PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Christian Center's annual community day returns this Saturday with food, games, and friendly faces.

Meant to bring people together and ease the stressors of everyday life, the event is a long-held tradition. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., attendees can enjoy a variety of activities around the center and at Tucker Park on Robbins Avenue.

"We've been doing it for decades," Executive Director Betsy Sherman said.

"We have all sorts of kids games, we have a bouncy house, we have music, we have food and it's just a good event for everybody to bring their kids and have a good time. We have a lot of agencies coming to talk about what they do and a lot of them have giveaways."

The free celebration includes kids' games and prizes, arts and crafts, a bouncy house, and food provided by the Civitan Club of the Berkshires, an all-volunteer, non-profit, service organization that has been catering the event for a number of years.

Community Day is sponsored by Greylock Federal Credit Union.

"Everything is free so it's simply to bring people together," Sherman explained.

"Particularly, last year was our first after the pandemic and so we had people that hadn't been out in awhile coming out and we just have to get all generations out and enjoying the day and enjoy seeing each other."

Last year, the center also marked 130 years as an organization.  It was founded in 1892 as the Epworth Mission by the Methodist Church and has been at its current location since 1906.

It has been an especially busy year for the organization, as the food pantry's numbers are up 60 percent from before the pandemic. In May, the center received about 40,000 pounds of food from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints headquarters in Utah and distributed it to around 20 local organizations that serve hungry community members.

At the time, more than 100 families routinely come for food on Wednesday nights and there were more children than before.

"There is a need for community. There is a need for people to see each other, reach out in a different way," Sherman said. "We see people every week here at the pantry but this is a different way of seeing people. It's a lot of fun."

Food will be served from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. or until it runs out. The menu includes hot dogs, hamburgers, salads, chips and desserts.

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