HITS owner Struzzieri generous to community

Dear Editor:

It is appropriate and important for people to express their concerns about their health and the well-being of their community, as some people in Saugerties have done about the reopening of HITS. But it is not appropriate to malign people with misinformation. This letter is being offered to set the record straight.

In 1994, Family of Woodstock Inc. was given a large portion of the property on which HITS is now located. In 2003, we arrived at an agreement with HITS and owner Tom Struzierri to rent the property from Family on a long-term basis. As part of the deal, HITS took responsibility to pay Family an annual rental fee, maintain the property, and pay all taxes and costs associated with the land. That continues to be the case.

HITS and the Struzierri family have been generous supporters, not only of Family but of many of the not-for-profit organizations in the community. When the pandemic hit, I approached Tom to ask if he could provide meals. A few months earlier, he had provided Family with a large number of premade meals that were of restaurant quality and could be heated in a microwave. He said those packets were not available but that he would start having meals prepared in the kitchen at his Diamond Mills hotel.

Diamond Mills supplied 500 meals a day, five days a week to Saugerties senior citizens and to be distributed by Family throughout the county. And Struzzieri did not seek reimbursement.

It is important that we have a public dialogue on critical issues, such as how we will recover from the pandemic; however, that conversation should not be infused with misinformation.

Michael Berg Executive Director Family of Woodstock Inc.