Woodstock

WOODSTOCK

December 2, 2014 at 11:06pm

Founded in July, 1970, The Family of Woodstock Inc., whose mission is to work with many of the Human Service concerns in society today, provides confidential and fully accessible crisis intervention, prevention information, and support services which sponsors multiple human service programs. The Family of Woodstock’s primary focuses are:

crisis intervention services--Family runs one of the oldest continuously operating 24-hour-a-day emergency switchboard in the country, which is county-wide and toll free; and walk-in centers in Woodstock, New Paltz, Ellenville and Kingston--emergency shelter and food programs  (“The Family of Woodstock,” n. d.).

This paper will discuss how the organization was founded, its specialized services, how the values, attitudes and belief of the organization has developed and changed over a 40 year period and how these changes affected the way services are delivered.

The year preceding 1969 and the Woodstock Festival had been of one of the most violent in post-World War II history; protests against American involvement in Vietnam, the assassination of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr, the never-ending battle for African-American civil rights, and Women's Liberation. All of these disturbances and downfalls to the present state of affairs created a sense of disengagement among numerous Americans that the country was becoming disentangled.

What came about during the Woodstock Festival, were America’s youth, and the freedom loving hippies who traveled across the country driving in beat-up cars, buses, and vans in search of (Shangri-la) and freedom from a world considered as evil, sleeping on town sidewalks, and

park benches and hitchhiking in and out of Bethel town (Woodstock) and searching for food, and clothing.

Woodstock’s Festival site which carried the same name and instantly became famous, was encountered by the homeless population that had grown due to conditions such as, domestic violence, broken homes, substance abuse, financial hardships and with no place to go.

 According to Woodstock’s first employee, Gael Varsi, “the town had ‘no drinking fountains, public bathrooms or camping grounds.’ She had to warn kids from California, who planned to camp out, about the “heavy Catskill Mountain downpours.” (“Early Days At Family,” n. d.).  Gail later realized the unique and expanding needs of her community and opened her home to these people. The original home phone number is the same phone number used today. by the Family of Woodstock Inc., as their 24-hour hotline number.

Woodstock Family, Inc., promises to live by its ethics and its’ “belief  in universal human rights, ethical business practices, unfettered creative         expression, free trade, the loving care of our planet, the power of the individual to make a difference, and the overwhelming impact of communities to act as agents of peaceful change” (“Woodstock.com.” n. d.).

 Specialized Services

This organization began from one individual's perspective of what the community needed. Gifford, Kimmer., MSW (2011) stated, (as cited in William R. Burger, 2011, p. 143) “with the help of local businesses, clergy and residents’, Gail organized food, and clothing drives, and providing transportation back home or to where many of these young people came from. Furthermore, Woodstock was the only agency in the county to run programs such as the only domestic violence shelter, a youth shelter, many homeless shelters, and walk-in centers and case management services.