Governor Hochul: "We're going to keep our defenses up during the season because we are not defenseless. We have options and we are in a far better place. We had to deal with such isolation and have all remote services for such a longtime last year. We don't have to go back to that and I want to give you that message of hope that we can continue to function normally and see our family and our loved ones and especially our senior citizens who were so isolated last year during the holiday season."
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul delivered virtual remarks at the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Albany.
VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.
AUDIO of the event is available here.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Good morning, Metropolitan, and I wish I could be with you in person. I'm in Albany, but we've been very focused on battling back this new variant of the pandemic, but I will be with you in person at some point. I've been listening to the inspiring words of Reverend Dr. Damone Paul Johnson and I know First Lady Angela Johnson's with us as well. And I need to give a special shout out to somebody that makes organ music sound so heavenly and that is a high ranking member of my State Police detail, Lieutenant DJ Grant, so let's give him a round of applause for all he does. And the people that bring us the sounds of God's angels every single Sunday.
So, good morning. It's great to see all of you and I thank you for what Metropolitan Baptist has done. You've only been here for a few years, but what an impact you have had. Your congregation continues to grow and through the leadership of Reverend Johnson, you've done so much to lift up the people of Albany and I'm so grateful. Whether it's the food pantry that was working so hard during the pandemic or what we just heard Reverend Johnson talk about, your commitment to young people and bringing people together and bringing people food and giving people hope during this season where sometimes for some, it is a very lonely season.
So, I commend your commitment to faith driven service and continuing to focus on what I did as a young person, which was work with my family. We grew up in a social justice Catholic family, where even as a child, we left after church on Sundays and went into the many places that were in high need in the City of Buffalo, in Lackawanna, where I grew up and help people at their time of need, because that's what Christ called us to do.
I just want to give you a message right now. What I want to do during this holiday season is spread God's love, spread holiday cheer, spread the Christmas spirit and make sure we don't spread COVID. We can do that, right, my friends? COVID is still very much a threat. If we can just get our children and grandchildren vaccinated, we get everybody boosted and we're following all the science and the data and this new variant Omicron you've heard so much about, people are very likely to get it, it is highly transmissible, but we can take steps to protect ourselves like wearing masks then making sure you're boosted. So that's how we're going to fight against this variant.
We're going to keep our defenses up during the season because we are not defenseless. We have options and we are in a far better place. We had to deal with such isolation and have all remote services for such a longtime last year. We don't have to go back to that and I want to give you that message of hope that we can continue to function normally and see our family and our loved ones and especially our senior citizens who were so isolated last year during the holiday season.
So, I'm asking this congregation to do what the Bible asks us to do be our brothers and our sisters' keeper, and to look out for each other. By getting vaccinated and boosting and wearing the mask, you're protecting family members, loved ones, but also helping keep our small businesses open. So many of our businesses have been hit so hard by this and we know how to do this.
I know you believe as I do, that we live our faith through our service, our service to each other, and I'll always have that commitment to each other. And I want to let you know, as your governor, I'll continue to fight to protect you, lift up our communities, particularly communities of color that were hit so incredibly hard during this pandemic. And we saw so many disparities and how our kids were not well-educated during this pandemic, when it's supposed to learn remotely, that did not work. And I want to do everything we can to make sure our children are back in school after the holiday season. And not miss another day and be safe and keep our teachers safe.
I'll continue to ask God to guide me toward the right decisions as I did the very first day I learned I would have the privilege and the high honor and the humbling honor to be your governor. So, I need your prayers, I'm asking for your prayers and your support as we enter this holiday season more than ever.
I just want to wish all of you a very blessed, holy, happy, and wonderful merry Christmas to all of you.
Thank you, and to all my friends at Metropolitan, I look forward to seeing you soon in person.