Age 29: Program Manager, WMAS
Rob Anthony says they’re the best three days of the year. He was referring to the Children’s Miracle Network radiothon that he and others at WMAS radio — which he now serves as program manager, ‘afternoon host,’ and operations manager — have been part of for the past seven years. This is an intense, emotional, rewarding three days that raise money for Baystate Children’s Hospital (more than $200,000 during the 2008 edition) and each year creates memories that last a lifetime. Like 11-year-old Devon Roy’s speech on Rosa Parks. It was perhaps the most unforgettable moment of this year’s radiothon, staged just a few weeks ago. Roy was supposed to deliver that address at her Greenfield school’s history fair, but she had to be in the children’s hospital instead because of her respiratory illness. So Anthony got the idea to have her read the speech over the air, with the entire school listening in the auditorium. “There wasn’t a dry eye on the play deck,” said Anthony, referring to the area that serves as a broadcast studio for the radiothon, and including himself in that company. That’s one of the occupational hazards of the radiothon, he said, adding that he and others from the station often get emotional as they’re broadcasting, and have no regrets about doing so. “It just shows you’re human.” Anthony says the radiothon is just one reason why he says of his job, “calling it work is a bit of a stretch.” In short, he loves music, and thoroughly enjoys being on the air. In fact, he left another station in the area for his first job at WMAS, at a considerable reduction in salary, because it afforded him the chance to get behind the microphone. He’s still there, working the 3 to 7 p.m. shift, while also helping to set a strategic plan for the station, and charting an aggressive philanthropic course that includes work to assist groups ranging from the children’s hospital to the Children’s Study Home. An avid sports fan and NASCAR follower (he’s a Dale Earnhardt Jr. devotee), Anthony must balance these interests and his work in radio with family, and especially his 8-month-old daughter, Kaitlynn. The ’08 radiothon was the first since her birth, he noted, and this juxtaposition made those three days even more poignant — and special. George O’Brien
Shane Bajnoci says there’s some science associated with sustainable forestry, but it’s also a bit of an art. “It’s a forever-changing job, and I’m always trying to explain it to people so they understand what we’re doing,” he said, noting that it all boils down to managing a resource — the region’s large, but not limitless, supply of forest land — so that the needs of current and future generations can be met. Bajnoci started his career at Cowls Land and Lumber Co. 12 years ago after earning a bachelor’s degree in Forest Conservation at UMass Amherst, and since then, his responsibilities have only grown. He leads a crew of 14 that harvests and manufactures some 2 million board feet of logs and lumber per year, while also managing thousands of acres of land and their boundaries in nearly 30 towns across the region. His post also requires completing countless pages of state and federal paperwork, drafting management plans for the year, contracting with local loggers and truckers, and cultivating a small Christmas tree farm. Bajnoci also sits on several industry-related boards, including the Mass. Wood Producers Assoc., the Mass. Assoc. of Professional Foresters, and the Pelham Forest Conservation Committee. But despite this workload, Bajnoci added another bullet to his resume this past year, leading Cowls’ participation in the Inaugural American Woodcock Initiative. The business joined forces with the Mass. Division of Fish and Wildlife, the Ruffed Grouse Society, and the Wildlife Management Institute to launch the program, which focuses on habitat-management efforts that can curb the decline of various wildlife populations in addition to the woodcock, such as the New England cottontail, wood turtle, and gold-winged warbler. Bajnoci has incorporated initiatives that benefit these species into his annual plans, and, in 2007, garnered a Forest Stewardship Award for his company from the International Assoc. of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. “I hope others can use us as a model for habitat management,” said Bajnoci, “and I want to create more habitats that would support certain species, especially birds. It’s a lot of work, but it’s also my passion to do long-term land management, so I’m glad I have a place to do it.” And while much of his job revolves around cutting down trees, he’s also planting important seeds, and watching them grow. Jaclyn Stevenson
A lot of people spend their 20s killing time. Matthew Andrews didn’t want to waste any. And considering the arc of Andrews’ travels the past few years — volunteering at a South American orphanage, helping people in a remote village in India learn practical trades, working at a soup kitchen in Baltimore, and hiking from Georgia to Connecticut, to list a few — ‘time well spent’ seems like an understatement. “I spent my high-school years goofing off. But I turned 21 the day I got to India, and that was the end of it; I was ready to do something else,” said Andrews, whose latest adventure is serving as program supervisor of Best Buddies of Western Mass. That’s the local arm of an international organization that matches individuals suffering intellectual disabilities with adult friends, enhancing their access to community ties and employment. After his long walk (he had previously hiked the Appalachian Trail), “my feet gave out on me, so I took a break,” he said, during which time he worked as a carpenter’s apprentice and, significantly, befriended a supporter of Best Buddies. When she secured funding to open a Western Mass. office, she offered Andrews a job. Today, his expansive role includes fund-raising and finances, event planning, public-awareness efforts, and supervision of the friendship programs, which currently serve more than 600 clients throughout the region. “The range of activities here is so diverse,” he said. “I never know what’s going to happen next, and I never get bored.” To Andrews, the work isn’t far removed from the community-building efforts he has taken on stateside and overseas for much of the past decade. “Best Buddies is all about empowerment. A lot of organizations raise money through special events with no connection to the organization’s mission,” he said, explaining that his agency’s clients are consistently involved in such efforts. For example, a benefit concert in Northampton on May 3 will feature national and local musicians performing alongside Best Buddies clients from Berkshire Hills Music Academy, a private music school for students with developmental disabilities. “Our mission is to show that people with special needs have talent, so we develop opportunities for them at public events,” said Andrews. For many, that alone is a huge step — almost as big as a stroll up the East Coast.
