Natsue Yogi Kobayashi Co-founder & Director of Elmira’s Second Place East Shelter

  by Judith Edson Sheasley, a volunteer at CCHS

“Strengthening the fabric of family life” was the goal of Elmira’s First Methodist Church (which stood on Baldwin Street north of West Church Street on what is now Elm Chevrolet property and was demolished in 1972) when it established its Eastside Neighborhood Ministry in 1965. It was considered a pioneering step for a church mission effort. The program’s success was credited to Natsue Kobayashi, who, in January 1965, was appointed as a part-time case worker to work with families on Elmira’s Eastside. One of her notable accomplishments was establishing a food pantry from which many people were helped.

Natsue’s approach was always to build trust by establishing rapport with her clients. She accompanied them to interviews for employment and to family or criminal court hearings and helped them obtain financial and medical assistance and babysitters and tutors for their children. And then, she gave credit to her clients for helping themselves. This endeavor marked the beginning of a lifetime dedicated to serving Elmira’s underprivileged neighbors.

Natsue Yogi Kobayashi

Natsue Yogi Kobayashi was born in Okinawa, Japan in 1934. At the age of nine she and her family, consisting of her grandmother, mother, and five children between the ages of one and nine, were evacuated to Taiwan before the expected invasion of Okinawa by U.S. forces during World War II. Her father had been drafted into the Japanese Navy two months earlier. Her family was on one of the refugee ships, escorted by other Japanese ships, moving slowly to Taiwan. She remembers vividly the pitch-dark night when everyone was ordered to gather on the deck with life jackets. “We witnessed one of the escorting ships hit a mine, explode and burst into flames before sinking. We had thought the next will be our ship. Scared, we tried to embrace, crying and praying for our safety,” she said. It was during that moment that she realized the existence of God to whom she could pray. While in Taiwan, her family survived numerous air raids, sometimes by standing in knee-high water in underground air raid shelters. One day she and her brother miraculously escaped an air attack from a plane flying so low they could see the pilot’s face as they were running toward the shelter. In a hastily set up tent hospital she also witnessed people whose arms and legs were severed. In one large warehouse in the refugee camp, she watched her grandmother, who gave up her food rations to feed her family, die from illness and malnutrition. These and other wartime experiences of suffering and hunger made an unforgettable imprint on her young mind and later became unforeseen forces in her career choice.

In 1955 Natsue came to the United States on college scholarships. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Religion from Wayland University in Plainview, Texas and, later, her Master of Science in Education from Elmira College.  She was one year into her Rehabilitation Counseling Master’s degree from the University of Florida, Gainesville, but was unable to complete that degree because her husband, Dr. Teruo Kobayashi, became Assistant Professor of Political Science at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. She and Teruo spent three years in Chestertown and, in 1963, moved to Elmira upon his appointment as Assistant Professor of Political Science at Elmira College.

Natsue and Teruo met after she was featured in a newsletter about students from Okinawa. She was studying in Texas at the time and Teruo was working on his Ph.D. at the University of Florida. He saw the article and sent her a note congratulating her and welcoming her to the United States. That began a correspondence and eventual meeting. Shortly before Natsue planned to return to Okinawa after completing her B.A. degree in 1959, Teruo called her and proposed. He said, “Don’t go home.” “That was the turning point. I decided and went down to Florida. We got married in October that year,” she recalled.

Once settled in Elmira, Natsue set out to help others avoid the suffering she could not forget. “I realize my life was spared so that – how should I say – so that I would take this direction and help others,” she said in an interview with the Elmira Star-Gazette.

Her success with the First Methodist Church Eastside Neighborhood Ministry led to her work as a Family Outreach Coordinator, a newly created position at the Neighborhood House.

Neighborhood House

One of her accomplishments in that position was organizing a neighborhood women’s group called the Wednesday Morning Group and assisting them in establishing the “N.H. Luncheonette.” This on-site program provided work experience for women who had no marketable skills as well as part-time work for those whose family responsibilities prevented them from holding full-time jobs.

