Staff a Food Drive!
City Harvest and Friends of Carroll Park
Date/Time: Sundays: December 5, 12, 19, 26 and January 2 from 11am to 1pm
Location: 245 Carroll St. (in front of Robert Acito Park House)
Ages: Families with children of all ages are welcome. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
Time Commitment: A minimum of one hour
Help Friends of Carroll Park staff our food drive for City Harvest. Your family can spend an hour or two on a Sunday afternoon greeting food donors. If you can't volunteer, consider swinging by with some donated food! The most needed items are: canned fruit and vegetables, peanut butter (in plastic jars), mac and cheese, and hot and cold cereal. Important note: City Harvest cannot accept glass containers, homemade items, expired items or dented cans.
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Host a Book Drive!
Brooklyn Book Bodega
Date/Time: Ongoing project
Location: Contact info@brooklynbookbodega.org to arrange a time to drop-off at our storage location.
Ages: Everyone is welcome to participate
Time Commitment: Varies
Brooklyn Book Bodega provides access to and ownership of books, builds community, and creates a passion for learning through free events and literacy-based community programming.
Organizing a Book Drive is Easy:
- Pick your dates: We recommend a length of two weeks, including two weekends, for your book drive.
- Set a goal: Make it meaningful and reach for the highest number you can.
- Fill out our form: We want to share the news of your book drive.
- Print, download and share a sign: Hang up on donation bins and spread the word on social media sites.
- Start collecting! Collect gently used and new books for ages 0-18, including foreign language, dual language, and nonfiction books. Please no religious, textbooks, activity books, encyclopedias, broken, or missing pages books. Here is a list of Popular Book Requests. Please note: All books must still be counted and sorted by our volunteers.
- Organize your donations. Sort all books into banker’s boxes so that they are easy to lift. Books are heavy! Before you drop off your books, review the guide. Organize books by general age level, type, or category. For example, here are typical categories: picture books, board books, early chapter books, chapter books, preschool, elementary books, young adult, high school, etc. Please do not send any books that you would not want in your own home or are not for ages 0-18. For example, do not give us torn books, books with scribbles, or adult books.
- Label the boxes. Don’t forget to label each of your banker’s boxes with the book type or category. Tag us on Social Media. Don't forget to follow us on social media and tag us during your book drive Instagram @brooklynbookbodega, Twitter @BklynBookBodega, Facebook @Bklynbookbodega.
- Bring your book donations to us! At the conclusion of your book drive, contact us at info@brooklynbookbodega.org to arrange a drop-off time at our storage location.
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Supply Drive to Support Recently Arrived Refugees, Asylees and Asylum Seekers
Repair the World
Date/Time: Now through December 15. The delivery schedule is Monday or Wednesday, 10:30am – 4pm. If these days or times don't work for you, please reach out to hannah.grossman@werepair.org
Location: Drop off at:
Repair the World, 808 Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn
Ages: Everyone is welcome to participate
Time Commitment: Varies
Join Repair the World in a drive to support Ruth’s Refuge, a local non-profit that provides home furnishings and essentials to refugees, asylees, and asylum seekers in NYC. We will collect new bathroom and cleaning supplies to help newly arrived families and individuals move into their new homes with comfort and dignity. Sign up to receive the wish list.
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Winter Care Kit Packaging: Celebrate Hanukkah & Winter Holidays though Service & Music
Repair the World
Date/Time: Sunday, December 5, 11am – 12:15pm
Location: Repair the World, 808 Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn
Ages: Geared toward families with children ages three through seven
Time Commitment: One and one-quarter hours
Bring your kids to join Repair the World to celebrate Hanukkah and the holiday season through service and music! We will bring more light into our neighbors' days by packing winter care kits for Brooklyn Community Services to be distributed to kids in need. This event is indoors and masks are required.
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Playdates with a Purpose: Welcoming Refugees
Repair the World
Date/Time: Sunday, December 19, 10 – 11:15am
Location: Repair the World, 808 Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn
Ages: This event is geared toward families with children ages three through seven but is open to families with children of alll ages.
