Karen Easter:
CLASS OF 1971
Addison High SchoolClass of 1971
Addison, NY
SUNY College at PotsdamClass of 1975
Potsdam, NY
Karen's Story
Workplace
I've directed a crisis center since 1979. I first got into this line of work in my freshman year of college -- I saw a poster that said "Hotline Needs Volunteers", and I signed up. In those days, the calls we took were mostly about sex, drugs, and the draft.
After college, I took a secretarial job at Clarkson College -- I graduated at a terrible time to find work in my field, and was lucky to get a job. Clarkson had a tuition benefit for employees, and I was able to work toward an MBA.
In 1978, the hotline I volunteered for was offered funding in exchange for going county-wide and 24/7. My business administration training had prepared me to do the business plan, ...Expand for more
and in early 1979 I went to work full-time as executive director. Today, we have a crisis/information hotline, mobile crisis team, critical incident team, and we also produce a directory of services. The most amazing thing I've gotten to do as a result of my work is to teach in Russia and Ukraine, starting immediately after the fall of the Soviet Union. We've also had about a dozen visits from leaders in the progressive human services movement in the FSU -- they stay with my family and spend time at our hotline and other services in the area. One of the women who visited us in 1993 went on to be one of the founders of the first shelter for women victims of violence in Russia.
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