Bshs 355 - Family of Woodstock Inc

Family of Woodstock, Inc.

BSHS/355

January 30, 2017

Family of Woodstock, Inc.

Family of Woodstock is an organization that has been instrumental in providing free services in Ulster County, New York and their surrounding communities, since the 1970’s.  Family of Woodstock originally started as a hotline at a person’s house and continued its growth based on the needs of the communities surrounding them.  They have a wide variety of specializations such as: homeless shelters, domestic violence and child abuse services, child care, programs for youth and adolescence, and programs for adults. They also provide food and clothing to those that need these items. Family of Woodstock also provides education and prevention programs for substance abuse. They also do a great deal of work with people who have HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome), they also work with their families. Family of Woodstock has such a vast variety of services that they are leading the way in human services trends.

Originally, Woodstock was the little town about an hour away from a venue where the Music Festival, Woodstock took place in 1969 (Burger, 2014). As a result of this festival, the small town of Woodstock had a large amount of hippies and people of all ages stay in their town where they would sleep anywhere because they had no place to go or had any type of resources to live off of, these people were homeless and/or drifters. Woodstock instantaneously because famous and the population of the town exploded, however most of the population that came into the town were in need. A woman by the name of Ms. Varsi, opened her home and her phone to the people that needed the help. This is where Family of Woodstock came into existence. Ms. Varsi utilized local businesses to organize food and clothing drives, she was also able to provide the people that really needed it, transportation to go back to where they had come from.

In 1971, Family of Woodstock became incorporated. They also added low cost medical services to their expanding list of services that they provide. After the Family of Woodstock was incorporated their services continued to grow based on the needs of their community. Family of Woodstock have built emergency shelters, teen runaway houses, domestic violence shelters, and an independent living program (Family of Woodstock, Inc, 2017). Family of Woodstock also implemented their HIV and AIDS support program, bereavement groups, adult care services and referral, family daycare services, free store and free pantry, case management services, jail projects, adolescent and adult mental health services, youth anger management, etc. Family of Woodstock is such a diverse organization that they can work with and adapt to those that they serve and their various different situation and needs.

Over time the vales, attitudes, and beliefs have become stronger and have taken on more power from those that work with this organization. Family of Woodstock has many volunteers, which only makes the organization that much more powerful and shows the communities that are involved that they are important to everyone. Family of Woodstock’s mission statement is: “Family of Woodstock, Inc. is a network of of individuals, paid and volunteer, whose mission is to provide confidential and fully accessible crisis intervention, information, prevention, and support services to address the needs of individuals and families. The scope of the agency’s vision allows us to bring to bear resources to address a broad spectrum of human problems.” (Family of Woodstock, Inc, 2017). This impacts how they deliver services in a huge way, they are able to show compassion and empathy while being able to focus on needs instead of ability to provide. They do whatever they can to make things happen and always find a way to come through with their services. This attitude and this dedication shows the community just how great the organization is and how far they will go to help those in need.