Each week Hamptons United performs an “act of kindness” for ‘Thoughtful Thursdays’ in which they help to support an organization or someone in the local community. On Thursday, November 2nd,Hamptons United generously donated four New Mother Backpacks filled with items for new mom’s visiting our Southampton Health Center after giving birth. These items help women transition into motherhood and ease the burden of purchasing some of the most used baby items. Our thanks to Hamptons United for thinking of our new moms and for their support for Sun River Health.

Each weekend in the Fall, Fishkill Farms hosts their Corn Maze for a Cause – a 1-acre corn maze designed and cut by the team themselves. It’s a labor of love and 30% of every ticket sold goes to a different local charity each week. Sun River Health was the recipient of donations from the corn maze for the long weekend of October 7th – 9th with Fishkill Farms donating $1,575 representing over 1,000 people visiting the incredible corn maze over that weekend! Sun River Health is grateful for the generous gift which supports our mission and our partnership with Fishkill Farms, whom we honored at our Cornucopia gala last Fall.

Our thanks to Blackstone for donating 350 backpacks for children who were headed back to school this September. Employees at Blackstone raised the money needed to purchase key supplies and then assembled 350 backpacks for the children in an all-hands afternoon-long event. This program, now in its third year, has grown immensely and we are so grateful for these efforts to help us ensure that children have what they need to feel confident at school. Contents of the backpacks included: pens, pencils, a pencil case, notebooks, folders, hand sanitizer and a toothbrush.

Blackstone employees also hosted a drive to collect books for children between the ages of three and eighteen who come to Sun River Health. Employees donated their most loved stories, childhood favorites, classic books and those that spark a love of reading in children. More than 200 books were donated through this outreach. This program, along with the backpack drive was coordinated and run by Ebony Livingston, Director of Application Training and Adoption at Blackstone Group, and who is a Sun River Health Ambassador. Ebony has been instrumental in directing key financial and ancillary support to Sun River Health in furtherance of our mission.

The backpacks and books were a huge hit with the kids and were given out during National Health Center Week in August at Sun River Health events in Peekskill, The Bronx, and Patchogue.

Sun River Health sees more than 10,000 Agricultural Workers and their families each year. For many of these families, just like for most Americans, the pandemic brought with it loss of work and additional financial hardship.

14 organizations and one tribal entity are now working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to distribute one-time $600 relief payments through the Farm and Food Workers Relief Program. Beginning March 1, 2023, frontline agricultural and meatpacking workers who incurred expenses preparing for, preventing exposure to, and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic were able to apply for this relief payment. This program cover workers in 14 states: Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia.

Sun River Health has been welcoming agricultural workers from the communities we serve to assist them and their families with registering for the stimulus funding – which is free of charge and open to anybody who can provide photo identification and proof of employment as an agricultural worker during the pandemic. Additionally, staff from Sun River Health have been in communication with our partnering farms, orchards, and vineyards to ensure all workers in their employ are aware of the opportunity and can register for the payment.

Additional information:

• Relief payments will remain available until funds are exhausted
• There is no cost to apply
• Relief payments are not a loan and payment recipients will not be taxed
• Immigration status is not one of the eligibility criteria
• Applicant information is confidential. It will not be shared with the USDA nor any other state or federal agency
• Only one relief payment can be issued to an eligible beneficiary. Applying for a relief payment through more than one location or organization will result in significant payment delays

Ebony Livingston, Director of Application Training and Adoption at Blackstone Group and Sun River Health Ambassador, was instrumental in securing nearly $60,000 in support for Sun River Health over the last year.

“Ebony has been a wonderful advocate for the work Sun River Health does. She is a wonderful example of the impact our Ambassadors can have on ensuring that corporate social responsibility is wielded to enact change in the lives of those in our communities” said Sun River Health Foundation’s Executive Director and VP of Philanthropy Jeramie Barber.

In August of last year, Ebony spearheaded a volunteer project raising $9,000 from her peers at Blackstone to purchase items for and assemble 500 backpacks to be distributed to children in the Bronx headed back to school. The backpacks contained a handout with important health tips and reminders, as well as hand sanitizer, a toothbrush and toothpaste, and other key items to ensure these children are practicing good health and hygiene habits.

Sun River Health was chosen as a recipient of the “People’s Choice Award” from Blackstone employees as part of their 2022 BX Gives Back Challenge! Blackstone Charitable Foundation donated $25,000 to Sun River Health because of our winning the award. Ebony, who nominated Sun River Health, also played an instrumental role by advocating on our behalf for the grant.

Ebony was recently given a prestigious award by Blackstone for her work. The recognition came with a monetary award which Ebony requested Blackstone Charitable Foundation donate $25,000 to the nonprofit of her choice. We are so grateful that Ebony chose Sun River Health for this donation and that she is a Sun River Health Ambassador! We look forward to more wonderful things from Ebony and this group in the future.

If you would like to learn more about the Sun River Health Ambassadors or are interested in joining the group, please visit the Sun River Health Ambassadors Page or email Jeramie Barber at jbarber@sunriver.org.

Vamos Outreach is a mobile and desktop app created by and for farmworker organizations that assists outreach workers in planning, finding, conducting, tracking, and reporting on outreach visits to migrant and seasonal agricultural workers. The Sun River Health Foundation will be investing in this tool to do outreach throughout our network. Sun River Health provides much needed services year-round at our health center sites, through our Days of Health Programs, and our mobile health centers to more than 8,000 agricultural workers and their families. We deliver care where they most need it – at farms, vineyards, community agencies, and churches. Vamos will be a key piece in helping to provide on-site care and create opportunities for us to expand our efforts for agricultural workers throughout our communities. As health center users, Sun River Health and The Warwick Area Farmworker Organization (WAFO) will jointly be pilot partners for Vamos – helping to guide usage and fine tune it for health care. This one-of-a-kind app, which uniquely meets the needs for agricultural worker organizations, fills a void in our system and helps make the process more efficient by consolidating our outreach efforts and allowing us to easily share data. Additionally, the app connects to Google Maps to mark all the farm locations and best places to reach agricultural workers – creating a key reference for the organization and helping us to ensure our outreach is comprehensive and effective.