AMHERST — An annual fundraiser for Amherst’s A Better Chance program, the residential high school program that prepares academically talented young men of color from educationally underserved communities, hits a half-century milestone on Saturday, Oct. 15.
The 50th 5K Fall Foliage and Cider Run starts from the Amherst Town Common at 9:30 a.m. for walkers and at 10 a.m. for runners, taking participants onto the Amherst College campus and its woodlands sanctuary, with views of the Pelham Hills and the Norwottuck Rail Trail. Once complete, they return to the downtown greenspace for cider, snacks and prizes.
“We continue to benefit greatly from the generosity of the greater Amherst community,” says Keith Nesbitt, president of the ABC board. “Our needs never end, and we always can use the support.”
This academic year, the program has three scholars living at its North Prospect Street home, where each scholar has his own bedroom. Also at the house are the residential directors, Temistocles Ferreira and Nancita Alejandro, and Crystal Colon, a high school paraprofessional who is the assistant residential director.
Since its founding in 1968, the ABC House in Amherst has hosted 130 students, with up to eight per year, most coming from urban areas in Massachusetts and New York. After their four years attending Amherst Regional High School, many have gone on to colleges and universities, or joined the workforce.
Like most organizations, the ABC program has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Nesbitt said. Efforts are ramping up to get more scholars into the program next year, with an open house set for later in October. This will allow families interested in having their teen sons schooled in Amherst to visit the home and learn more about the program, including meeting the current house parents.
Nesbitt said the ABC program is also actively seeking local families who can host the scholars at their own homes once a month. The idea, he said, is that while the program is regimented, requiring study time and chores around the house when they are not in school, the host families get them into the larger community for the chance to do teen-oriented things.
Friends of the ABC House also do work parties quarterly at the site, including one last weekend. Recent improvements include renovating the basement into a recreation room.
Nesbitt said participants in the walk and run are still being accepted, and people can go to to amherstabetterchance.org/fallfoliageandciderrun, or send email to Romy Cruz, the race director at FallFoliageAndCiderRun@gmail.com, for more information.
