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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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