Stand Up for the Homeless connects needy to resources

Dalia Ayala stood in the crowded gymnasium at St. Joseph's College, her 5-month-old granddaughter balanced on her hip. She and her family had gotten in line at 6 a.m. Wednesday at the Patchogue campus for Suffolk County's annual Stand Up for the Homeless event.

"This is wonderful," said Ayala, 39, of Bay Shore, who added that she had received a package of diapers for the baby and signed up to take courses to complete her GED.

The event brought 75 social-service groups together with 550 homeless people in the county - roughly the same number as last year. The agencies staffed tables in the gym and offered bags of food, clothing, information on housing and other programs, and even a hair and nail salon where people, many of whom live in shelters, lined up for haircuts and manicures.

Edward Hernandez, an adjunct faculty member at St. Joseph's and the county's deputy commissioner of social services who helped organize the event, said each client was assigned a volunteer as an escort to various stations around the gym. The county and nonprofit agencies arranged for buses and other transportation to take clients to the event.

County Executive Steve Levy also attended, posing for cell-phone pictures with volunteers and urging homeless clients to get health screenings.

Though the one-day event wasn't expected to get most people out of homelessness, "this can help some people to get the information they need to become self-sufficient," Levy said.

Lydia W., who declined to provide her last name, picked through a pile of women's clothes with the help of a volunteer, looking for a pair of jeans that would fit her slender frame.

"I've gotten food, clothing and shoes." said Lydia, 52. "I'm trying to get a trim on my hair."

She said she and her husband have been homeless for four years and have recently been living in a shelter in Coram.

Along with the material goods, Lydia said she was grateful for another gift as well.

"I got a little more information and I'm feeling a little more hopeful about my situation," she said.

Nearby, Joanne Clyde, a stroke educator with Stony Brook University Medical Center, counseled clients about their risk of stroke. Several people were taken to a hospital after receiving health screenings, including one man whose blood pressure was so high it put him at high risk for a stroke. Clyde said the man told her he couldn't afford his blood pressure medicine.

Clyde said the day of volunteering was "bittersweet."

"I love being able to just get the word out about strokes, but I'll cry all the way home," Clyde said. "Look where we live, and there's all these children here. It's amazing to me in this day and age there's so many people here."