From Blackstone to the Bronx, Tears for Lives Lost in an Instant
Wesley LePatner adored her work as a senior executive at Blackstone Inc. and became a mentor to women there, all while devoting herself to her friends, family and two children. She was walking across the lobby that night. A Yale graduate, summa cum laude, she helped found a synagogue on the Upper East Side.
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New York Times
4 hours ago
- New York Times
A Summertime Haven for Homeless Children
Visuals by Monique Jaques Text by Sarah Nir At the edge of Lake Kanawauke in New York's Hudson Valley, third graders splished in the shallows, giggling till they came ashore spluttering. On the portico of a bunkhouse, teenage boys raced paper boats in buckets. Under the eaves of their tent, 7-year-old girls in a bunk bed exchanged friendship bracelets. Beneath a nearby beech tree, their bunk mates held a solemn funeral for a ladybug. Daniel Velazquez, 10, first-time camper. Summer camp is always an oasis, particularly for urban children like those who splashed, played and poked sticks at beetles on a recent serene Friday. But perhaps none more so than Camp Homeward Bound, 45 miles north of New York City, which may be the longest running sleep-away camp in the country exclusively for homeless children. Shanely Green, 10, fourth-time camper. For the past four decades, the camp, which is run by the nonprofit Coalition for the Homeless, has provided refuge to thousands of the youngest residents of the city's homeless shelters. Camp Homeward Bound in 1993. Joyce Dopkeen/The New York Times On this day, campers played underwater tag in the lake, tumbled in three-legged races and waited out a passing sun shower with arts and crafts. The challenges that normally pervaded their lives seemed to slip away like the sun into the lake as the campers lined up for a taco dinner, practiced for a talent show and then hunted for the perfect sticks on which to toast their marshmallows. 'So many of these kids have been devalued and dehumanized just going through the shelter experience,' said Dave Giffen, executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless. 'So to be able to come to a place like this, where they don't have to hide it, they don't have to worry about it — it is a truly freeing experience.' About 30,000 children sleep in New York's shelter system each night, according to the city comptroller. Each summer Camp Homeward Bound takes in about 360 of those children, ages 7 to 15, for its no-cost 16-day sessions. The cost, about $4,000 per camper, Mr. Giffen said, is covered by donations. Khalil Richards, 10, fifth-time camper. Chloe Reynolds, 9, first-time camper. There can be fraught moments for campers, far out of their comfort zones, according to Bev McEntarfer, the longtime camp director. To help them cope, camp counselors receive training from social workers and mental health professionals. But equally valuable are the junior counselors, all of whom are formerly homeless campers and can offer support — and hope. One former camper, Homeward Bound's culinary arts instructor, is enrolled in culinary school. Another, the camp's art teacher, is pursing a degree in arts education.'People think of them as just these downtrodden kids that have no future,' Ms. McEntarfer said. 'They just need to have their world opened up so that they know what their future can be.' At Homeward Bound, the tough situations the campers face back home are deliberately not emphasized. Yet the undercurrent of trauma that cuts through many campers' lives still eddies between campfire singalongs and games of Uno on the bunk steps. Endrismar Sanabria, 13, from Queens, proudly showed off the blue wristband that indicated she was a strong enough swimmer to cannonball off the dock into the deepest part of the lake. When she first came to camp, two summers earlier, she could not swim, she said — a fact that had terrified her when, at age 10, she forded rivers and piled into an ocean raft as she fled Venezuela with her family. At night, there were cicadas and stars, where most campers were more used to sirens and streetlights. Seated on the grass, looking out at the glimmering lake, Diomer Ortiz, a 12-year-old from the Bronx, said his favorite part of camp — after bike riding — was the view. 'The mountains, the islands, the sky,' Diomer said. 'It feels like you're in heaven.'
CBS News
10 hours ago
- CBS News
Shortage of volunteer firefighters could force more towns to move to paid firehouses, costing taxpayers
Nearly 70% of the fire crews working in departments across the country are volunteers, according to the National Fire Department Registry. These dedicated civil servants serve on the frontline, keeping smaller communities safe, but that safety net is shrinking due to a growing shortage of volunteers. Albert Osterman, 21, has trained for more than 150 hours to become a firefighter. A volunteer in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, he does the job with a deep sense of purpose. "My father passed away in 2020, and the EMS crew that helped was from this fire department," Osterman told CBS News. "And so after that, I was like, 'Yeah, I wanna help people the way they helped me.'" He works at one of nearly 20,000 volunteer firehouses nationwide, which save taxpayers an estimated $46.9 billion a year — $4.7 billion just in New York State, according to the Association of Fire Districts of the State of New York. "Were it not for the fire departments, those communities would simply fall apart. We're gonna rely on volunteer firefighters forever in this nation," said Steve Hirsch, chair of the National Volunteer Fire Council. But between 1985 and 2020, the number of volunteers dropped by more than 20%, according to the NVFC. At the same time, the number of emergencies they're called to has more than tripled. "There are fire departments across this nation that are responding to thousands of calls every year. They're wearing out people. They're burning them out," Hirsch said Osterman said that in some cases, a lack of resources has "led to, unfortunately, more deaths." Some lawmakers have been fighting to recruit young people through incentives, such as proposed legislation that would provide student loan forgiveness for volunteer firefighters. When asked if he thought those initiatives could help, Osterman seemed optimistic. "If there's a financial incentive that can help to get education, I'm sure it would boost numbers tremendously," he said. "I think it's a fantastic idea," Osterman added. "As a student, and a student that knows a lot of other students that are firefighters, it would be a big de-stressor for a lot of people." Some towns have already converted from volunteer to paid crews. Without more volunteers, towns like Hastings-on-Hudson could face a similar choice. For now, Osterman is still answering the call — motivated not for a check, but to fulfill his civic duty. "He was a Navy man," Osterman said of his father. "He was a big fan of serving his country and serving his community. I think he'd be proud of me for it. Call me crazy, for sure, for doing it, but he'd be happy."
Wall Street Journal
10 hours ago
- Wall Street Journal
Earning More but in Worse Shape: Hardship Overwhelms Many American Families
Endicott, N.Y.—By government standards, Lisa Meazler and her three daughters aren't technically poor. Meazler earns $37,500 a year, working for a nonprofit that helps connect new mothers with services. She owns her own home, a small house with blue siding and a backyard in a quiet neighborhood outside Binghamton.
