Berkshire Bank Announces Final Exciting Assists Grant Recipient

Cradles to Crayons Receives $13,000

PITTSFIELD, MA – Berkshire Bank, America's Most Exciting Bank®, is excited to announce, that through the Bank's partnership with New England Sports Network (NESN), its Foundation has awarded a $13,000 grant to Cradles to Crayons through the Berkshire Bank Exciting Assists Grant program. Cradles to Crayons VP of Development Karen Grant accepted the contribution from Berkshire Bank's Assistant Vice President of Community Engagement Gary Levante on air during NESN's coverage of the Boston Bruins on April 6.

To review the video footage detailing the Exciting Assists Program, and to see Cradles to Crayons accept their donation from the Foundation, please click here.

The Exciting Assists Grant program ran through April 1, 2017 and raised funds to support three charitable causes. Berkshire Bank's Foundation provided $100 per assist to the program. An assist is defined as a Boston Bruins player who shot, passed or deflected the puck towards the scoring teammate, or touched it in any other way that enabled the goal, meaning that they were "assisting" in the goal. During the final portion of the season, the Bruins had 130 assists resulting in a $13,000 grant from Berkshire Bank Foundation.

Cradles to Crayons, the final nonprofit beneficiary, provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive at home, at school and at play, free of charge. The organization partners with social service agencies to connect communities that have a surplus of resources with communities that desperately need access to those resources by making it easy to get involved, by organizing a clothing collection, hosting a fundraiser or working in one of their warehouses. Berkshire Bank employees regularly volunteer at their Giving Factory in Brighton, helping to sort items that are distributed across the region. In addition, Berkshire employees have a large volunteer event planned at Cradles to Crayons as part of the company's Xtraordinary Day of service on Wednesday, June 7.

In addition to Cradles to Crayons, two other nonprofit organizations received funding during the season, including:

• Soldier On - has a single mission; ending homelessness amongst the nation's veterans. Since 1994, they've provided homeless veterans with transitional housing and supportive services including opening the first Gordon H. Mansfield Veterans Community in 2010, a permanent housing cooperative that provides formerly homeless veterans with safe, sustainable, affordable housing, transitioning them from homelessness to homeownership. Soldier On is replicating this model nationally. $10,000 Grant
• Birthday Wishes –provides children facing homelessness with a joyous birthday party that will brighten their special day, reduce the trauma of homelessness, and give them hope for a better future. $12,100 Grant

About Berkshire Bank Foundation

Through foundation grants to nonprofits, scholarships to students, environmental programs, and employee volunteerism, Berkshire Bank is making a difference. Each year the Foundation donates $2 million to nonprofits throughout the Bank's footprint and 100% of bank employees provide over 40,000 hours of service through their XTEAM^® corporate volunteer program. Berkshire Bank was named one of Massachusetts' Most Charitable Companies by the Boston Business Journal in 2016. To learn more about Berkshire Bank Foundation, visit www.berkshirebank.com/community.

About Berkshire Bank

Berkshire Hills Bancorp (NYSE: BHLB) is the parent of Berkshire Bank, America's Most Exciting Bank®. The Company, recognized for its entrepreneurial approach and distinctive culture, has $9.2 billion in assets and 97 full service branch offices in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, New Jersey and Pennsylvania providing personal and business banking, insurance, and wealth management services. To learn more, visit www.berkshirebank.com, call 800-773-5601 or follow us on: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Berkshire Bank is the official bank of NESN's Boston Bruins coverage and the community partner of Boston Season at City Hall Plaza.

About NESN

NESN has consistently been one of the top-rated regional sports networks in the country with award-winning Red Sox and Bruins coverage. The network is delivered to over 4 million homes throughout the six-state New England region and an additional 5 million homes nationally as NESN National on digital and sports tiers in over 100 DMAs. Forbes Magazine recently ranked NESN as the 10th Most Valuable Sports Business Brand in the world. NESN.com is one of the Top 15 sports Web sites in the U.S. and recently launched NESN Fuel, a Web site for automotive enthusiasts. NESN's social responsibility program, NESN Connects, is proud to support and connect its employees with charitable organizations in our communities. NESN is owned by Fenway Sports Group (owners of the Boston Red Sox) and Delaware North (owners of the Boston Bruins).