Dinner and study sessions courtesy of Lyall’s Community Church

MILLBROOK — Millbrook student Lindsay McMorris is working alongside Lyall’s Community Church to serve free dinner and study sessions.

Beginning Thursday, Nov. 7, Lyall Church started hosting study sessions from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. each week. The program aims to help Millbrook students from Kindergarten through twelfth grade with homework or studying while providing dinner at the same time.

“I am working towards my Girl Scout Gold Award, which is a big project,” said McMorris, “The two women I am working with, Lynn Grange and Kristen Reed, ran a very similar program, and it kind of fizzled out after COVID. So while looking for ideas for my Gold Award, I was like, ‘Oh, I can bring this back.’”

According to McMorris, she is hoping to reach as many students as possible through the study dinners program to assist with schoolwork but also with food insecurities many face. The program’s first week only saw two students, yet it is progressively growing. Approximately ten students had registered for the session on Thursday, Nov. 21.

“I’m just really hoping to have a program out there for kids who need study help because grades are very important to me. I know they’re very important to a lot of people,” McMorris said, “So having something out there that they can use to help them improve grades or just understand topics better, as well as we also address local food insecurity because we do provide a free meal at every meeting.”

To RSVP or for questions, email: lyallchurchstudydinner@gmail.com.

Latest News

'A Complete Unknown' — a talkback at The Triplex

Seth Rogovoy at the screening of “A Complete Unknown” at The Triplex.

Natalia Zukerman

When Seth Rogovoy, acclaimed author, critic, and cultural commentator of “The Rogovoy Report” on WAMC Northeast Public Radio, was asked to lead a talkback at The Triplex in Great Barrington following a screening of the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” he took on the task with a thoughtful and measured approach.

“I really try to foster a conversation and keep my opinions about the film to myself,” said Rogovoy before the event on Sunday, Jan. 5. “I want to let people talk about how they felt about it and then I ask follow-up questions, or people ask me questions. I don’t reveal a lot about my feelings until the end.”

Keep ReadingShow less
On planting a Yellowwood tree

The author planted this Yellowwood tree a few years ago on some of his open space.

Fritz Mueller

As an inveterate collector of all possibly winter hardy East coast native shrubs and trees, I take a rather expansive view of the term “native”; anything goes as long as it grows along the East coast. After I killed those impenetrable thickets of Asiatic invasive shrubs and vines which surrounded our property, I suddenly found myself with plenty of open planting space.

That’s when, a few years ago, I also planted a Yellowwood tree, (Cladastris kentukea). It is a rare, medium-sized tree in the legume family—spectacular when in bloom and golden yellow in fall. In the wild, it has a very disjointed distribution in southeastern states, yet a large specimen, obviously once part of a long-gone garden, has now become part of the woods bordering Route 4 on its highest point between Sharon and Cornwall.

Keep ReadingShow less
Schlock and Awful: winter edition

A scene from “Exterminators of the Year 3000”

Courtesy IMDB.COM

The Lakeville Journal’s Bad Cinema desk sincerely hopes everyone had something better to do last summer than sit inside and watch appallingly bad movies. Anything would do. Hiking. Antiquing. Going for coffee.

Even — and we realize this is strong stuff — writing poetry.

Keep ReadingShow less