Why Thresholds: Judy Ashworth
“I get more from Thresholds than I give to it. And I’ve been trying to close that gap ever since I joined the board.”
When my husband and I planned to move to the Midwest, I went online before we’d even arrived, searching for ways to connect, to find something meaningful where I could be of service. I’d spent years in medical research, working on substance use, trying to develop medications that could help people struggling with addiction. I knew the world of stigmatized, overlooked populations. I knew how hard it was to get people the help they needed. I just hadn’t found the right place to put that to work.
Then a neighbor, a Thresholds board member, found out what I did and thought I might belong at Thresholds.
He was right.
My understanding of Thresholds’ impact deepened when I joined two members of the Homeless Outreach Program for a ride along. We were moving between visits, helping find a family living in a bus, clients in tents, people in apartments barely holding on, when one of the outreach workers got a phone call. A member they had worked with had died of an overdose. Someone they had known, cared for; someone they thought had been doing okay.
Both of them were devastated. And within minutes, they were instructed to come straight back to headquarters. There was support waiting for them. People ready to sit with them, talk with them, help them carry that heaviness.
I thought: this organization takes care of its own just as it takes care of those it serves. I want to advance its mission in any way I can.
Judy has given her expertise, her energy, and her heart. If her story moved you, consider giving what you can. Every dollar goes directly toward Thresholds’ mission: to help people living with mental illness build lives of stability, dignity, and purpose — through housing, meaningful work, and the kind of steadfast human support that shows up and never stops showing up. The link to give is in our bio and here. www.thresholds.org/donate.