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A caring heart, Business owner offers food bank barter program for holiday season
By staff2 , Nov 11 2008. Viewed 6185 times.

As the nation and the state sink lower into a recession, and as more people lose their jobs or see their work hours cut and find themselves having to use the numerous food bank and soup kitchen resources in Ulster County, small businesses are stepping up to help those less fortunate.
One such business is New Paltz-based Wyld Acres Healing Arts. Business owner Erica Chase-Salerno will be offering a Food Bank Barter program next month. Clients are invited to "pay for their sessions with the equivalent in non-perishable food items" that will be donated to food pantries throughout the county.
"I got the idea for this while attending one of my son's gymnastics' classes, run by Richard Ferrono at his Ultimate Gymnastics in Rosendale,” Chase-Salerno said.
And while Ferrono ran his program for several months, Chase-Salerno's doing it for the holidays. She's friends with the folks that run the Rosendale Food Pantry and they've told her the time between the holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas is a tough time for food pantries. "People get donated out," she said.
So it seemed like a good time to run the program, and Chase-Salerno said she is hoping other businesses in Ulster County will see what she is doing and what Ferrono has done and begin to do the same.
Chase-Salerno has seen up close the difference people can make when they volunteer their time. She was worked as a volunteer in a number of countries, such as Haiti, where if it wasn't for aid agencies and volunteers, many more would go hungry than already do.
"This has given me a personal appreciation for helping people," Chase-Salerno said.
"I know that food banks are getting hit hard this year, and they get cleaned out after Thanksgiving," she said. "This program is intended to help replenish some of their inventory before the December holiday rush.
She asks that when clients make their appointments, they mention the Food Bank Barter.
Wyld Acres, Chase-Salerno said the name came to her while she was meditating means "What You Love Doing," is a distance energy healing and prenatal communication studio.
"As human beings, we are constantly expending energy as well as absorbing it from others," she said. "Energy can get blocked in our bodies, and as it builds up, different kinds of issues can arise."
Chase-Salerno helps balance out that energy.
She was introduced to energy healing through Reiki in 2000 as part of a spiritual growth program. After studying with Sr. Doris Bissonette, RJM, she became a Level 1 practitioner in 2001 and has since become certified at Level 2.
Chase-Salerno is also a student of the One Light Healing Touch school and incorporates that knowledge and skills into her practice.
To contact Chase-Salerno or learn more about Wyld Acres or to make an appointment go online at www.wyldacres.com, or call 255-5896.


By Robert Ford
Ulster County Press

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