This is one in a series of stories about the people and agencies that benefit from the Freeman Holiday Fund.
RED HOOK, N.Y. >> Living alone in the Big Apple can be scary, especially when you’re given the life-treatening diagnosis of cancer.
So when Gretchen (not her real name) was told last year that she had breast cancer, a friend of hers suggested she come upstate, where she would have friends and get treated at the Dyson Cancer Center at Vassar Brothers Hospital.
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She liked the area so much, she decided to stay.
But being out of work while first undergoing surgery and the chemotherapy and radiation treatments that followed took a financial toll on the 39-year-old. Gretchen found herself struggling to make ends meet.
Then, she found the Dutchess County Community Action Partnership’s Northern Dutchess bureau in Red Hook.
“It was amazing, tremendous,” Gretchen said. “I found support, help and hope. Every question I had, they answered.
“It was a place for me to go to … it felt like home,” she said.
Gretchen said the agency helped her fill out applications for assistance through the Department of Social Services. If she needed gas to get to her appointments, it helped her out. When she needed food, it provided her groceries from the food pantry. For Thanksgiving, she said, the agency gave her a turkey and fixings for dinner
“Sometimes they had fresh produce (and) they would call me up,” she said. “Any questions I had on applications I would go there and they would help me fill them out.
“The ladies over there are amazing, they helped me tremendously,” she added.
After a tough year, including a recent hospitalization due to a problem with her medication that caused her to experience some psychological problems, Gretchen said she is cancer-free and looking to return to the workforce.
And the Community Action Partnership is there to help her take on that task as well. She said she attended a job fair the agency recently held and it is helping her polish her resume.
Gretchen said she is looking forward to returning to the workforce, and she added, giving back to the agency that has given her so much.
“I have always been independent, never have I asked anyone for anything,” she said. “I never asked or went to the government for anything, but, at this particular time in my life, I had to, and I can’t believe I am getting all this help and support.
“In the future, when I go on my way and I’m making my own income, I’m going to give back,” she said.
Contributions may be mailed to Holiday Fund, Daily Freeman, 79 Hurley Ave., Kingston, N.Y. 12401.
Contributors’ names will be published periodically, though requests for anonymity will be honored.
Questions about the fund should be directed to Brenda Crantz at (845) 400-1202 or email to bcrantz@freemanonline.com.
