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Mid Hudson Times, Wednesday, May 8, 2019
Achievement
“My son was my life. I wanted to be the
perfect mother. I wanted my son to have
more opportunities than I had.”
The one thing Brown never would have
seen coming was the murder of her little
sister by her brother. The loss of her
sister was the equivalent of losing a child
to Brown, it was something she still has
trouble understanding to this day. Losing
her sister pushed her into a dark place, a
pain she felt everyday for 20 years.
“The worst struggle of my life was
losing my sister,” said Brown. “My sister
was brutally murdered by my brother. I
always felt like I was a mother to her, so
it was a pain like losing my own child.
For four years I was having a mental
breakdown, it took me 20 years to come
out of that dark place.”
Reaching out for help was not
something Brown was accustomed to as
she was on her own all her life. After going
through tests and physical examinations
she realized depression was causing
her physical pain. She was physically
and emotionally shutting down but she
couldn’t get to the root of the cause.
“I went to counseling to make myself
better. One day I felt I just had this
breakthrough where I felt I was no longer
in this dark fold anymore,” said Brown.
“I’m not the same person that I was
coming out of that dark place. It has made
the person that I am now. For 20 years
I said I didn’t feel good, I apologized to
my daughter because I felt she had been
cheated all those years I was in the dark.”
Regardless of her depression Brown
was able to push on to give her family a
positive life, even if that’s not how she
felt inside. She now comes to work with a
huge smile on her face everyday to a job
where she feels loved and supported.
She attributed much of
her
breakthrough and growth to the family of
co-workers she’s met during the 35 years
she’s spent working in the district as a
teacher’s aid and now as a security guard.
“I would say to anyone going through
what I’m going through, don’t give up,
just keep pushing through. Don’t allow
yourself to sit back and feel sorry for
yourself,” said Brown. “How I feel about
myself now I don’t have any complaints.
Now if you ask me if I feel any of my
sadness, I don’t feel any of that. I have
no regrets because of how far I’ve come.
When they say it takes a village, it takes a
village for adults too.”
Brown and Cieslak will be honored on
May 8 at 5:30 p.m. at Anthony’s Pier 9. To
purchase tickets or for more information
visit www.girlscoutshh.org.
Habitat walk draws a large turnout
Habitat for Humanity for Greater
Newburgh held its annual walk for
housing on Sunday with a large turnout
regardless of the cold rainy weather.
Community members showed up to
donate and support the organization
bundled up ready to take a tour of the
almost 100 homes renovated by habitat
throughout the city.
The organization works with members
of the community who may be homeless
or in need of low-income housing to fill
out the paperwork and give them the
tools to become homeowners.
Sharon Dorand is currently using
services provided by Habitat for
Humanity to purchase her first home
after being homeless.
“It’s good for the black community
especially because it lifts our spirits up
and shows us what possibilities are out
there for us,” said Dorand. “I was living
in a shelter and decided to see if I could
use all the money I saved from working
to get a house. They work with you
and with your budget. It’s an incredible
thing to think I could have a home of my
own and pass it down to my kids and
the family.”
The organization works with many
people like Durand to help them buy
their first homes. They have renovated
90 homes and plan to continue
with more properties in the City of
Newburgh. For more information visit
habitatnewburgh.org.
-Katelyn Cordero
Volunteers of the Episco- build participated.
Families raised money together for the organization to walk today.
The NFA Airforce Junior ROTC program
volunteered their time to direct walkers to
where they needed to go.
Rev. Dr. Richard M. Spierling, President of
the Board of Habitat for Humanity, said a
few words before sending off the group.