(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – The Castle Street Café’s former neighbor, the Berkshire Community Action Council (BCAC), which used to operate a food pantry and fuel assistance office, shut its doors recently, just when fuel assistance budgets have been decimated and as the price of home heating oil has doubled. The restaurant is stepping in to fill the gap and honor the good work its former neighbor did by hosting a dinner and dance on Sunday, December 4, 2011, to benefit The Watson Fund and Construct, both of which offer some of the same services that BCAC did. All funds raised by ticket sales to the event, which includes a rare reunion of the perennially popular Berkshire R&B outfit the Bluestars, will be disbursed locally

Organizers hope to raise several thousand dollars from the event, which begins at 5 p.m. with a holiday buffet dinner and continues from 6 to 9 p.m. with music and dancing to the Bluestars, featuring Bobby MacVeety, Steve Ide, Billy Voiers, Rob and Peter Putnam, and Jeff Stevens.

There will be a cash bar at the event, which will also feature a raffle – all of the proceeds which will also benefit the two nonprofit agencies – to win two tickets to Lyle Lovett or Spyro Gyra at the neighboring Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, also on Castle Street.

Castle Street Cafe is located at 10 Castle Street, Great Barrington, Mass. Phone number is 413. 528.5244.