Marisa McClinton believes it is critically important to stop hate and brutality in all its ugly manifestations and to that end, she has organized a community ‘Stop Hate Peace Event’ on Sunday, April 30 from noon to 4 p.m. at the Thomas Felten Community Park in Modena.

In a promotional flyer, McClinton says this will be, “A multi-county event of local stories on how bigotry, hate, racism, bullying and harassment have directly affected our lives within the community and will include methods of healing.” She said the day is being sponsored by her non-profit Unity Delivered and will include grassroots community members, activists and organizers within Ulster County. There will be speakers, food and clothing drives, musical performances and a free BBQ Lunch provided to the public.

McClinton is an Ulster County native and is a single mother of two daughters.

“My grandfather was a town worker and I’m a union member, a union shop steward, so I’m all about community, all about servitude,” she said.

McClinton works with a variety of community groups and since 2008 has been running Unity Delivered that provides food and clothing to low income families in the mid Hudson region. She pays for all of this, “out of my measly state paycheck” from her job with the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities [OPWDD].

McClinton knows from personal experience the difficulties and challenges that homeless people face.

“I was homeless four years ago and living in my car for nine months. I was eating out of dumpsters and I couldn’t get any assistance or anybody on the phone; it was a very frustrating situation,” she said. “Every time I asked them for help, they threatened to call CPS [Child Protective Services] on me, so I had to do a lot on my own. Being on the street I know first-hand what people go through when they don’t have a home. When I lived in my car I had nowhere to put my stuff so I gave away literally everything I had because I had no use for it.”

McClinton was able to have a distant family member care for her daughters during this trying period but once she was able to secure housing in Clintondale for herself and her daughters, she promised that she would do everything she could, “to bless other people.”

Since September 2022 McClinton has been harassed by a nearby family, starting with one of her daughters who is a student in the Wallkill School District.

“Then it spilled over to harassing just me and the parents came after me with names,” she said.

McClinton said this has escalated in the last three months to having eggs thrown at her home and on multiple occasions, being screamed at using the N-word. The school district has only kept their distance from her situation.

McClinton made a conscious choice, “not to lash out and I’m not going to get crazy and I’m going to let go but I am going to fight fire with a rally about positivity, love and unity. I decided to do a community event on why bigotry and hatred in this form can’t stand in Southern Ulster anymore.”

McClinton has received support from the Ulster County, Plattekill and Gardiner Democratic Committees, Wednesday Walk for Black Lives and Rosemary DaCruz of Communities for Local Power that will ensure the event is successful.

“This is going to be an exchange of listening to what is going on in your community and also if you need clothing, food or whatever, it’s going to be right there for you to just take; it’s all free,” she said.

The event was originally scheduled for Saturday, but was re-scheduled due to what the organizer called “circumstances beyond our control.”

For more information, McClinton can be reached at 845-633-0033.