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More than two dozen Dutchess County residents gathered on Market Street last Thursday night, braving sub-zero temperatures and biting winds for the 12th annual Holiday Interfaith Candlelight Vigil for Economic Justice.
Dutchess County legislator Joel Tyner (D-Clinton/Rhinebeck) coordinated the evening’s event, and introduced the speakers – a combination of local religious and community leaders.
“I’ve only been coming for eight years,” said Rabbi Paul Golomb, “because I’ve only been here for eight years.”
Golomb, of Vassar Temple, is the president of the Dutchess County Interfaith Council. He began the vigil with an adage about a tailor who had a heart problem and could not afford to pay his cardiologist.
“At some point,” Golomb explained, “we have to move away from the notion that the bottom line can raise peoples’ well-being, and we have to reach for something deeper.”
Other speakers included the Rev. Gail Burger – the former executive director of the Dutchess County Interfaith Council – Mike Ignatowski, a co-founder of the Hudson Valley Network of Spiritual Progressives, and Mae Parker-Harris and Ann Perry, long-time Poughkeepsie community activists, among others. Though each speaker’s message was unique, they all centered on five primary objectives, which Tyner said will improve the community while saving taxpayer dollars.
“To me, five is a step in the right direction,” said Tyner. “I’ve researched all five of these, and they will all save money.”
Tyner’s propositions include health care for the uninsured before they reach the emergency room, investing in quality pre-kindergarten programs to keep children out of the criminal justice system later in life, community-based intervention for low-risk youths, housing for the homeless, and implementing job training, counseling and drug treatment programs to cut recidivism rates for those out of jail. All of Tyner’s proposals are based on similar programs that have proven successful in other communities, he said.
But amid the messages of hope and change was one man who simply introduced himself as Leonard. “I’m one of the homeless,” he said, “and I’m tired of living this way.”
Like many of the homeless in Dutchess county, Leonard says, he has a job, but because of his income he is not eligible for benefits from the Department of Social Services. He said he can afford rent but not the often-expensive security deposit required to begin renting, so like many of the homeless this time of year, he seeks shelter. But he added that shelter space is limited in the City of Poughkeepsie, and people are often turned away.
Regardless, Tyner remains hopeful. “This isn’t crazy radicalism, and I have little illusion that all five of these things are going to be accepted and passed over the winter and the spring of 2008,” he said, “but I have a lot of faith that over the next five or 10 years this is going to happen, and you’ve got to start somewhere.”
