A tale

The worst and best...

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way--in short, the period was so far like the present period…” - Charles Dickens, Tale of Two Cities

President’s Day week was a tale for our organization’s history book.

It started with a holiday/day off that wasn’t really one. This is not unusual in non-profit executive world, but the relaxed workday was anything but.

We had a serious ice event in east central NY, and falling on a federal, state and school holiday, the response was a few steps slower than is normal. (Narrator: He was being kind.) Our parking lot was a frozen tundra…a thick sheet of ice covered the moonscape that is our gravel lot.

It has been a real winter in our region, after several years of very mild ones. Well below freezing temps and high winds accompanied the frozen precipitation, locking everything in place, like an unshaken snow globe.

Our current workplace is a rental (more on that later) and building’s infrastructure has not been up to the challenge that this winter has thrown at it. The systems are old and not well maintained by the landlord. And given that we will not be continuing our tenancy when the lease expires in the fall, there has been little motivation to fix what’s breaking on a timely basis.

So, we have been dealing with intermittent water, heating and other issues ourselves, to the best of our ability and finances.

Our parking lot posed a challenge beyond the physical danger (ask me about breaking my leg in the lot 3 years ago.) We had a VIP arriving, and needed to make our abode warm and welcoming, or at least not the frozen hellscape that it was.

We managed to do so, with space heaters for the inside and by applying some pressure to get the outside dealt with.

“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.” - Vladimir Lenin

With that done, we were able to welcome US Representative Josh Riley (D-19) to our home.

We had a frank and open discussion about the housing crisis in our region, and the challenges in surmounting them. We talked openly about the current environment in Washington, DC and the likelihood that funding for housing programs is likely to be less than more.

The week that followed our congressman’s visit was no less eventful.

• The flu bug hit our team hard, with several members down and out.

• Our ReStore truck, which travels our twin counties picking up donated household goods for sale to the public (the proceeds go to our building program) broke down and had to be towed to the repair shop.

• A water pipe froze and burst, necessitating a shutdown of the store and offices.

We survived, to see a better day.

The week ended with us closing on the purchase of a property that will become our new home later this year. We will own our own home (how appropriate!) and better control our destiny.

The purchase was made possible by a generous grant through the auspices of our state assemblyperson. While the grant is still winding its way through the state bureaucracy, we accelerated the closing as not to lose the building season.

Our plan includes constructing a model home which will double as our administrative offices, and a construction workshop, where we intend to begin a construction services initiative to create panelized homes for use in our program, as well as to offer product to other housing organizations.

While the present time is not the best of times, we will persist and perservere. We have no choice, but to actively shape what’s to come next.

“You’re future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one.” - Dr. Emmett Brown