown Community Chest, and the League of Woman Voters. She was only the second woman in town history to be elected as a selectman and served as chairman in 1980, one year before her death. The award is presented annually to recipients chosen on the basis of “demonstrated integrity, excellence and dedication in community service.”
Previous winners are as follows:
1982, Katharine S. Wyckoff; 1983, Arthur G. Ceely; 1984, Mary E. Winch; 1985, Herbert S. Gordon; 1986, John P. Connors; 1987, Nadine N. Kalt; 1988, Anthony T. Cangelosi; 1989, Mary Anna Kershaw; 1990, James S. Drummond; 1991, Pamela B. Weatherbee; 1992, Henry N. Flynt Jr.; 1993, Robert T. Pleines; 1994, Anita B. Barker; 1995, Richard and Carol De-Mayo; 1996, Helen G. Renzi; 1997, Carolyn P. Behr; 1998, William Dudley; 1999, Mark S. Gold; 2000, David C. Larabee; 2001, Elementary School Building Committee; 2002, Anne R. Skinner; 2003, John A. Agostini; 2004, Deborah Burns; 2005, Peter Mehlin; 2006, Jane B. Allen; 2007, Bruce D. Grinnell; 2008, Samuel and Elizabeth Smith; 2009, Stephen G. Crowe.
Samuel and Elizabeth Smith, longtime community activists and proprietors of Caretaker Farm, received a standing ovation from the more than 400 residents at the 2008 annual town meeting on May 20 after being named the Faith R. Scarborough Award winners for 2008.
“You have lived the life that you have advocated for,” Town Moderator Stanley Parese told the couple, reading from a citation that recognized their outstanding community service, integrity and dedication to Caretaker Farm. The Smiths have been Cub Scout leaders, founded a museum at the elementary school, served as a host family for A Better Chance children and for refugees from Cambodia, started the beginnings of a food co-op that evolved into the Wild Oats Co-operative Market and launched a community supported agriculture program that serves dozens of North Berkshire residents. The couple started Caretaker Farm in 1970 and have consistently donated excess crops to the Berkshire Food Project. More than 120 apprentices have come to Caretaker Farm over the years to learn organic farming. The farm was one of the first organic farms in Berkshire County
“Sam and I are deeply honored to receive the Faith Scarborough award,” Elizabeth Smith told the crowd. “I have a cartoon on our refrigerator door which I clipped out some years ago that describes Sam and me to a tee. It’s of this crusty old couple bickering outside their roadside market, and the woman is saying to her husband, ‘You keep your marketing smarts to yourself and grow it. I’ll push it.”
She added, “It’s a pleasure to accept this award from a wonderful town where you are all absolutely our partners. This community is so inspiring, so supportive and so amazing. You seem to understand the necessity that, to build a strong community, we must support our children and our environment.”
Her husband, a former banker who gave up his financial career to teach at Mount Greylock and Berkshire Community College before starting the farm, gave a detailed explanation of how it came to be named. “It’s a promise that Caretaker Farm will always provide a common meeting ground and continual nourishment for a caring and abiding community” he concluded.