The Words of the Christopher Family
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The Words of the Christopher Family |
Henry Christopher is the Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) Public Relations Director. He has initiated a number of projects and activities with the goal of developing more friendly and trusting relationships with the people in the small hamlet of Barrytown, and in the larger Town of Red Hook, and to get UTS more involved as a contributing member of the community.
"When I go into New York City I
don't concentrate on the skyscrapers. Instead I notice the dirty,
dark alleys; the places where the Mafia and the drug addicts are
working; I see where the prostitutes and thieves work. My thinking
is, "How can I clean up those things?" Isn't it true that
somebody has to clean up those things? Should I just leave them
alone, or should I do something about them? That's why you are asked
to go and do home church. If there are 1,000 evil-doers in your home
church area when you first get here, one year later by your example
and service you can reduce that number to 800. The second year you
can reduce them to 500; the third year, 200. Finally, by the fifth
year, there will be no one in your area who is doing evil."
The
Reverend Dr. Sun Myung Moon; from his speech entitled, Wanting
to Live in the Kingdom of Heaven; 12/20/81, Belvedere, New
York:
For a relatively small town, the people of Red Hook, New York and the surrounding Northern Duchess County have shown an amazing generosity for those in need.
During a Thanksgiving to Christmas holiday food-drive organized by the Northern Duchess Communities That Care (NDCTC), cash and literally bags and boxes full of food was donated by local folks shopping at the IGA supermarket.
All food and cash donations went to the local food pantry.
"To see individuals taking the time to pick out food items at IGA and give so kindly was really great," said Doug Blancero, member of ND CTC who stood by the table at the super- market from 10 am to 3 pm on weekends to greet the patrons and tell them about the food drive.
A number of youth from the Unification Church and their Red Hook and Rhine- beck high school friends volunteered for the project.
They came out on weekends and after school and did a fantastic job introducing the food-drive by handing out flyers to the IGA customers, including some of their teachers and parents of their friends. They clearly enjoyed participating in the community ser- vice, and now want to recruit more friends to help in our future projects.
There were so many heartwarming stories of generosity: an elderly man still undergoing chemotherapy, who cheerfully donated a big box of canned goods; a man who donated $100 because he wanted to give back to the food pantry which helped his family when he was out of work; and a lady who also donated $100, who said she lived through the Great Depression and understood hunger.
One of the goals of NDCTC is to engage teens who hang out after school -- often getting into mischief or worse -- and give them something to do that they can enjoy with their friends, and which is a benefit to others.
A 31-year-old local born into the Unification Church faith, who leads a community youth group with some parents, says they have a lot of fun organizing activities for their kids that involves public service projects. Six of their kids volunteered for the food-drive.
"The food-drive, like many of the other community service projects the youth group has participated in, was a win-win situation because it gave them the opportunity to expand their perspective by helping out people in need, and by volunteering their time and energy, it contributed to the development of their character and self-confidence," he said.
The NDCTC was started last spring after I learned that three high school kids were inviting their friends to their homes after school to drink and do drugs. With a daughter in 10th grade, I was very concerned.
I asked both school officials and the local police if they were aware of this and if they knew these teens. They did, but couldn't offer much help to deter this troubling activity.
I called a friend, Micki Strawinski, a Red Hook Councilwoman. We work together as volunteers on the Red Hook Trails Committee. She was as concerned as I.
Micki and her husband are models of the public minded, caring, selfless citizen. She led the PTA for years. Doug helps run the town recreation park, and they both consistently are key organizers in many of our town events.
We enlisted Jim Truitt, the new Red Hook Village Police Chief, and the three of us began meeting every Friday at 8 am.
Jim, a professional law enforcement agent who was head of the Poughkeepsie, NY SWAT team for many years, is an individual who believes in being pro-active and looking for positive solutions to improve the quality of life in our town.
"Simply reacting to community issues will never provide us with enduring positive results. Solutions to our community problems require the whole community. We need to invest in our most valuable community resource, our youth," said Jim in a recent local newspaper interview about our project.