In the aftermath of the Flood of 1972 and Elmira’s Urban Renewal Program, Natsue found herself distanced from the people she was serving as many families around the Neighborhood House (with the exception of Jones Court) moved farther east in Elmira.  As she surveyed the entire city, she saw a need for a site dedicated to serving the people of the Eastside. The following year, with funding made available from Geneva Human Development of Presbytery, Natsue and Mrs. Marilyn Wellington of Lake Street Presbyterian Church co-founded an outreach service center of the Elmira Neighborhood House and Natsue became the director.

Located at 759 East Second Street and aptly named “Second Place East,” the center provided emergency help, including food, clothing, and counseling for the poor in Elmira. With the avid interest and active involvement of community volunteers, known as “The Friends of Second Place East,” it was in a true sense a grassroots organization.  These volunteers provided furniture and household goods to those leaving the shelter for homes of their own. By 1975, Second Place East services had expanded and the facility had become too congested and difficult to maintain. Thus, it was relocated to 500 Sullivan Street where it continued to offer the same services.

During this time, and especially after the 1972 flood, Chemung County began to experience a bleak economic climate due mainly to the closure of major industries such as Remington Rand in Elmira and the A&P Food Processing Plant in Horseheads. In addition, the Elmira City Rescue Mission and the YMCA, which were housing single males who had no other place to live, closed their doors. Those closings created a large service gap for single males in Elmira and Chemung County which lead to an increase in homelessness. Responding to this urgent community need, in 1987 Second Place East added a shelter to its services with the budgetary support of the Chemung County Human Services Department. Initially, women and children were housed at the shelter and single men were placed in a two-room apartment rented from John Travers Real Estate. For its excellence, Second Place East was recognized that year with one of the Eleanor Roosevelt Community Service Awards by New York State Governor Mario Cuomo.

That same year the Neighborhood House closed due to financial reasons and Second Place East came under the umbrella of the Economic Opportunity Program (EOP) of Chemung and Schuyler Counties. In the ensuing years, the number of homeless grew and the need for a larger facility became obvious.  In 1991, the shelter was relocated to Unit 5 of Jones Court. Thirteen apartments were fully-furnished by The Friends. In 2002, when Jones Court was deemed structurally unfit, Chemung County ordered EOP to hand the shelter program over to Catholic Charities. The facility was moved to 605 College Avenue where it operated as Second Place East and The Friends continued their support.

The following year, The Friends incorporated as a separate entity, which they named “Second Place East, Inc.,” thus maintaining the long-standing connection between The Friends and the shelter. Natsue, now retired, was a founding member and an officer on their Board of Directors.

In 2010, Second Place East, Inc. separated from Catholic Charities and opened The Help for the Home Shop in Our House of Prayer Eternal Church (formerly Christ United Methodist Church) on the corner of West Church and Columbia Streets. In addition, they expanded their outreach to serve clients by referral from churches and other human services agencies in Chemung County. In addition to her Board position, Natsue volunteered faithfully in The Shop.

By providing household goods and personal care items for homeless families who are moving into homes of their own, the organization continues to fulfill its mission of assisting their homeless neighbors. Through these efforts over the past twenty-one years and with the continuing support of churches, hundreds of families have been prevented from returning to homelessness.

In the course of her long and distinguished career Natsue Kobayashi was the recipient of the Chemung County Family Debts Counseling Volunteer of the Year Award (1985), was named a Woman of Distinction by the New York State Senate (1998), and was honored with the Elmira YWCA Lifetime Achievement Award (2011). She also received the Ernie Davis Jr. High School Student Council Community Services Award and was named Woman of the Year by Chemung County Church Women United (1970s).

Natsue’s personal life in the Elmira area included membership in The Society of Friends (The Quakers), flower gardening, cooking, playing tennis and the piano, listening to music and reading books.

From her first appointment in 1965 until her return to Okinawa as a widow in 2021, Natsue worked tirelessly to fulfill her mission.  One small step, a knock on the first door in the first poor neighborhood she visited, marked the beginning of her long and remarkable impact on the Community of Elmira.  Always soft-spoken, humble and kind, but with steadfast determination and never losing sight of her mission, Natsue provided welcome help to those who needed it.

In an interview in 1966 Natsue stated that if she were to apply a verse of Scripture to her work, it could be the words from Acts 3:6: “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have I give thee.”

The author extends heartfelt appreciation to Natsue Kobayshi, Cheryl Butler, and Kathryn Tolbert for their contributions and invaluable editing skills.