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Running Head: FAMILY OF WOODSTOCK 1

Family of Woodstock

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FAMILY OF WOODSTOCK 2

There are several factors that largely contributed to the creation of the Family of

Woodstock by its founders. This paper will explore widely on these factors and also the capacity

and ability of the Family of Woodstock in meeting the needs of the community (Burger, 2013).

The paper will also discuss the Family’s values, beliefs as well as attitudes and how these have

gone through metamorphosis over its 40 years in operation in the service to the community and

generally how specialization is slowly evolving as a trend when it comes to the delivery of

human services.

The Family of Woodstock which is basically an agency which offers social service to

members of the community (and to a great extent to the public at large) came into being when a

few individuals – who later came to be known as its founding members – felt that the Woodstock

Festival took place too far away from where they lived (approximately 100 miles). This long

distance away from home they felt provided an opportunity for starting a social service agency

which was derived at bringing assistance and convenience to the members of the community in

desperate need of the services. It was quite a hurdle to jump for those individuals and families

who attended the Woodstock Festival as they had nowhere to sleep – they were forced to sleep

out in the cold in the parks, the inability to carry food to the festival drove them fight the hunger

they felt by scavenging for food since they were only able to carry little food and belongings to

the festival. The little food they were able to carry soon ran out and hunger eventually set in.

Instead of taking part in the festival, those who attended ended up searching for food, cloth and

shelter. There were no shelters and so their only hope was to sleep out in the open parks. The

community kick started the agency by coming together and one member/resident gave out her

home together with a telephone service to the attendees to protect them from arrest due to their

FAMILY OF WOODSTOCK 3

roaming around the festival grounds. With this, the Family of Woodstock was born! It drafted

down its mission and vision which reads, thus; “to provide confidential and fully accessible crisis

intervention, information, prevention, and support services to address the needs of individuals

and families. The scope of the agency’s vision allows us to bring to bear resources to address a

broad spectrum of human problems.” A total commitment was expected from the members of

staff at the Family and confidentiality was paramount. Instead of passing judgment to those who

came forward seeking assistance at the Family, the staff was required to encourage them towards

making positive choices which went along way in helping them. After listening and

encouragement, the staff then linked them with existing agencies which were designed to assist

and offer help of the kind that was required. In the event that no agency was available to assist

those who came forward seeking such assistance, it was the prerogative of the staff of the Family

of Woodstock to assist these individuals. The Family of Woodstock has grown in leaps and

bounds to become one of the leading agencies offering agency services to families as well as

individuals coming forward seeking assistance in the areas of domestic violence,

child/adolescence support, homeless people and generally services of emergency nature. If it

was to be rated in service delivery, surely this agency has certainly met its mandate of offering

these important service to the community hence meeting their needs – not only to the

surrounding community, but far and wide. A number of shelter and house programs are a delight

of the agency. They include the Family House whose doors are open for the runaway youth and

those who are homeless. The Family Inn is directed at offering assistance to the homeless

families and lastly the Darmstadt Shelter for the Homeless comprising of those in the various

recovery stages – men and women inclusive.

FAMILY OF WOODSTOCK 4

The Family of Woodstock holds the homeless adolescents close to their ‘heart’. When

the time comes for the adolescents to transition from homelessness for them and their children (if

they happen to have any) to residences suitable for their living is undertaken by the agency.

Child care programs, management services for substance abusers (both adults and the young),

victims of domestic abuse are all consolidated under the agencies service to the community.

These services also extend to the general public.

It is a known fact that through growth, change is inevitable. The Family of Woodstock is

no different when it comes to embracing change. For over 40 years, the family as mentioned

before has continued to grow and expand. This means that its values, attitudes and belief have

also slightly shifted. However, the initial concepts (three) while starting the agency have

continued being applied religiously to it while providing its services to the community and the

larger public.

During its formation, the founding members did not look at the agency as a money-

making organization but was only committed to the well-being of the community. This

commitment still stands to date, only that the commitment has now expanded to factor in more

and more individuals as well as families who require such services (Schmolling, 1985). Looking

back, the original client happened to be those individuals who attended the Woodstock Festival,

fast forward today’s clients include the community’s residents but some members from the

original client base or their families may also be included in today’s individuals benefiting from

the agency.

Moving forward and especially when it comes to human service delivery, specialization

ranks top followed closely by innovation. Specialization looks at today’s delivery of outcomes

by agencies while preparing for the future. It is imperative to embrace change in terms of

FAMILY OF WOODSTOCK 5

technology, culture and other processes in order to be able to deliver in future services that are of

high quality and cost effective. While formulating change for non-profit organizations, the

leaders have to look at the position the agency holds and ensure that the change being carried out

impacts greatly when it comes to the services being delivered to the members of the community.

To conclude this paper, The Family of Woodstock is seen to have embraced change

over the years. The talents and abilities provided by the staff who initially were directed at

helping the original clientele – individuals who attended the Woodstock Festival – to wide

expansion of the agency to provide services to other members of the community. That is to say,

the agency grew and expanded from serving the original clientele and through success achieved

and its outcomes, using this as a pivotal point.

FAMILY OF WOODSTOCK 6

References

Burger, W. (2013). Human Services in Contemporary America (Introduction to Human

Services)-9

Edition. Brooks Cole

Schmolling, P. (1985). Human Services in Contemporary America. Thomson Brooks/Cole

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