[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 163 (Friday, October 14, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1045]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      RECOGNITION OF BART CHARLOW

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JACKIE SPEIER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 14, 2022

  Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize a 1960's Borscht 
Belt Baby who, of late, has been a distinguished individual serving 
turkey with all the trimmings in San Mateo County. Bart Charlow, the 
Chief Executive Officer of Samaritan House, is retiring after eight 
years on the front lines of human services. We will miss him 
enormously.
  Samaritan House annually serves clients 3,000,000 meals, provides 
44,120 nights of safe shelter, and during the time of Bart's leadership 
increased donations by 100 percent. Samaritan House provides a place 
for people without fixed housing to recover from hospital care. He led 
the agency to create a food pantry, added mental health services to the 
existing medical clinics, doubled food services, quintupled case 
management and financial assistance, and managed temporary operations 
of four additional shelter programs--a tripling of shelter capacity 
during COVID.
  The stories told by Samaritan House clients are America's stories. 
For example, 72-year-old Edwina and Demitrio were living in their car, 
trying to live on their combined Social Security checks in one of the 
most costly housing markets in America. They discovered Samaritan 
House. Due to its free services, they were able to save some money. 
Then, they were selected for a unit in a new affordable housing 
complex, a hotel purchased through federal funding. To a large extent, 
this couple can credit Bart Charlow, and the outstanding staff and 
volunteers of Samaritan House, for being a rock they could cling to 
when the storm of pestilence swept them into an economic sea.
  During Thanksgiving, I've personally worked next to Bart as we and 
dozens of volunteers distributed thousands of pounds of holiday 
groceries to clients. At Christmas during the pandemic, hundreds of 
families drove through the county fairgrounds picking up free gifts and 
food. In pre-pandemic times, Bart and volunteers, including me, would 
wrap hundreds of Christmas presents for children anxious to take their 
bounty home to place under the tree. Samaritan House is an official 
portal for safety net services for San Mateo County because the county 
trusts this agency's management to handle millions of dollars in 
contracts for services. Its staff follows Bart's belief: Respect human 
dignity and lift people up.
  Bart's come a long way from watching his extended family serve 
tourists at Charlow's Irvington Hotel in South Fallsburg, New York.
  Bart is a painter, and images of the Catskills leap from his canvas. 
Borscht Belt Babies, a Facebook group, confirms that Bart's upbringing 
was one of family and a tight-knit community. I was struck by a 1963 
photo taken at Charlow's Irvington Hotel. It showed three handsome 
young men in the shallow end of the swimming pool on what was likely a 
hot summer day. Two were white and one black. 1963 was the year of the 
March on Washington and the ``I Have A Dream'' speech by Dr. Martin 
Luther King, Jr. It was also the year that Jackson, Mississippi, 
drained four public swimming pools and sold another rather than 
integrate them. At Charlow's Irvington Hotel, all Americans were 
welcomed and equal. Of the kitchen, Bart remarked, ``I could spend 
hours watching the baker make batter and knead dough in the giant 
mixers . . . . he'd fill [baking trays] with hundreds of perfectly 
shaped little cookies or mounds of bread rolls in just minutes.'' I bet 
the borscht was also great.
  Bart joined Samaritan House in 2014. He was 65, a time when others 
hope to retire. However, Bart is deeply dedicated to philanthropy and 
brought with him 39 years of executive experience, largely in the non-
profit sector. He was also a licensed marriage and family therapist for 
42 years, certainly excellent preparation for leading a non-profit. He 
has a BA in Anthropology and Sociology from Wake Forest University and 
a Master's in Education and Counseling, also from Wake Forest.
  Please join me in wishing Bart Charlow the time of his life in 
retirement with his wife Nancy, their sons Alex and Michael and 
daughter Lisa. Gevald, di mantens! [Wow, the mountains!] is a Yiddish 
song celebrating the Catskills. One of the lines is that, in the 
mountains, ``Everybody rests their bones.'' Well, now it's Bart's turn. 
He may seek his retirement by resting his bones, but he will never 
truly rest until his fellow Americans are also safe, their health 
secure, and their weary bones afforded a cooling retreat in the shade 
created by human dignity.

                          ____________________