Joy Lucky

LPN / River Valley Healthcare Cemter / Poughkeepsie, NY

Joy Lucky realizes there are many things about life that are not fair. But she hopes to make a difference through her activities with the Women’s Ministry and a group called Women of Excellence. “I know there are ways to give people choices and help make the world more just,” she says. “And that’s how I live my life. Everything I do is connected to that reasoning.”

Joy is an LPN at River Valley Healthcare Center (RVCC) in Poughkeepsie, New York. Eight years ago, Joy was working at a veteran’s hospital in the southern part of the Hudson Valley when the CNAs and service and maintenance workers at RVCC became 1199SEIU members. “I came to River Valley in 2006 and the LPNs weren’t in a union. Our health insurance wasn’t nearly as good as what our 1199 co-workers had,” Lucky said.

“I was no stranger to the benefits of having a union. I was a member of a different union (of federal workers) at the hospital and before that I was an 1199 member at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse. I was raised in a union family in Elmira--my father was a Corning Glass factory worker. No one would ever think of driving anything other than an American car in my family. You just didn’t do it. You supported working people. You supported justice in the workplace.”

After getting settled in her new job in a nursing home environment at RVCC and working alongside 199SEIU members for a while, Joy, together with a group of union Delegates, put the wheels in motion to allow LPNs to become part of the bargaining unit. This year, she and several of her River Valley co-workers helped the workers at The Pines nursing home, a few blocks away from River Valley, also become 1199 members.

Joy’s quest for fairness reaches beyond the scope of the workplace and into the community. She and two friends from the Women’s Ministry, Jalyna West and Doreen Wiggins, went out for dinner one evening and wound up discussing what they viewed as today’s biggest economic and social problems. With their hearts, minds and great effort, that conversation became a reality called A Woman’s Place. Located at the Potter House, a family center in Poughkeepsie, the mission of A Woman’s Place is to “provide women with the necessary tools to help better themselves naturally, spiritually and emotionally,” Joy says.

“Through networking, we fortify one another for the betterment of our families and our communities. We’ve turned our ideas into an association run by and for women from all walks of life.”

For now, the rent is being paid out of the pockets of Lucky, West and Wiggins. “We have supportive families,” they say. They write grants and speak to anyone who will listen. The Chamber of Commerce of Southern Dutchess County has been especially helpful. Two programs--weekly women’s study groups and monthly social events for couples with inspirational speakers--have gotten off to a good start since February.

Lucky’s pet project is “I’m Coming Out”, a re-entry/transition program for formerly incarcerated women. She is working with a group at Camp Beacon, a minimum security correctional facility near Poughkeepsie. “We work on concrete skills like what you need to land a job when you get out,” says Joy. For instance, A Woman’s Place is home to “Mother’s Porters Clothing Closet”, which provides free clothing for women who need proper attire to help them on the career path of their choice. “We also bring spiritual guidance into the picture.”

A Woman’s Place is a sanctuary for personal, community and global action. West’s personal favorite program is NYS Ambassadors for the Ashé Foundation. Lucky and West point to cartons of shoes piled up in a corner of their small office. “This started when its founder saw a photo of an African child’s feet wearing plastic bottle flip flops. Ambassadors from all over the world have pledged to distribute one million pairs of shoes and distribute them to children and adults in Africa and we’re part of that,” West explains.

“The work I do with my residents, with the union and at A Woman’s Place all boils downs to having a heart. I believe every person deserves to be whole and I want to help them get there.”