September 2015 - New York City
 
It's Our Anniversary!   

This month marks two years since we sent out our first New York DGT family friendly volunteer opportunities listing and we'd like to hear from you, our subscribers. How have you and your family used this information? Please send us your photos, stories, and feedback. We'd love to hear from you!
 
 
Garden Beautification
Concrete Safaris
 
Date/Time:
  • Jefferson Gardens, Saturdays, September 26, October 17, November 21 and December 12; 10am - 1pm
  • Mad Fun Farm, Saturdays, September 12, October 3, November 7 and December 5; 10am - 1pm
Location:
  • Jefferson Gardens, 300 East 115th Street just east of Second Avenue. If you are late, meet at the development in the gardens around the basketball courts.
  • Mad Fun Farm, 98th Street and Third Avenue, just south of the flag pole in the gated gardens
Concrete Safaris would like to invite families to join them for their fall Garden Volunteer Dates. Activities may include: planting, harvesting, weeding, raking leaves, spreading wood chips, trimming shrubs, and picking up trash. Dates will be canceled if the temperature is below 35 degrees, if the gardens are full of snow or ice, or if there is a threat of lightning or other natural disasters. Dress to get sweaty, dirty, and get stuff done! Bring a water bottle to stay hydrated.
 
Ages: Families with children ages five and above are welcome to volunteer.
 
Time Commitment: Three hours
 
Contact: Mac Levine, mac@concretesafaris.org
www.concretesafaris.org
 
 
Rosh Hashanah Package Delivery 
DOROT
 
Date/Time: Sunday, September 20, 10am

Location: Orientation at DOROT at 171 West 85th Street NY; senior visits will be on the West or East Side of Manhattan
 
Deliver a holiday package and visit with a DOROT senior to share memories and hope as we commemorate the anniversary of 9/11 during the Rosh Hashanah Package Delivery.
 
Ages: Families with children ages 4-12 years old are welcome to volunteer
 
Time Commitment: Two to three hours
 
Contact: Shelley Levine, 917.441.5051
www.dorotusa.org
 
 
Host a Party
Celebrate U
 
Date/Time: Thursday September 10, 5:30 - 7:30pm
 
Location: Henry Street Settlement, 605 FDR Drive
 
Help host a carnival-themed party for children in need. The Celebrate U Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization founded by two 15-year-old girls, Chase Kauder and Talia Eskenazi. Celebrate U hosts, organizes and manages birthday parties for New York City area children who are living in shelters or who can't afford a birthday celebration. Who doesn't feel special when they have a big birthday celebration? Celebrate U has partnered with the Henry Street Settlement and the Boys and Girls Club of Harlem for bi-monthly birthday celebrations since 2014. Corporate sponsors provide treats and party gifts. 
 
Ages: Children in 5th grade or younger may volunteer with a parent; sixth graders and older may participate on their own.
 
Time Commitment: Two hours
 
Contact: Heidi Eskinazi Heidi@celebrateu.org
www.celebrateu.org
 
 
Sort with Room to Grow!
Room to Grow
 
Date/Time: Saturday, September 19, 11am - 2pm
 
Location: 54 East 21st Street, Suite 401, New York

Sort and fold baby clothes and organize an inventory of infant and toddler clothing, books, toys and equipment that will be given to children in poverty throughout their first three years of life. 
 
Ages: Volunteers should be 15 or older.
 
Time Commitment: Three hours
 
 
9/11 National Day of Service & Remembrance Handmade Commemorative Cards 
DOROT
 
Date/Time: To participate in the 9/11 Postcard Competition, please mail cards before Monday, September 8.
 
Location: Mail finished cards and a Volunteer Return Form to:  
DOROT
Attn: Card Making Project
171 West 85th Street
New York, NY 10024

For 9/11 National Day of Service & Remembrance, DOROT aims to send over 1,000 handmade cards to local military personnel and first responders from NYC police precincts and fire departments to commemorate the day. Our hope is that the cards thank our men and women in military service and local first responders for their service to our country and our city. For more information, please visit the DOROT website
 
Ages: Everyone can participate
 
Time Commitment: Varies

Contact: Kelsey Donovan, kdonovan@dorotusa.org, 212.769.2850 
www.dorotusa.org
 
Go Orange to End Hunger
Food Bank for New York City
 
Date/Time: Throughout September. Go Orange Awareness Day is Wednesday, September 17
 
Location: Your local community
 
Now in its 10th year, Go Orange is a citywide call to action for all New Yorkers to get involved in support of the 1.5 million individuals who rely on Food Bank For New York City and our network of member charities. Here are some ways you and your family can help:
  • Snap a photo of yourself or a friend wearing orange and tag it #GoOrangeNYC to raise awareness - we'll feature the best pics in our gallery and on social media!
  • Start a Virtual Food Drive - Virtual Food Drives allow food banks to provide more food than a traditional canned food drive thanks to our wholesale purchasing power.
  • Teens and adults can also find onsite volunteer opportunities on the Food Bank for New York City website.
Ages: Everyone can participate
 
Time Commitment: Varies
 
Contact: 212.566.7855
www.foodbanknyc.org
 
 
Open House New York Weekend
Open House New York (OHNY)
 
Date/Time: Saturday and Sunday, October 17-18. Volunteers must register in September for the event in October.
 
