History was made this week when one of the grandest old mansions in Kingston, the luxurious Italian-villa-style James and Mary Forsyth House at 31 Albany Avenue across from Academy Green, opened its doors on Wednesday morning, May 11 as the new home of Family, the vital and beloved community-based local agency that has been providing, with few exceptions, free crisis intervention help and services to anyone who has needed them for half a century.
According to executive director Michael Berg, the move from the agency’s cramped quarters on John Street was made possible in large part by a totally unexpected bequest in 2020 from the estate of George Devine, a New Paltz insurance executive.
The move to the more than 11,000 square feet of renovated space allows for the Kingston-based staff of some 60 people not working in the shelters to be at one location, dramatically streamlining overhead while improving communications across the organization.
Founded in 1970, Family has grown from a single hotline in Woodstock into a countywide network of shelters, emergency food pantries and walk-in centers in New Paltz, Ellenville and Kingston. It provides domestic housing assistance, violence services, court advocates, counseling and case management services, adolescent services, hotlines, and childcare support. The Kingston locations at 39 John Street, a major walk-in center since 1984, and administrative offices at 166 Albany Avenue opened in 1917 are being closed. 31 Albany Avenue will be a Family walk-in center, as well as the administrative Kingston headquarters.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony at 31 Albany Avenue was at 5:30 p.m. on May 10 the day before the open house.
The Forsyth House, built in 1850 and designed by celebrated architect Richard Upjohn, has been on the National Registry of Historic Places since 2003.
The irony of the grandeur of the new Family home is not lost on Berg, who has been with the agency almost since its beginning. “Until this Devine gift,” he explained, “we’ve been very, very poor. Cash flow has always been an issue. We’ve never had three weeks of payroll in the house before the bequest. It’s been tight, but the community’s always stepped up.”
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