While we were just beginning our planning and organizing to offer alternative activities for teens, our worst fear came true when an 18-year-old Red Hook girl died of a drug overdose at a party.
In a very short time, we were able to get the attention of some of our local leaders who sent representatives or came themselves to our meetings. They included NYS Assemblyman Marc Molinaro, the Red Hook Schools Superintendent, the director of the Council on Addiction Prevention and Education (CAPE), Katie Zahedi, Vice-Principal of the middle school and the high school, along with middle school substance abuse counselors, and various other community leaders. Before long, concerned parents heard of our group and wanted to join.
The Communities That Care model was created by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, and has been used successfully around the country in communities like ours for over 12 years.
NDCTC is exploring educational programs and the establishment of a community center to focus on alternative activities that can steer our youth away from destructive behaviors, and into healthier and more productive paths.
Soon we will incorporate so that we can apply for government grants.
"Our community and our kids, like all others face the challenges of peer pressure, drug and alcohol abuse. We can, however, by molding consensus, encouraging new ideas and empowering our young people, stem the tide and develop a Red Hook approach to this problem. By providing hope and new opportunities we are made stronger," said Molinaro.
The food-drive was a great success in many ways. First, we engaged our youth in an important public service to help needy families, and the kids loved it.
Second, we worked together with the food pantry and the supermarket to make a difference in our town, thanks to the deep generosity of the local residents. We collected over $700 in cash donations and tons of food.
And third, one of the teens that volunteered was one of the three kids who caused us to start NDCTC by inviting his friends to his house after school to engage in illegal and dangerous "recreation".
In January, we held an awards ceremony at the Red Hook town hall board meeting where our teen volunteers were honored for their participation in the holiday food-drive.
They received the Town of Red Hook and Communities That Care Community Service Award, a letter of thanks from the local food pantry, and a Certificate of Merit from the New York State Assembly sent by Assemblyman Marc Molinaro.
Our next project will be to join the town spring street cleaning project. In addition, NDCTC will recruit teen volunteers to help the elderly do spring cleaning in their homes and yards.
This is the first of a series of columns by Henry Christopher on how our 2nd generation can become involved in their communities through public service in a way that can naturally develop into important leadership roles, and have a major influence on the social, spiritual and political life of everyone in their community.
In the last six years, Christopher, as UTS Public Relations Director, has initiated a number of projects and activities with the goal of developing more friendly and trusting relationships with the people in the small hamlet of Barrytown, and in the larger Town of Red Hook, and to get UTS more involved as a contributing member of the community. They include:
1. Opening Father's Trail to the New York State Greenway Trail System and inviting the public to walk the trail.
2. Starting a Nature Club for local residents, where they have monthly meetings and do arts and crafts and public service works such as holding pumpkin carving contests for kids; kite flying and a Barrytown Rd. clean-up each spring.
3. Starting a community garden at UTS open to the public.
4. Publishing the Barrytown Gazette for the community with stories about the interesting and unique people in the hamlet. The Gazette is in its 4th year of publication.
5. Creating the Barrytown Soap Works, that makes natural soaps, face and hand creams and lip balm which is marketed at local farm stands.
6. Becoming a beekeeper and joining the local beekeeping club
7. Starting a local metal detecting club where we search for and find historic coins and artifacts of local history
8. Allowing the historic Hudson River Ice Yacht Cub access to sail on the South Tivoli Bay through the UTS property.
9. Joining the Red Hook Trails Committee as a volunteer
10. Becoming treasurer of the Red Hook Historical Society
11. Started Communities That Care with a town councilwoman and the village police chief to help teens at risk for substance abuse
12. Holding Ambassador for Peace dinners at UTS to honor local leaders
Over the years, the relationship between our church and the community at large has improved immensely. The Barrytown Gazette has widened its scope to write on local politics, and have an influence on the local political parties. As public service activities expand, a bond of trust has begun to grow between UTS and the community. In this way, we can naturally take on an increasing leadership role in the community, and have a strong influence on the hearts and minds of the people.