City Mission of Schenectady

Archive for the ‘In the News’ Category

Not only did we serve 750 meals at our annual Memorial Day Picnic, we stopped to honor the men and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice to make us a free country.  Both CBS 6 and YNN had stories on this special day. 

Special thanks to Josey Dorr and her team from Northway Church, Paul White “DJ Music Lov”, all of the men and women who live and work here that did all the “behind-the-scene work” that makes this type of thing happen and of course all of you who donate to us, without you we wouldn’t be able to have such special days like this!!

The Schenectady City Mission haas received $10,000 for its workforce training and placement program, thanks to a General Electric executive.

By Web Staff

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — Close to 300 people shared Easter dinner at the City Mission on Smith Street in Schenectady. Forty volunteers served ham, yams, mixed vegetables and dessert to anyone who wanted it. All the food is donated or bought from money that is donated to the cause.

 ”It’s about the mission being able to help other people that need to help, there’s a lot of good people, a lot of fellowship here where people can come and have a nice meal and enjoy the company of others and be able to talk and enjoy the meal,” said Steven Rodriguez, volunteer.

“You have to always remember the true meaning of Easter, it’s not about the Easter baskets or ham and yams but be grateful that comes with it, it’s a blessing,” said Belinda Seals.

Those who ate were able to take home Easter baskets for their kids. City Mission volunteers also delivered plates to residents at a nearby apartment complex.

(Click here to watch video)

By CATHY WOODRUFF, Staff writer

SCHENECTADY — It’s just a few blocks away, but for students at Union College, the City Mission of Schenectady can easily seem like it’s a world away, says Erin Delman, a Union sophomore from Los Angeles.

That’s why Delman signed on with enthusiasm when her roommate, senior Jill Falchi of Sauquoit, Oneida County, started organizing a local branch of a national program called Campus Kitchens.

Each Saturday, dozens of Union students gather in the kitchen of College Park Hall and prepare a hot meal to be served to some 150 people at the mission. Read the rest of this entry »

By Justin Mason, Gazette Reporter

SCHENECTADY — Jill Falchi was always bothered by the food she saw wasted at restaurants. 

In her years working at banquet halls and eateries, the 21-year-old Union College senior always bristled at the sight of a garbage can filled with perfectly edible food. She always wondered why the unused food couldn’t be given to someone in need instead of wasting away in a landfill.

“I’ve worked in restaurants all my life and they throw so much food away,” she said Saturday.

Likewise, she wondered why Union’s six dining halls couldn’t put their leftovers to better use. And that’s when she learned about the Campus Kitchen Project, a national volunteer program that teaches students how to recycle food from their cafeteria into nourishing meals for the needy.

Each week, Falchi and a group of about 30 volunteers gather unused food items from the dining halls and create a menu that is cooked at the kitchen in Union’s College Park Hall on Saturday morning. In total, the students prepare about 150 meals, which are delivered to the Schenectady City Mission hot and ready to serve during the late afternoon.

Mike Saccocio, City Mission executive director, said the Campus Kitchen program under Falchi’s direction has been a windfall, especially considering the general scarcity of volunteer resources during the weekends. He said the meals, now in their fourth week, help supplement the mission’s normal food service.

“It is a huge help to us because they take care of the whole meal,” he said. “For a place like the mission where we are putting out four meals a day seven days a week, this is a real gift.”

But with Falchi’s culinary prowess, these aren’t just any meals. She has a knack for turning the unused food into scrumptious meals that one could easily mistake for restaurant quality.  (See Daily Gazette for more)

By Tatiana Zarnowski, Gazette Reporter

CAPITAL REGION — Thrift stores, and their shoppers, have been winners in the economic recession that made many of us feel like losers. 

Sales are up slightly at area thrift stores because of consumers who like their low prices, quality merchandise and the idea of reusing instead of throwing away and buying new. 

Lisa Squires likes to find antique furniture or pick up decorative things she collects that other people have given away. 

“Sometimes they get tired of their style, and it might happen to be my style right then,” the Schenectady woman said. “I like antiques, and you never know what people will throw away.” 

Squires, 44, checked out the City Mission Thrift Store in Glenville on Wednesday, looking for furniture for her new home in Rotterdam, where she’ll move in a couple of weeks. 

City Mission Thrift Stores in Schenectady and Glenville saw a 5 percent increase in sales from January 2008 to the end of 2009, said Tim Castle, director of operations for the City Mission of Schenectady. 

