Meeting the Challenges Together

What a month. A month of anxieties and adjustments, never knowing quite what would be around the corner. 

Nevertheless, I write in a spirit of deep gratitude, with thanks for what I see as tremendous solidarity and a special embrace of our mission and needs. 

We have had to quickly implement new procedures throughout CHHOP and respond to a surge in demand at Fred’s Pantry — and we have been meeting the challenges with your support. We are immensely thankful for our loyal staff and board, our flexible residents and clients, and a community that fortifies us by donating time, food and money.

It’s no exaggeration to say that we couldn’t be succeeding without you. 

We are continuing to limit the numbers of people we serve at Jan Peek House and have rearranged our space to enable proper social distancing. We’ve put on our thinking caps, along with dedicated folks who are itching to help residents enjoy some stimulating activities, and we’re figuring out good, shareable fun through cyberspace. There is plenty of love being sent to the men and women at JPH. It is very much appreciated. 

Our domestic violence program, RISE (Rehousing in Supportive Environments) is needed now more than ever, as advocates fear a rise in domestic violence incidents as COVID-19 forces victims to be confined at home with abusers. 

We are working to support more adults and children with the full panoply of services and housing that the RISE program, a collaboration among CHHOP, My Sisters’ Place, and Lifting Up Westchester, is proud to offer. And we’re also so very grateful that the Westchester Community Foundation (WCF) gave us a $50,000 grant for these efforts last month; it couldn’t have come at a better time. 

Our veterans’ program continues to help those who have served us all, and we are so glad that we’ve been successfully helping residents move into permanent housing of their own. (In our last two newsletters, we reported on some of those happy transitions.) We know that this is an enormously difficult time to be cut off from usual support, and we have reached out to former clients to supply them with things they might need, from cleaning supplies to comfort. 

We are also witnessing unprecedented demand for Fred’s Pantry. We’ve added a second distribution, suspending for now the kind of “shopping” that was a hallmark of the pantry. Instead, on Saturday mornings and Wednesday afternoons, we’re handing out pre-packaged groceries, with the great support of Feeding Westchester and the City of Peekskill. 

The numbers are more than sobering; in the first nine days of April, we served more than three times the number of households as the year before, representing nearly 1,500 adults and children. 

Even without us reaching out to you in appeals, so many of you have stepped up. We thank you. And for anyone who can contribute again, or for the first time, we are facing escalating needs for food and help every day, with our expenses rising and concern mounting that one day soon we might just run out of groceries for the growing tide. Any help would be appreciated. You can donate at www.chhop.org/donate. 

Thank you for ALL the help you have given the clients of CHHOP, and the many words of encouragement I have been so touched to receive. 

With all my best wishes for your health and well-being at this very difficult time. 

Cynthia B. Knox, Esq. 

CEO