Location: Volunteers receive their location assignments at the training session. They could be placed at any one of over 200 sites, located in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, or Staten Island.

Volunteer for the 2015 OHNY Weekend. Volunteer activities may include any of the following: staffing check-in at one of our participating sites; greeting visitors, managing lines, asking visitors to sign up for the OHNY mailing list; assisting with crowd control. Open House New York (OHNY) is a 501(c)(3) organization that promotes a greater appreciation of the city's built environment; broadens public awareness by exposing diverse audiences to distinctive examples of architecture, engineering and design; educates and inspires discussion of issues of excellence in design, planning and preservation; and showcases outstanding new work as well as structures of historic merit.
 
Ages: 16 or older. Volunteers under 18 years old must volunteer with a parent.
 
Time Commitment: Volunteers must attend one of our required training sessions on either September 24 or 26 before OHNY Weekend, and pick up your OHNY Volunteer Button, T-Shirt, and assignment sheet. Volunteer must complete one volunteer shift (up to four hours) on Saturday or Sunday of OHNY Weekend, October 17-18.
 
Contact: Clara Peretz, volunteer@ohny.org, 212.991.6470 x103. Registration is available online. Volunteers registration closes on September 13.
www.ohny.org 

 
 
Sign up to Make a Difference this September!
Join Alex's Lemonade Stand on the Journey to a Million
 
Every day, parents of children battling cancer travel thousands of miles for treatments. That's why this September, Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Alex's Lemonade Stand is going a million miles to raise awareness and fundraise for cures. Last year, more than 12,000 people logged miles and raised money for childhood cancer research. This year they are doing it again! To find a cure for childhood cancer, we're going the distance - running, walking or biking to exceed one million miles.

The goal is to collectively run, walk and/or ride one million miles during a single month: September, Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and fundraise to find cures. Anyone can join and there are no minimum mileage or fundraising requirements. Every mile and dollar helps!

How to Get Started:
  1. Register - you can choose to start a team, join one or participate on your own.
  2. Spread the word - tell your family and friends! Get them to join you, support you or donate!
  3. Fundraise for the cause - you can accept online donations or hold a fundraising event. We have lots of ideas to help you.
  4. Each day in September (Childhood Cancer Awareness Month), walk, run or bike at your own pace, on your own schedule, logging your miles manually or using MapMyFitness or Fitbit.
  5. Your miles get added to the grand total, bringing us toward one million miles. The money you raise funds research toward finding cures
Why One Million Miles? One million miles is 40 times around the equator or two round-trips to the moon. But it's less than five miles for each kid or adolescent who will be affected by childhood cancer this year, worldwide. Childhood cancer is the leading cause of death by disease in children under the age of 15 in the United States. That's why it is vital that we raise money to cure it, now.

Learn more at  www.alexslemonade.org/campaign/2015-alexs-million-mile

 
Sponsor a Family
Family-to-Family
 
Date/Time: Once a month
 
Location: Click here to see the communities where Family-to-Family sponsors families
 
Start a new school year with a new kindness commitment that will keep giving on your calendar month after month. Family-to-Family is a nonprofit national hunger and poverty relief organization dedicated to connecting, one-to-one, families with enough to share to impoverished American families with profoundly less. Family-to-Family programs create a bridge between communities with "more" and some of our country's poorest areas. Start the new school year with a new kindness commitment that will keep giving on your calendar month after month. You and your family can help an American family living in poverty with a monthly box of groceries. Your monthly donation or the box of food you ship will ensure that "your" family gets the food they need the last week of every month, when food stamps often run out.  After you sign up we'll send you details about the family you're helping. Visit the DGT™ Sponsor a Family project page for reflection ideas, book suggestions, and ways to take this project further.
 
Ages: Everyone can participate
 
Time Commitment: Varies

Contact: Nancy Hennessee, nhennessee@family-to-family.org. Visit the Family-to-Family Sponsor A Family page for sign-up options.
www.family-to-family.org 
 
 
KINDNESS TIPS FOR YOUR NEWSLETTER
 
Want to share kindness tips in your school, faith group or organization newsletter? Doing Good Together has compiled a school year's worth of weekly tips, which you can use weekly, monthly, or whenever you'd like! Tips include ideas for service projects, kindness practices, and other simple ways to teach children about giving, caring, and compassion. And they're FREE! (With attribution to DGT™ of course.) To subscribe or learn more, please visit our website or contact Nassim ( Nassim@doinggoodtogether.org).

 

 

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This list was compiled by Doing Good Together™ (www.doinggoodtogether.org)
 When calling to volunteer for any of the opportunities listed above, please let the coordinator know you found it through this listing. You are encouraged to ask any questions you may have of the sponsoring organization before committing to a project.
Disclaimer: This list is provided as a service to families. Inclusion of organizations in this listing does not imply affiliation, endorsement or quality assurance on the part of Doing Good Together.™ Doing Good Together™ bears no responsibility whatsoever for the activities and actions of the listed organizations. 
                                                                            

                                                                                                     © 2015 Doing Good Together™