Art contest aims to help fight food insecurity
Food Bank of Western Massachusetts staffer Catie Gralenski loads a case of Campbell’s Spaghettios onto a cart in the warehouse of the food bank in Hatfield on Wednesday, June 3, 2020. GAZETTE FILE PHOTO
Artists, here’s your chance to help fight hunger.
Rachel’s Table, a Springfield project in which volunteers collect food for organizations that work to alleviate hunger in the Valley, is asking artists to submit work for a competition that’s designed to showcase the problem of food insecurity and its connection to overall health.
What’s known as ArtsFest 2021 will be online this year and is open to artists of all ages, divided into three categories: age 13 and under, ages 14-18, and age 19 and up. Submitted work can be in a wide variety of forms: paintings, graphic art, poetry, song, small sculpture, storytelling, dance, photography, or CANstruction (the last is structures made from full cans of food).
NEW DELHI The European Union has changed its economic policy for the better by agreeing on a 1.8 trillion euros post-pandemic stimulus plan to be financed directly through the EU budget. In particular, more than half of the package, which comprises the EU’s long-term budget and the 750 billion euros Next Generation EU recovery fund, is earmarked for forward-looking public
COVID numbers decrease overall in region
Modified: 2/21/2021 11:35:38 AM
While Sunderland remains in the state’s “red” category because of a surge in the number of people testing positive for COVID-19, the rest of the county’s towns have seen a decrease in those numbers.
Sunderland reported 33 new positive cases over the past two weeks, possibly because of the surge in positive cases at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, while Montague was the only town in Franklin County in the “yellow” or higher-risk category with 23 new cases reported in that time. Athol in Worcester County is also in the “yellow” with 43 new cases. Greenfield is the only town in the “green” or lower-risk category, with 23 cases reported over the past two weeks.
An entrance to UMass Amherst. (Deborah Becker/WBUR)
The University of Massachusetts Amherst announced it will lower it COVID-19 risk level from high to elevated after a surge of coronavirus cases on campus triggered the school to implement severe restrictions.
A spike in COVID-19 cases at UMass Amherst left students stuck in place after the university ordered a two-week lockdown. It required students to shelter in their dorms except when getting food or attending essential appointments. The restrictions also banned all student gatherings and outdoor exercise. Consequently, severe restrictions were imposed to reduce the spread of the virus, wrote UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy in a letter to the campus community. These restrictions have moderated the initial surge. This improved public health outlook provides us the opportunity anchored in a commitment to continue to strictly follow public health protocols to lower our operational posture from High to Elev