Help from Community Action ‘life-saving’

The Community Action Partnership of Dutchess County aids provides aid to those in need.

This is one in a series of stories about the people and agencies that benefit from the Freeman Holiday Fund.

RED HOOK, N.Y. >> After working in the hospitality business for most of his life, John was looking for a job that would provide for a more secure future for himself and his young family.

And he thought he found it when he landed a job as a pressman at a local printing company.

For a while, life was good. The job paid well, offered a pension plan, paid vacations, health insurance, everything one would hope for in a job.

He bought a house in Red Hook. He drove nice vehicles.

Then, he said during a recent interview, the bottom fell out.

“I worked there for over 13 years,” said John (not his real name). “Then they outsourced everything.”

John was left with a debt load that was reasonable for someone making the $23 an hour salary he had been making, but certainly not for the $7.50 an hour pay he found himself receiving when he returned to the hospitality industry he had left more than a decade earlier.

“It took a toll and it’s still taking a toll,” he said. “My pension’s gone, my saving’s gone, all my credit cards are maxed out and in collection. I haven’t paid my bank loan for my home since September.”

“Hopefully I can get through this. As of (now), they can’t shut my electricity off so that’s a good thing. And I’ve got fuel oil,” he said.

John said the saving grace through all his travails has been the Community

Action Partnership of Dutchess County which has aided him along every step of his journey.

The daughter of an exgirlfriend suggested John go to the agency’s Red Hook office for help when he was at a particularly low point, he said.

It was one of the best suggestions he’s ever received.

“It took a lot for me to actually ask for help,” he said. “But the help they’ve been able to give has been life-saving.”

“They have replaced my hot water heater, last winter my furnace was redtagged and I was able to

get a brand-new furnace through no cost at all, they replaced my fuel lines and put my tank back up to code,” he said of the notfor-profit agency.

“They have a food pantry there, they have computers, which you can work on. They helped me make a resume,” he said.

John said the caseworker at the Red Hook office has also helped him apply for SNAP benefits, given him clothes from their Dress For Success program to go on job interviews and helped him find health insurance.

“They go out of their way

to help me,” John said. “If everybody knew the things these people could help you out with, there’d be a line around the corner.

“They can really help and they’re the nicest people,” he said.

Contributions may be mailed to Holiday Fund, Daily Freeman, 79 Hurley Ave., Kingston, N.Y. 12401. Contributors’ names will be published periodically, though requests for anonymity will be honored. Questions about the fund should be directed Brenda Crantz at (845) 4001202 or email bcrantz@ freemanonline.com.