The 30th annual Fall Foliage Walk will be taking place on Saturday, October 13, from 8:00a.m. to 4:00p.m. The Walk begins at Amherst’s Mill River Recreation Area and stretches 20 kilometers (14 miles) to end at South Amherst Common.
The Walk is a charity benefit for the Amherst Committee for a Better Chance, Inc. or Amherst ABC. Amherst ABC is a nonprofit, community-sponsored organization that brings academically talented students of color from educationally disadvantaged areas to Amherst to attend Amherst Regional High School. The Walk is the big annual fundraiser for the organization and hopes to draw many walkers and supporters.
The program has been in operation for over 30 years and has many connections to the University of Massachusetts. Currently there are two Amherst ABC alumni pursuing degrees at UMass.
Qasim LaRoche is a sophomore electrical engineering major who came to Amherst from New York City. He is also on the Amherst ABC board of directors. He serves as a liaison between the board and other ABC alumni in different areas.
“The [ABC] program is pretty great. When I first came here, the standard classes were like honors classes,” LaRoche Said. “The teachers liked teaching. That helped me a lot at UMass. I took what I learned from ABC and from what I learned from my parents and actually did pretty good. I got into the School of Engineering.”
ABC is a national program involving 24 public and 168 independent schools. Community activists who wanted to provide immediate help for talented students who otherwise might not have had access to a college preparatory education founded it in 1968.
Amherst ABC now operates by a 30 member volunteer Board of Directors, and eight host families. The board of directors includes LaRoche and W.E.B. DuBois Library communication specialist, Emily Silverman.
Students who join the Amherst program are selected from a group that is first identified by the national ABC offices in Boston. There are usually eight to 10 students who arrive in Amherst and live at the Amherst ABC house at 74 North Prospect Street. A bank donated the house 32 years ago.
The students spend one weekend per month in the house of a host family. Resident directors Irasema and Bryant Lewis, who share the ABC house with their three children, provide a structured and warm home environment for the students.
The program is funded by local residents, businesses, religious and civic groups in addition to the donations received from the walk. The Hampshire Community United Way is also a sponsor of the program. Though major foundations support the national ABC, Amherst ABC is completely dependent on local contributions. Funds generated by the Walk are critical to maintaining the Amherst ABC annual operating budget.
“There have houses in other parts of Massachusetts that have been shut down because they haven’t had enough community support,” LaRoche said.
In January, Amherst ABC began its first capital campaign. The campaign has two goals: to build an endowment fund, and to renovate the ABC house, an expansive Victorian residence built in the late 1800’s.
“Money from the Walk go to keep the house going,” LaRoche said. “It’s a big source of income that goes to the upkeep [of the house], tutors, and food. A lot of the stuff has been donated, too. The recreation room has a pool table that was donated by a nursing home.”
This year, organizers are encouraging participants to be creative, as a way to mark the walk as a milestone. Some groups are planning to walk together, such as the fourth and fifth grade girls soccer teams, and the Sage team at the Amherst Regional Middle school. There is also a group of Amherst College Students that serve as ABC tutors who will be walking. Some are even running the route.
Walkers are hoping to obtain pledges in increments of $30 in honor of the 30th anniversary of the walk. Pledge cards can be received in advance at the Jones Library. On Saturday, participants can register at the Mill River Recreation Area from 8:00a.m. to 10:00a.m., or at Amethyst Brook from 11:00a.m. to 1:00p.m. There will be eight checkpoints along the route offering water, snacks, and also available drivers to return walkers to their cars.
Contributions to the ABC Annual Fall Foliage Walk may be sent to: Amherst ABC, Box 1922, Station 2, Amherst, MA, 01002. For more information, or to make a pledge, contact Jayne Lovett at [email protected], or check out www.abetterchance.org.
