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Nearly 40 families sat down to Thanksgiving dinner this week at The Family Center in Chelsea.

"Often the holidays are very challenging times for families especially if a parent has already died or is not available to be there for their children. So we see our role as really helping families get the holidays off to a great start," says The Family Center Executive Director Ivy Gamble Cobb.

The family center provides free legal, social, and counseling services to families with a parent or guardian who is ill, in jail, or has a substance abuse problem. Gamble Cobb founded the organization in 1994 with three other women after working for the Department of Social Services.

"We were finding that children were being left without care plans in place for what was to happen to them when their parent was no longer able to care for them," says Gamble Cobb.

Calvin Alston was diagnosed with HIV four years ago right after the birth of his daughter Kiki. Now a single dad, he turned to The Family Center for support.

"The legal department helped me a lot with Kiki, getting full custody of her and getting my power of attorney and getting child care for her," says Alston.

Alston attends a support group with other single fathers at the center.

"We come together once a week and we sit down and talk, and discuss what went on through the week with us, and maybe one of us can help each other out with a situation," says Alston.

The Family Center, which receives federal, state, and city funding, serves 650 low-income families a year.

"They have services for the children. They have legal, they have social work, they have counseling services for the children that are affected," says Family Center Client Luz De Jesus Roman.

Gamble Cobb says she won't turn anyone away, and works with each family to make sure they have all of their documents in place, like a living will, Medicaid information, and guardianship plans for children. Her motto is plan for the worst, but hope for the best.

"We wanted to make sure every child had an answer to that question, who will take care of me," says Gamble Cobb.

"When you come in here, you feel protected and you feel safe," says De Jesus Roman.

So for helping make families feel safe by giving them the security they need, Ivy Gamble Cobb is the latest New Yorker of the Week.