December 24, 2024
Dear friends,
Reachout’s first crisis call happened in the middle of the night, during a blizzard, in January of 1977. That night, we helped a person who was alone in the storm, scared, and didn’t know where to turn. In nearly a half century since then, we’re proud to say that we’ve always answered the call—from lost people, those thinking of suicide, those grappling with and recovering from mental health or substance use challenges, people who’ve been hurt by domestic violence or sexual assault, people who’ve lost dear ones, and so many more. Starting in 1995, we began offering mobile crisis services throughout St. Lawrence County, making it possible for people in acute crisis to get support at home without needing to visit Ogdensburg for psychiatric evaluation. We’ve said, often, that the core value of Reachout is that no one should have to suffer alone.
We are heartbroken to announce that, as of December 31st, we will no longer be there when people call.
Six weeks ago, we learned that St. Lawrence County’s legislature, which provides a small portion of our funding and controls the rest via pass-through grants from NYS Office of Mental Health, had chosen to put our entire contract out for bid, mandating both a substantial increase in services and a decrease in overall funding. We have always run our program with a mix of professional staff and volunteers, and we determined that even with a substantial volunteer component, the County’s new service requirements would be impossible for our small organization to do with the offered funding. Three weeks ago, we learned that the County had selected a bidder for the contract, with funding to begin in January 2025. Since the lost funding represents nearly all of Reachout’s operating budget, we are left with no choice but to close.
In the years since that first crisis call, more than 4,000 volunteers have trained and served as crisis counselors at Reachout, providing more than $24 million in services for folks in St. Lawrence County. Several of our staff have gone on to serve in state and national leadership roles in the crisis and information/referral fields, and many have been honored with prestigious achievement awards. Thousands of volunteers, having discovered a love of service, have gone on from Reachout to serve as therapists, doctors, psychologists, clergypeople, occupational therapists, school counselors, teachers, and more—all with the skills and beliefs that they learned here.
It has been a true pleasure, and a deep honor, to know the many people who’ve called us for support. We’ve stood with people through dark times, heard the joys and sorrows that others couldn’t always share, and walked with people when the going got too hard for them to carry on alone.
If you’ve ever called Reachout, please know this: we believe in you, we care about you, and we wish you the very best. Thank you for trusting us with your stories, your grief, your elation, your trials, your tribulations, and your triumphs. Knowing you has changed us for the better, and we’re grateful for your trust.
To the many community partners who’ve supported and sustained us over the years, we offer so much gratitude. In particular, we’d like to thank SUNY Potsdam, who gave us our first office spaces in 1976 and supported our mission early on; St. Lawrence County Mental Health and Chemical Dependency Clinics, who asked us to work with them back in 1979; St. Lawrence County’s legislature, who helped secure funding starting in 1979; the donors who helped us to buy an office space in 1989; the law enforcement agencies who’ve always supported us and helped keep our workers safe in the field; Renewal House (and, previously, CAVA) for sharing resources, helping train our volunteers, and sharing a mission; the members of Alcoholics Anonymous and many other self-help groups, for trusting us to help connect struggling people with private support; all the colleges in the North Country, for giving us time and space to recruit college student volunteers; and so many others. Thank you. We couldn’t have done this without you.
If you’d like to call and say farewell before the 31st, we’d love to hear from you. And even after our phones have gone silent, please know that we’re grateful for your support. It has, truly, been an honor to serve you. Thank you.
Yours in service,
Karen Butler Easter, Executive Director
President Emerita, National Association of Crisis Organization Directors
On behalf of the Reachout staff and volunteers