Community members gather for
annual breakfast

by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff

 efore the parking spaces and summer quiet disappeared, local officials, business representatives and academic leaders took some time last week to reflect on the ties that bind their worlds together.

     Gathering for the 27th annual Community Breakfast at Franklin Dining Hall, about 200 from area towns and the Five Colleges munched, schmoozed and shared gossip about what Chancellor David Scott called "an extraordinary community."

     After introducing Bob Helgesen, the interim vice chancellor for University Outreach, Scott told the audience that the idea for the new post is emblematic of the campus's external focus.

     "Seven years ago, the idea of a vice chancellor for Outreach would've been considered radical," said Scott. "We need to place outreach on the same level as research and education. It's a natural concept."

     Scott added that he originally wanted to call the post vice chancellor for "university engagement" to convey a sense of two-way interaction.

     "UMass is engaged, not married," deadpanned the chancellor. "We love our partners." With a pause, he added, "I probably shouldn't push this too far."

     Scott went on to predict that communities and nations rich in "spiritual assets" will prove the strongest in the years ahead, a point raised in "The Fourth Great Awakening and the Future of Egalitarianism," a new book by economist Robert W. Fogel.

     According to Scott, those communities that have hope and work collectively to overcome challenges and solve problems will be the most successful.

     For those very reasons, he said, the local area has a special appeal for him and his wife, Kathleen.

     "Of all the communities we've lived in around the world, we decided this is the best community. This is where we want to be," he said, disclosing that they recently bought a house in Belchertown.

     Also addressing the breakfast was Deb Jankowski, president of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce, which co-hosts the annual event.

     Noting those who lament the beginning of the new school year, said Jankowski, "I always want to ask people what it would be like without the students and the colleges."

     According to Jankowski, the academic and business communities contribute to a quality of life that makes the area a desirable place to live and work.

     Amid increasing competition from the Internet, Jankowski implored the audience not to forget local merchants. "Think globally - this is Amherst," she said, "but shop locally."

     Florence Savings Bank president John Heaps, who is chairing this year's Hampshire Community United Way, announced that this year's campaign goal is $2 million, an increase of $300,000 over last year. Heaps said the campaign is raising the bar for supporters because the HCUW's allocations committee calculated some $3 million in local need.

     As has become traditional, Minuteman Marching Band director George Parks and a small contingent of musicians ended the breakfast with a cheery rendition of the "UMass Fight Song."