Trinity Human Services Corporation holds fundraiser celebrating community leaders
Trinity Human Services Corporation (THSC) has long been a bastion of support for the hungry, homeless, and struggling in Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Bushwick. Their emergency food pantry supplies food for over 2500 people each month and through their thrift shop they provide clothing to the homeless for job interviews. THSC also advocates for immigration and housing rights plus offers counseling and support groups for mental health, domestic violence, and substance abuse issues, among others.
There benefit on April 9th raised a much needed $6,087.63, surpassing their $5,000 goal! They also celebrated Diana Reyna (former Deputy Brooklyn Borough President and currently a partner of Athena Consulting), Sister Karen Lademann (Wellness Advocate for the Sisters of St. Dominic), and Rolando Guzman (St. Nicks Alliance Dep. Dir. of Community Preservation)
Assemblyman Joseph Lentol started the evening off, by revealing that he was a graduate of Most Holy Trinity School. He acknowledged all three honorees. He said this about one of the event’s honorees, Rolando Guzman, “He is one of the best organizers in the city of New York. He comes to Albany and does God’s work to get the tenants help from republicans as well as democrats!”
In accepting her award, Diana Reyna illustrated how important THSC’s work is for those who are struggling by touching on hardship in her past, “That’s how my mom had to manage her finances. That’s real; that’s my childhood. I never thought of it as hunger that was just the way of making ends meet, and that is not anything to be shameful of. It’s important to always remember our blessings today [are balanced by] someone else’s shortcomings and if we have a little to give then lets stand together and give because it will multiply. I stand here with many blessings because it has been multiplied.”
Sister Karen Lademann, another honoree, told of how she thought Brooklyn was a foreign country when she came here in the 70s to teach at the Most Holy Trinity School. “I was a girl from Long Island — Massapequa!” But soon Brooklyn took root in her heart. She taught at the school for twenty years and then became its principal. In 2007 she became Director of THSC and found herself mastering the skills of grant writing with some helpful guidance from St. Nicks Alliance. Her directorship ended in 2010 when she took sabbatical, and when she returned she was appointed to the board and remained until 2017. Her current work as wellness advocate for the Sisters of St. Dominic has her based at the mother house in Amityville, but Brooklyn is still in her heart.
The Greenline 