So far this year, sales are up again. January sales increased more than 6 percent compared to last January, Castle said. 

Local stores report higher sales of furniture, appliances and clothing. 

Appliance sales have increased at the City Mission Thrift Store on Route 50 in Glenville, said manager Rev. Tom LeGodais. 

“They’re doing way better,” LeGodais said of the toasters, sandwich makers, toaster ovens and microwaves that get donated and snapped up by eager buyers. 

“Crock Pots go as soon as I put them out,” he said.  Read the rest of this entry »

By Lee Coleman, Gazette Reporter

CAPITAL REGION — Homeless shelters in Schenectady and Albany were preparing to put sleeping mats on their floors Friday night to accommodate more people on one of the coldest nights of the winter.

The temperature was expected to drop to below zero Friday night and early this morning. With the wind factored in this will feel like 10 to 15 degrees below zero, according to the National Weather Service in Albany.

“It’s been a good month since we have had a day this cold,” said Daniel Frueh, a shift supervisor at the City Mission of Schenectady at 425 Hamilton St. “We see people coming in that we don’t usually see.”

The City Mission has beds for 65 men. When these are filled, sleeping mats are placed on the floor of the mission’s day room and in a classroom.

The mission also provides the men with meals and counseling.

“On Thursday we were close to being filled up,” Frueh said. “We have had people coming in all day … sometimes they come in the middle of the night.”

The City Mission also has a shelter for homeless women and this was nearing capacity Friday evening as well.  (See Daily Gazette for more)

Social services clients hired to help visitors to Schenectady

By Kathleen Moore, Gazette Reporter

SCHENECTADY — A year ago, Janice Greiner didn’t think of herself as a part of Schenectady.

She was the outsider, the one relying on the City Mission. The downtown visitors were the insiders, the ones with the money for shows and fancy meals.

But many of the thousands who came to Schenectady for “Wicked” last month say people like Greiner are the best new thing about Schenectady.

Visitors said they were taken aback, but delighted, when uniformed “ambassadors” stopped traffic so they could cross busy streets in time for “Wicked.” Imagine their surprise when the same ambassadors pulled out umbrellas to ward off the rain, sleet and snow — and used those umbrellas to shelter their guests, not themselves.

Few know that the ambassadors are the same people that the affluent once claimed were so frightening that they would not dare walk downtown. Read the rest of this entry »

“Particularly in things like, Christmas toys, winter coats, socks, and hats and boots, and it’s been exciting to watch the community respond to the greater need,” said Schenectady City Mission Executive Director Mike Saccocio. (Click here for full story and video)

New Ellis facility aims to make navigating system less confusing

By CATHLEEN F. CROWLEY, Capitol bureau

SCHENECTADY — The Ellis Health Center lobby is designed like a hotel, and it even has a concierge — so to speak.

Ellis Hospital on Thursday officially unveiled its medical home, a one-stop shopping space for outpatient services that was one year and $6 million in the making.

The center, at the former St. Clare’s campus, houses an array of services from outpatient care, family medicine, laboratory services, X-rays, school registration and dental care.

But for patients, the visit to the center starts with the concierge desk: Two full-time nurses called health service navigators are stationed at the entrance to help patients find their way through medical and social services offered at Ellis and in the community.

With a focus on low-income patients and the underserved, the navigators will help people who are eligible for public health programs get enrolled, find services for the homeless and call patients to make sure they are following their treatment plans.

They are connecting the dots for a lot of people who haven’t had the dots connected before, said Patti Hammond, vice president of operations for Ellis.

Ellis also has a mid-day shuttle that will stop at seven spots around the city to take people to the health center. The shuttle is free and riders will get a bus token for their ride home. The shuttle stops include the Salvation Army, YMCA and the City Mission, a homeless shelter.

This is a quantum leap in helping the poor, said Michael Saccocio, executive director of the City Mission.

The centralized services and navigators will help break down the barriers and intimidation the poor face when seeking medical care, he said. Officials also hope it will keep non-emergency patients out of the emergency room.

Ellis is trying to do something profound, he said. It is moving from a reactive, crisis health care system to a preventive primary care model.

State Health Commissioner Dr. Richard Daines, who is a supporter of the medical home concept, said that Ellis has been creative in adapting to the mandated merger between Ellis, St. Clare’s and Bellevue Woman’s Hospital.  (See Time Union for more.