Sustaining Hope. Transforming Lives. Building Forward—Together.
An Annual Appeal for Equity, Health, and Belonging in the Berkshires
Dear BRIDGE family,
As we enter the final weeks of the year, I find myself thinking about what it means to show up for one another as friends, neighbors, activists and community members—consistently, accountably, and with love and joy.
2025 brought immense challenges for our communities. Public funding shrank, philanthropic giving slowed, and local needs for food, housing, legal help, caregiving and mental health surged.
At BRIDGE, we have never been about one leader or a single story. We are not a solitary solution. We are you. We are a constellation of communities, each carrying multiple (hi)stories that shape who we are and how we move.
What’s baked into our DNA is collective leadership, healing justice and ancestral knowledge—and that has always been the key to our survival.
Our home—our new Solidarity House—holds the imprint of almost 18 years of BRIDGE’s journey. Within these walls lives the DNA of community belonging, built from thousands of hands, countless acts of care, and an unwavering commitment to justice and joy. This is not just our story. It is a home built by and for all of our healing and liberation.
And now, as we step into the next chapter, we are inviting you—our partners, our co-architects of belonging—to help us strengthen and expand what we’ve created together.
This year, we expanded our public health and wellness work at Solidarity House; nurtured our fifth year of the Solidarity Garden, providing food, income and food-sovereignty partnerships; ensured fair, timely pay for local BIPOC and immigrant farmer partners, even when it stretched our resources to do so; and continued our Happiness Toolbox youth program, supporting cultural literacy, communication and resilience.
And through it all, we remain rooted in our Berkshires relationships while joining in as leaders in the growing global movement for healing, liberation and Black feminist world-building for our communities of color and allies—guided by a simple truth:
Refusal as protection. Refusal as liberation. Refusal as love.
That spirit guided our every step this year—and it is how we will meet the challenges ahead.
Seeing this community grow, heal, and build together has been powerful beyond words. And with your partnership and support, we can keep transforming lives, sustaining hope and building the world our ancestors dreamed for us.
Donate now through this link and read on to learn more about just some of our 2025 accomplishments, impacts and partnerships—plus learn about our plans for the new year.
In community,
Gwendolyn VanSant
CEO & Founding Director
BRIDGE
PS. Scan the QR code or click the link to donate, read more about our 2025 accomplishments, impacts and partnerships, and plans for the year ahead!
