Annual Appeal

As we enter our 126th year, YOU can help us continue to change children's lives!

Berkshire began in 1886 with a vision of making a real difference in the lives of "at risk" boys by providing care and schooling in a residential setting in Canaan, New York.

This year, Berkshire will improve the lives of more than 6,000 troubled youth and their families. We accomplish this by providing a variety of specialized programs in communities, schools, family homes, and foster and group homes throughout New York State. These programs keep children safe in their homes and schools, bring families together, and create hope and brighter futures.

Donate to Berkshire's Annual Appeal here. Download printable Annual Appeal 2011-2012 here.

With your help, we provide children with opportunities and skills to build a better life . . . Here are two examples:

McKenna’s Amazing Turnaround

McKenna first came into Berkshire’s residential school program in Canaan in 2010 after treatment at several other facilities had failed. Adopted as an infant, McKenna did not know who he was and as he grew up he had no idea who his biological parents were, where he was from, or even his own ethnicity. "I felt like I had empty holes in my life and I couldn’t get anything to fill them with," said McKenna, who described his life then as "very lonely".

Things are different at Berkshire Farm Center. "Everybody here wants me to do well," explained McKenna, who remarked that life at his cottage is like being in a good family. He became a peer mentor and has had a genuinely positive impact on other youth as well as on the counselors. One remarked that "even though McKenna didn’t know who he was, he knew who he wanted to be". McKenna will graduate with a Regents Diploma next June and has already applied to Elmira College. And, after 18 years of wondering about his roots, he has located his father! They are in touch now, and he even has a half brother who plans to visit McKenna soon. In the meantime, McKenna continues to be a role model at Berkshire. He likes working at the school store and is anything but lonely.

Jordan is back home and doing well

Prior to arriving at one of our specialized group homes in 2010, Jordan was actively using drugs, wasn’t attending school, was failing his classes, and felt hopeless. Previous attempts to help him had failed. However, counselors at Berkshire’s group home worked intensively with Jordan, who became invested in his treatment programs (photo at right shows Jordanwith clinical coordinator Roberto DiMambro). Jordan began to pass all of his classes and as he began to succeed, he joined the school’s tennis team and also began to excel in small engine repair class, an area of particular interest to him. In less than a year, Jordan successfully completed his treatment program at the group home and is now back living with his mother. He has even opened his own small engine repair business.

You don't have to adopt a child or work in a group home
to make a real difference in a child's life . . .

Your tax-deductible gift will help to strengthen our mission to improve the lives of at-risk children and their families by directly supporting programs that really work! Your donation will support foster parents, group homes, and residential programs for children who need a safe place to live, after-school programs to help them succeed, and prevention programs to keep children safely in their homes, schools, and communities, plus so much more.

Donate to Berkshire's Annual Appeal here. Download printable Annual Appeal 2011-2012 here.

Berkshire Farm Center is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization, and your contributions are tax-deductible.

NOTICE: Berkshire Farm Center and Services for Youth is registered with the New York State Attorney General’s Charities Bureau. A copy of Berkshire’s latest annual report may be obtained, upon request, from our Development Office, 13640 Rt. 22, Canaan, NY 12029 or from the Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10271.