KINGSTON, N.Y. -- Kevin Blasso, who didn't want to show his face on camera, said his family put him out of its house because of his drug addiction. So in January, he went to Family of Woodstock’s Darmstadt shelter. It provided him with a place to stay and resources to get him back on his feet.
“I lost everything I had; family, wife, kids, everything," he said. "I was actually out on the street for five days until I finally got the nerve to ask for help."
Family of Woodstock Executive Director Michael Berg said Blasso is not alone.
"Family sheltered 875 people last year in our four shelters, and 23 adolescents in our transitional living programs," Berg said. "These programs are really important."
Now an effort is underway to help these programs cut down on operating costs. Family of Woodstock wants to make six of its buildings more energy efficient, including solar panels at four of its shelters.
Representatives said the upgrades would save them $60,000 per year. It would help them to make a number of improvements, including increased salaries for staff, improved building equipment and better vehicles.
"These vehicles take all of our clients to the services that they need," Berg said. "We rely on them every day with every shelter. So we're hoping that we could start to buy better vehicles."
But doing so will cost about $325,000. Family of Woodstock is well on its way, between a grant it hopes to get and fundraisers, but it still needs about $20,000 more.
"We've had long-standing supporters, and we're hoping that they see this as an important issue that they would support," Berg said.
It's support for an organization that Blasso said helped save his life.
"I was 141 pounds when I came in. I'm 176 now," he said. "The person you see here is not the person I walked in the door as."