Hilltown Families 
Hilltown Families on Mass Appeal: Commercial-Free Holidays
Hilltown Families on Mass Appeal: November Segment
Non-Commercial Community Engagement for the Holidays
Hilltown Families and Mass Appeal (a weekday, hour-long lifestyle program on NBC) have teamed up to offer a live monthly segment on WWLP 22News! Each month, Hilltown Families’ Founder & Executive Director, Sienna Wildfield, joins Mass Appeal hosts to talk about ways to engage in your community while supporting the interests and education of your children (and yourselves!).
This monthly segment continued on Thursday, November 24, 2015. This month Sienna and Ashley talked about non-commercial ways to engage in your community this holiday season that are based in community values rather than consumption:
This holiday season, focus on your local community and spending time together with your family by choosing value-based way of engagement rather than commercial-based.
Make Your Own Gifts
- Many schools, libraries and community organizations have opportunities for kids to make their own gifts for gift giving. Great opportunity to support creativity with a personalized gift.
- Towns across the region host an extended evening of activities with shops open late to encourage support of local merchants while connecting with neighbors as the days get shorter.
- 4 Holiday Strolls to Connect Community & Celebrate the Holiday Season
- Many towns and recreation departments organize community caroling opportunities and the annual lighting of the town tree.
- Annual Gorge Apres Gorge brings families together at the Chesterfield Gorge for a walk/run along the Westfield River.
- For an outdoor holiday activity that’s truly off the beaten path, there is the Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count, December 14 to January 5. The society uses information collected by volunteer “citizen scientists” to gauge the health of the nation’s bird populations.
- Katz Family Chanukah Breakfast (Longmeadow, MA)
- Berkshire Theatre Group annual community production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at the Colonial Theatre (Pittsfield, MA)
- Malcolm X Cultural Center will host the Annual Kwanzaa Celebration (Amherst, MA)
- Winter Solstice Storytelling and Songfest at the Roundhouse (Colrain)
- Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary annual winter solstice celebration (Easthampton)
Mass Appeal is a live weekday program that airs at 11am on 22News (Springfield, MA). Our next visit to the Mass Appeal studios will be December 28th, 2015!
