To our treasured community,
I am writing to you with an important update about the future of Ophelia’s Place. This month will be our last month as an operating organization. This was a hard decision to make, and not one that was taken lightly, but with the support of the Board and my trusted advisors, it was the right decision.
When we closed the cafe we were excited to explore a future of possibilities for Ophelia’s Place but what we were experiencing was an all too common non-profit dilemma. How can we continue to do our mission-centric work, and update the work to be more in alignment with what we believe needs to be changed in the eating disorder community, all while finding the funding and support necessary to keep the doors open?
I am so grateful to have been able to witness and be a part of the way the community contributed and courageously engaged in the healing work of Ophelia’s Place. More than half my life has been dedicated to this organization. I was 18 when I casually shared with my mom, MaryEllen, what I believed was a missing piece to my recovery, to our community. That day my mom went from being my most fierce advocate, to everyone’s fiercest advocate.
She is one of the most brilliant, innovative, and inspiring people I know. MaryEllen never gave herself enough credit for what it took to get Ophelia’s Place from the rough draft outline on a napkin to a leading organization in the eating disorder field.
She would say, “I never had a plan, we just kept figuring it out as we went.” That could not be further from the truth. She not only had a plan, but she had a hundred backup plans in case something went wrong, and something always went wrong. Spending over twenty years of relying on the backup plan, to the next backup plan, has left us with an excruciating reality. We know the devastation of eating disorders on a personal and societal level and the struggle to keep making ends meet is beyond what the organization can bear. Our passion for this work and desire to provide the much-needed services for eating disorders was being taken over by the financial burdens.
While we pride ourselves on being creative and adaptable, we could not find a way to make the numbers work. We all live in an outcome based culture, one that celebrates greatness, beating the odds, and winning. But we rarely look at the cost of success. Is the sacrifice of achieving the goal something that I am equally as proud of or at the very least something I can live with? I am still unsure of the answer to that question, and don’t want this to turn into a venting session about the non-profit sector, but I would be remiss if I did not include that as part of the decision making process.
What I do know is that many non-profits function with an abundance of passion or maybe martyrdom that compensates for the lack of resources with ten times the amount of expectations of for profit companies. Our hope is that community care will grow and fill the gap that is being left because that is our best option for a healthy thriving community.
So as we finish this month of April, it will be our last as an operating organization. Thank you to everyone who has engaged in our services, called on us for help, and given to the cause.
We know that the love, healing, and resources given will continue on because nothing is wasted.
All services will be provided as usual until April 28th.
Additionally, I’d like to offer alternative support options either to use now or post-April 28th:
- ANAD. Can be accessed for general info about Eating Disorders and resources.
- Upstate NY Eating Disorder Services. For treatment options, referrals & case management in NYS.
- Safe Space CNY. For a variety of local support groups that range in focus area.
- Project HEAL. For general info and connection to treatment and treatment scholarships.
- KMB for Answers. For New York State-based treatment scholarships and financial support, ED awareness, and therapeutic yoga.
- Virtual support groups. They can be found here or here.
- Somatic Support Group. Former OP Direct of Operations Holly Lowery Davis runs a somatic healing support group. It’s not ED-specific but offers tools for healing with an emphasis on embodiment and tangible skill-building. You can find that here.
- Western New York Comprehensive Care Center: https://www.nyeatingdisorders.org/
I believe that healing involves learning how to be in right-relationship with change, and this decision is part of that practice. My hope, and our hope as an organization, is that this shift will make space for whatever next right resources are to come in and grow in our place.
We have been told time and time again, “Ophelia’s Place has saved my life.” or “I would never have the life I have now if it wasn’t for Ophelia’s Place.” But just like MaryEllen never gave herself enough credit, these comments, while they are much appreciated –and I myself have made similar statements– don’t honor the incredible strength, adaptivity and resiliency of the humans making them.
Those of you who have been changed by the work of the organization, have been changed because you are seekers of healing; you received help, were willing to be vulnerable and seek support from the community, learned new ways of being and coping, and grew through the pain and suffering. You have changed because of you and it's the highlight of my life to know that Ophelia’s Place was a part of that healing.
The beauty has always come from the partnership, we built this together.
This community is a special one and though this will be our last month, I am forever changed by your support.
Thank you,
Holli Zehring
P.S. For April, we’re still accepting donations which would be used to help our team deal with the expenses that come with closing an organization with a 20+ year history in the community. We are accepting donations
here.
