Category: PVHH Updates

Dear Habitat Community,

It is with a heavy heart I write to share the news that an important member of our community has passed away recently. MJ Adams was Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity’s first Executive Director who served this affiliate from 2001 through 2012. She was a tenacious advocate for housing her neighbors who helped increase the impact of PVHH to help it become the organization it is today.

Her family have shared this thoughtful and moving obituary and are planning a memorial service on Saturday, February 7th at 11am at First Churches in Northampton. Please join us in sending our sincere condolences to her friends and family on the loss of an incredible mother, advocate and friend.  

Sincerely, 

Megan McDonough
Executive Director 2014 – present

We’re excited to announce that we’re moving our volunteer scheduling from VolunteerUp to Better Impact! We hope this new software will improve the volunteer experience, and includes:

• Multiple ways to sign up and filter available shifts, including bulk options
• A personalized schedule of your shifts that you can view online, print, or sync to a calendar app
• Virtual training modules
• Simple ways to view your completed volunteer hours, and set goals for the future
• Easy access to update your profile information, volunteer interests, and more

We know that you’re busy, so we’ve created a detailed guide to help you get started with Better Impact, where you’ll learn how to create an account, complete an orientation and safety training, and sign up for your first volunteer shift. You can also access the Better Impact helpdesk for detailed information not covered in the guide.

PLEASE NOTE: all new accounts in Better Impact need to be manually approved by a staff person after they have completed a new volunteer orientation and construction safety training before construction shifts are visible. This approval process may take a few days.

We appreciate your feedback as we launch this new platform – feel free to reach out by email with questions or comments.

A majority of the work it takes to build a Habitat home is done by volunteers, both on-site and off-site, and we cannot thank you enough for standing with us and with families ready to own their first home. We hope to see you soon!

Support PV Habitat this Giving Tuesday

“We get to see despair transform into hope over and over. We get to see changes in the lives of people who have moved into new homes and who now have new hope.”
– Former President Jimmy Carter

Dear Friends,

We live in a beautiful place, where small to medium sized towns and cities nestle among rolling hills and alongside rivers and streams. Across the Valley, many hardworking families dream of owning a safe, affordable home — but for those living in our rural towns, that dream can feel impossibly out of reach.

That’s where Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity steps in. With partners like YOU.

Across the country in late October, in conjunction with the annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project, dozens of Habitat affiliates participated in the 2025 Rural Rally, hosting conversations and special events and builds with local housing advocates to shine a light on the issues particular to rural housing. Although Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are no longer with us, their legacy remains a driving force in Habitat’s work. Just as the Carters brought people together to build houses, strong families and thriving neighborhoods, Pioneer Valley Habitat convened local housing advocates in October to talk nuts and bolts about how to amplify that legacy here in our beautiful rural region. And the group worked with actual nuts and bolts to build a picnic table for a future homeowner!

Your contribution supports Habitat’s community-build model of partnering with local families in need of an affordable living situation to build homes in towns like Pelham, Shutesbury, Conway and beyond — ensuring that everyone, no matter where they live, can have a decent place to call home. And now, more than ever, the need is great and your support will make a difference.

Please, make your donation today. Together we strengthen families and neighborhoods and continue to maintain the vibrant character of our rural communities. A resilient world begins with a home.

“Building my house is the biggest art project of my life! We’ll have gardens and a patio out back where we can have dinners outside. We’ll go to the rivers and bike around town. We’re going to have an anchor somewhere.”
-Hannah, building her home in Greenfield now

To Pelham residents and town officials:

    In July, 2023, with financial assistance from the Town of Pelham, Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity bought two lots on Cadwell Street in Pelham, on which Habitat plans to construct two affordable owner-occupied houses. 

    In December, 2023, Habitat received a letter from an attorney representing a neighboring owner who claims he “has maintained a 25 foot wide strip of land on Lot 3 that runs adjacent to his driveway that we believe would give him a legal right to that area.” 

    We cannot in good conscience simply surrender one fourth of a building lot for which Habitat paid $50,000.00. Habitat’s attorney Michael Pill of Green Miles Lipton in Northampton advises us that such a letter carries an implied threat of litigation if we do not give in to the lawyer’s demand. 

    Michael has initiated litigation in the Land Court in Boston, to avoid the possibility that the neighbor’s lawyer might sue Habitat in the Superior Court in Northampton. Unlike the Superior Court, the Land Court has a full time mediator and actively encourages settlement of cases. The Land Court judges have experience and specialized expertise in this type of land issue, unlike the Superior Court which must handle all types of civil and criminal cases. 

    While Habitat, like any party to litigation, cannot discuss the case, any Pelham resident or town official is welcome to call Attorney Michael Pill at his home office (413) 259-1221. Michael will field all such calls pro bono, in support of Habitat.