Tree of Life

From and For the Berkshires

A majestic tree stood in Stockbridge MA for nearly 68 years before being cut down last November. Briefly it brought joy and light to New York City as the official Christmas tree at Rockefeller Station. It was lighted by more than 50,000 multi-colored LED lights and crowned with a 900-pound Swarovski star featuring more than three million crystals.

The 74-foot-tall, 11-ton tree was donated to Rockefeller Center by Stockbridge resident Earl Albert. An estimated 125 million people visited the attraction during the holiday season but now the tree is taking on new life, returning to the Berkshires in the form of milled lumber where its wood will be used in 26 new homes constructed through the Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity program.

Central Berkshire Habitat CEO Carolyn Valli lit the tree for the last time Saturday, January11th.

The local organization hopes the incorporation of the tree’s wood will inspire more community collaboration. Members of its Habitat Build and Repair Corps along with students from local vocational schools will learn the craft of milling, an initiative that provides not only training in valuable skills but also a tangible connection to the tree’s legacy.

Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity has been providing homeownership opportunities since 1992 in central and southern Berkshire County. Homes are built with volunteer labor and donations of materials, supplies, land and services. A family is selected as a house is being planned and enters a long-term partnership with CBHFH.

Future homeowners contribute between 275 to 425 hours of labor alongside volunteers from the community during the construction of their homes. Upon completion, the home is sold to the family with an affordable mortgage. All mortgage funds received are reinvested to build more homes.

The contribution of the tree’s wood to this purpose is a lasting memorial to Habitat’s most famous volunteers, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. Its lights winked in Rockefeller Center only two days after the nation finished paying tribute to its 39th president, who died at age 100 on December 29th.

Carter left office in 1981 and returned to his hometown of Plains Georgia only a few mils away from Americus Georgia where a new organization, Habitat for Humanity, had been formed five years earlier.

But it wasn’t in Georgia that he first became actively involved. In September 1984 Carter walked by a Habitat build in New York City. Seeing that there were few volunteers, he and Rosalynn joined in. They brought more volunteers with them from Georgia, helping to renovate an apartment building that would eventually house 19 families.

While he never intended to start an annual project, the following year the Carters returned to the same site to finish the renovation work. That was the inaugural Carter Work Project which is now a weeklong event staged each year somewhere around the world.

The Carters continued to participate personally until 2019 when Carter, aged 95, showed up with a black eye and 14 stitches in his face resulting from a fall the day before, fulfilling his commitment one last time. Together from 1984 to 2019, they worked beside more than 104,000 volunteers in 14 countries to build, renovate and repair 4,390 homes.

Habitat is mourning the loss of Carter, calling him an “extraordinary leader,” and posting on its website, “The passing of President Jimmy Carter is a loss felt by millions around the globe and certainly throughout the Habitat for Humanity organization. A man deeply committed to social justice and basic human rights President Carter dedicated himself to alleviating human suffering.”

Even following the death of Rosalynn Carter in 2023 and the President’s death in December, the work will go on. The 2025 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project will take place in Austin Texas next fall.

But the mission is ongoing closer to home as well. In Dalton MA the Santillan family has moved into its new home on Gulf Road. The family of four—Oliver and Stephanie Santillan and their two sons—left behind a one-bedroom attic rental to move into their new energy-efficient three-bedroom home.

The home was built on a property that the town sold to Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity in 2022. The existing home was demolished after being used for firefighting training. It was the first home in Massachusetts to receive a level two rating from MassSave's All-Electric Homes Program.

The boys quickly staked out their bedrooms and showed their parents where they’d like their beds and more importantly, their toy chests.

Oliver Santillan, a local tradesman, and his wife, a clinician, had been looking for a home for a while. where they could design, decorate and have a yard for their children to play and grow.

“I had heard about Habitat through friends who shared their positive experiences,” he said. “Then I did some research online and finally visited the office to learn about the process.”

Stephanie added, “For me, having the opportunity to purchase this home means emotional and financial stability, freedom, generating wealth for the future, being able to offer an inheritance to our children.”

While waiting for the closing as the year ended, the Santillans put in their mandated Habitat Partnership hours at Habitat’s Pittsfield construction sites and ReStore retail outlet.

“Fulfilling partnership hours is essential to the Habitat process. It gives the families a chance to see how the homes are built, learn how to maintain and repair their future home and in the process give back to other families who will soon be moving into their own first-time homes,” said CEO Carolyn Valli.

The Santillan’s experience is not unique. Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity is currently planning to construct 20 homes in a new development called “Prosperity Way” off North Plain Road in Great Barrington, their largest project to date. The project will be constructed in two phases with 10 single-family homes constructed in each phase.

Valli said that the organization continues to work on other projects in Pittsfield and Dalton. “The housing crisis really should be very important to everyone, not just people looking for a home,” Valli said.

Central Berkshire Habitat is currently accepting applications for the purchase of two units located at 266 and 268 Onota Street in Pittsfield. These homes are 1,216 square feet each and both are two-story, three-bedroom, two-bath units. The downstairs for each unit is an open-concept design combining the kitchen/dining area and living area. The kitchens feature Energy Star appliances and modern cabinet design. Both units have large closets, Kohler kitchen and bath fixtures, Levolor blinds installed and highly energy-efficient mini splits for heat/AC.

The application period began Wednesday, January 8th, and continues for 60 days. Completed applications must be submitted by 4PM on Thursday, March 13th. The family selection drawing for each home will be held at the Habitat office and broadcast via Zoom on Friday, March 28, at 4 PM.

A virtual information session will be broadcast, also via Zoom, Wednesday, January 28th, at 2 PM. Pre-registration for this meeting is required.

Application packets are available in English and Spanish at www.berkshirehabitat.org/own-a-home/ and at the CBHFH office at 314 Columbus Avenue in Pittsfield. Printers and application packets are also available at Pittsfield City Hall, at the Berkshire Athenaeum and at Heathway Inc. on Fenn Street in Pittsfield.

To be eligible to apply for a Habitat home, applicants should be first-time homebuyers, able to secure a mortgage pre-approval for $140,000, and earn between 50 and 80 percent of the Pittsfield Area Median Income depending on household size.

Anyone interested in learning more about Habitat homeownership should call 413-442-3181, extension 2 or email Homes@BerkshireHabitat.org to speak with our Homeowner Specialist about the possibilities.