Hi, my name is Debbie Cox.
My position at Henry Street is the
administrative director for the Workforce Development Center.
When we were growing up, Henry Street was really important.
I attended their daycare, and then I went through all their youth programs.
My oldest son attended Henry Street
daycare, so then he went through all the programs that they had to offer.
And then my youngest son, he did attend summer camp.
My mother was involved with the parent association group.
And I just want to say it, my grandmother was the cook at 265 Henry Street.
So it's really four generations.
I want to say, I guess I was in denial
when I first heard about COVID- 19, and I'm still in denial.
I was still going to work, although we were saying that we may have to shut down,
but I was totally in denial that this would even hit this hard and this fast.
I just felt like everybody was in a rush,
like people were moving fast, and I was moving slow, like, trying to just think
about, okay, what's happening here, what's the next step. Started thinking about my
family and do we have groceries needed for my elderly mother?
Because I'm really close with my sisters. Do they have everything?
Just reaching out to them.
And then my son, who is a school teacher,
and how he's dealing with it and him being alone.
And my husband's father was in one of the
local nursing homes, and he caught the virus.
So he turned 90 on March 30, and he caught
the virus that Friday after, and then he passed away that Monday.
So within three days.
I'm just trying to be supportive to my husband, because with all these
deaths that are happening, it was very hard to find a funeral home that would
pick up the body, and we're still waiting to have his father cremated.
So I think that's one of the biggest challenges.
I get calls, too, like, can you help me find a funeral home?
Because it's other people who reached out
to me knowing that my father-in-law passed and what funeral home that I use.
So it was just a lot.
It was just a lot. I mean, Henry Street
has always stepped up to the plate when there were times in need.
Henry Street came up with this helpline.
Anybody who needs assistance can call the helpline.
We take down what they need, and 90% of
the calls are coming in just saying that they need food.
Or if they need some counseling due to
anxiety, we can then refer them to any of the Henry Street programs.
I'm born and raised in the Lower East
Side, and a lot of the people in my community respect me because they either
came through Henry Street or their family came through Henry Street.
So I'm so happy that I am able to be on the helpline to assist them.
We went through Hurricane Sandy, so this
is not new, like, shutting down, not for me.
I think it just comes naturally because I'm a warrior.
If I see a problem, I'm going to try to find a solution for it.
So I just picked up my office, brought
everything here, set up shop and was ready to go the next day.
I'm going to tell you what keeps me going.
Knowing that Henry Street has been there for my family and I live in this community
and I know that I need to be a part of this to make sure that if I got the help
that I want to make sure someone else is getting that help as well.