NECC hires new executive director

MILLERTON — Sympathy and understanding come from having been there yourself — in this case as one of a family of six sleeping huddled around a kerosene heater because there was no money for electricity nor oil for heat. That was where Christine Sergent, the newly appointed director of the North East Community Center (NECC), spent a portion of her early years and why she now says, “This is where I was meant to be.” 

Opening up about the path that led to serve the North East community where she had once lived and worked, she said, “I grew up in western Pennsylvania. My father was a steel worker. My mom was a stay at home mom initially but then she went into the work force.” 

Things changed during the 1970s when, “the bottom fell out and we had a recession. The steel mills closed, so our family really struggled. It was hard for my parents who were the bootstrap kind of people. We take care of our own. We have to be strong. We have to make our ends meet. But we found ourselves in a situation where we couldn’t afford food and we couldn’t afford utilities.” 

The difficulties had a lasting impact on Sergent.

“It didn’t happen for very long but it did happen for long enough for me to realize that this is what a lot of families live with every day,” she said. 

Of her decades-long journey that followed she said, “I became dedicated to hunger prevention” and then she began “to realize hunger doesn’t happen in a vacuum. There are so many other things happening that can make a family vulnerable. I got involved in financial management education and housing issues and all sorts of other things — food access, health care access, child care — issues that all impact our families.”  

She does feel that the NECC is an ideal place to continue her career because she understands the feelings of those in need.   

“I remember in my own family. They were proud. They didn’t want to accept help,” she said. “Even getting on unemployment was a real challenge for my dad, who had been working since he was 14. I can understand how that feels. You want to be strong. You don’t want to be vulnerable.” 

Knowing how sensitive the situation can be, she said, “I can tell you relationship development is the most important thing in nonprofits being successful.” 

She insisted strong relationships merging the center’s leadership, board, stakeholders, donors and frontline staff, with “our families, our children and our seniors” are critical “because that will break down the barriers. They see you as a friend in the community, not as someone they should be ashamed to let in the door because they need help.” 

She said, “I’ve been in the homes in Millerton when working for the Office for the Aging — in some of the homes of the seniors who are falling through the cracks. 

“When you see them at the store, they try not to let you know, but having gone into their homes, I can tell you that they are struggling in a whole other way that they don’t want people to know,” Sergent added. “But as soon as I would go into the home, and it was just me, listening and asking questions and hearing what they feel and what they think, they wanted to share. They are relieved to know that somebody cares. Then they are willing to take some steps, but it’s not always easy.” 

Sergent was Family and Consumer Education/4-H Youth Development Program leader for Dutchess County before spending the past seven years at Wethersfield Foundation in Amenia. 

She said she is delighted to be coming to NECC, an organization she said she has long admired. She noted that when she helped develop the summer lunch program through the Cornell  Cooperative Extension Dutchess County in Millbrook, NECC “took that small seed of a project and just ran with it,” so that now any child in Millerton can just walk up to a distribution spot and get a breakfast or lunch with “no questions being asked.” 

She said, “that’s the caliber of staff I’m looking forward to working with every day.” 

Having worked with her in the past, Cristine Bates, NECC board chair, is pleased that after an extensive Tri-state search, the center will be benefiting from Sergent’s expertise — particularly in the area of grant acquisitions, since any social service program is only as successful as its fundraising efforts. 

Bates further noted that she expects Sergent’s Sept. 10 start date to be a smooth one thanks to the efforts of Interim Director Jennifer Dowley, who “made it her mission to hand over everything in perfect shape.”

Correction

Last week’s issue mistakenly identified a photo as that of Christine Sergent, new executive director of the North East Community Center. The photo was actually of Caroline Hernandez Pidala, an assistant superintendent with the Millbrook Central School District. We regret the error.