When you don’t eat right, you don’t feel right. And so it was for Terry.
Terry* would make the rounds of local food pantries and soup kitchens. It was how he survived. His ‘home base’ was a homeless shelter in Orange County – where our Nutrition Education and Outreach coordinators would see him. But he always declined their help.
He didn’t trust anyone enough to let them assist him. However, after talking to him for a year, Terry began to confide in our coordinator, Debbie. He opened up about his addiction issues, his lack of family support, and his illiteracy. All of the systems that our society has set up to help people like him had let him down.
Then one day he appeared in our Newburgh office. “All right,” he said. “I know you’re on my side. I need help.”
Debbie enrolled Terry into a nutrition access program in only two days.
“What are your goals?” Debbie asked.“I want a job,” Terry said. “I want a job so I can save money and get my own place, off the streets.”
Together, Debbie and Terry built a realistic plan to achieve that goal. After a few weeks and a referral to drug detox, Terry applied for and landed a job as a dishwasher in a local restaurant. Terry continued to receive nutritional assistance for a few months while he worked, and with our help he finally saved up enough money to rent a room of his own.
Terry went from being homeless and surviving on soup kitchens to being a fully contributing member of the Hudson Valley community.
And your support makes it possible. In fact, Hudson Valley Community Services has been supporting clients’ health with food and nutrition services for decades because of people like you. With your help we hand out over 10,000 food bags each year and feed nearly 1,100 people.
Donate today to keep our emergency food closets fully stocked.
We know you share our belief that a thriving Hudson Valley is made up of residents who are living their full potential: healthy, active and enjoying all the wonderful things that make this a great place to live. That’s why we connect anyone who needs temporary help getting enough food to all our available services.
But our food and nutrition programs are currently operating at a significant deficit because government grants aren’t able to meet the actual demand for food assistance in our area. In fact, three of our emergency food closets are sitting empty right now due to lack of funds, and we haven’t been able to purchase food from local food banks. Without direct support from caring people—like you—we’d be forced to reduce our services, hand out less food, and turn clients away from our emergency food closets.
Your contribution–of any amount–makes a difference.
It means we can keep our food and nutrition programs strong. It means people like Terry have a chance to create a meaningful life. So please continue to help us build healthy communities right here in the Hudson Valley. It goes far beyond keeping food on our pantry shelves. You can help fuel bodies, prevent disease, and turn lives around—and more people can live their full potential. Please give today.
