The idea came to me recently that if good news is like a crop, then the Men’s Resource Center for Change is really a farmer. We’ve been working hard to cultivate good news about men and masculinity for 25 years, planting seeds of peace in our homes and in our world. The success we’ve had with our harvest is thanks to people like you helping to broadcast our message. But there’s still a lot of field work to do; we need your help.

The MRC has been out cultivating acres of social change since 1982. Our ambitious goal — to redefine masculinity — is something we work on day in and day out, encouraging men to speak honestly and openly, in meeting rooms in cities and towns across the western portion of Massachusetts, on the pages of our highly-respected VOICE MALE magazine, and in our trainings and presentations at colleges and universities. Our message — that men can heal and grow — is amplified through our web of connections with women and women’s organizations, social justice groups, young people, and other men and men’s organizations, sharing our belief about the challenges and possibilities we face. Our work with young men is particularly inspiring.

At our annual Challenge & Change dinner last May, we honored Aaron Buford and Malcolm Chu, facilitators of our Young Men of Color Leadership group. The pair inspired several hundred guests with their passion and commitment to helping younger males on the journey to healthy manhood. Juniors at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Aaron serves as president of the student government and Malcolm is a senator.

“When I first started coming to an MRC group as a high school freshman, I knew I’d found a place where I could grow”, Aaron said not long ago. “The combination of learning about becoming a man at the same time I was learning about social justice was like a light bulb going on. I’ve been a part of the MRC ever since — and that was seven years ago.”

Aaron and Malcolm remind us that there’s a simultaneous truth about men: while some of us are in crisis, others of us are growing and changing. At the MRC, we see both kinds every week. At support groups, where men share the good and bad of what’s happening in their lives; and at batterers’ intervention groups where men are taught how to use tools that can turn their lives around. We talk with men walking off the street, on the phone and through e-mail. Men coming to the MRC learn they won’t be judged or shamed but will be held accountable for how they act. The MRC is a safe place, an honest place; ultimately, a “good news” place.

Men coming here are from different backgrounds and circumstances, yet they share a simple truth: if they’re motivated to grow and change they can. Week in and week out, we work with them. From the Berkshires to Worcester County; from just north of the Connecticut border to just south of the Vermont line. And we keep sharing our message far and wide, speaking up and speaking out.

The work of the MRC has ben an inspiration to thousands over the past 25 years. We especially count on supporters like you to help us as we embark on our next 25. Please be as generous as you can by making a gift online, or mailing your check, made payable to the "MRC for Change", to us at 236 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01002.

If you've never made a special gift in honor of a special anniversary like this one, consider making one today...
And thank you for your continued support.