Time Commitment: One and one-quarter hours
Bring your children to join Repair the World to learn about welcoming new neighbors who needed to leave their homes and help us sort donations from our drive for Ruth’s Refuge, which provides essentials to refugees, asylees, and asylum seekers in NYC. This event is indoors and masks are required.
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St. Nicholas Project Adopt-A-Family Project
Catholic Charities
Date/Time: Ongoing project
Location: You will receive information on where to ship your gifts after you have signed up
Ages: Everyone can help
Time Commitment: Varies
The St. Nicholas Project is a year-round initiative to help the most vulnerable in New York City and Westchester County by providing support to individuals and families through donations of essential items and connecting them to much-needed services. Help us bring the joy of Christmas home by making sure there will be gifts under the tree for the whole family. Each year, the Catholic Charities Adopt-A-Family Program serves hundreds of families. Each year Catholic Charities helps over 1,100 families (4,400 total family members!) by providing basic winter accessories (coats, hats, sweaters, scarves, and blankets) through the St. Nicholas Project. Learn more here.
Contact: To Adopt-A-Family, please click on this link, fill in the details, and click “submit” to send the form to Catholic Charities. You will then be provided with information about your adopted family, along with instructions on where to ship your gifts. You may also make a financial contribution to the St. Nicholas Project here.
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16th Annual - Mom's Christmas Stocking Campaign
Mom's Christmas Stocking
Date/Time: Please contact Wendy Strauss to arrange a time to drop off items.
Venmo @Daryl-Strauss-1
Or send a check to:
Mom's Christmas Stocking
216 W 89th Street #2A
New York NY 10024
Ages: Everyone can help
Time Commitment: Varies
D. Wendy Strauss started this project in honor of her own mother. After her Mom passed away, Wendy found a note asking that she continue to fill a Christmas stocking for Mom, but give it to a woman in need. Mom’s Christmas Stocking fills hundreds of stockings for women and children each holiday season to be distributed to shelters in NYC through Women In Need ( www.winnyc.org). Due to the pandemic, there will not be an in-person stocking stuffer event this year. However, financial and in-kind donations are still needed to fill stockings for women in need.
Suggested stocking stuffer items include:
- Makeup
- Travel size toiletries, lotion, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant
- Feminine products
- Jewelry
- Hair accessories
- Toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss
- Nail kits, emery boards, polish
- Socks, trouser socks, slipper socks
- Specialty gift items, hats, gloves, slipper socks, pashmina scarves
- Pens, markers, notebooks, note pads, pocket calendars, datebooks
- NEW baby clothing such as bibs, socks, onesies
- Child safe toys, bottles, pacifiers, baby care kits, wipes, diapers
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Winter Wishes
Sheltering Arms Children and Family Services
Date/Time: All gifts need to be delivered to Sheltering Arms by December 10.
Location: Deliver or ship gifts to:
Sheltering Arms
Attn Winter Wonders
305 7th Avenue, Floor 2
New York, NY 10001
Ages: Everyone can help
Time Commitment: Varies
Join the annual Winter Wonders Gift Drive and help Sheltering Arms collect gifts for over 5,000 children in our programs. Your generosity goes towards making the kids in our programs feel loved and joyful during the holiday season, which is something every child deserves
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Serve a Hot Meal to the Homeless
Manhattan Church of Christ
Date/Time: Saturday, December 18 and 25, 9am – noon
Location: Manhattan Church of Christ, 48 East 80th Street
Ages: All ages, families are encouraged to volunteer together.
Time Commitment: Varies
The Saturday Lunch Program provides hot meals to the homeless with dignity and compassion, including on Christmas Day. All shifts are family-friendly. Volunteers help prepare meals, place meals in to-go containers, place to-go containers in bags, and distribute meals to guests, as well as distribute coffee, tea & bottled water, while observing safety protocols. Volunteers must wear masks and gloves, and demonstrate age-appropriate vaccinations. Unfortunately, due to high demand, there will be a limit of 12 volunteers.
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A Special Collection!
Manhattan Church of Christ
Date/Time: Please contact Reverend Carl to coordinate drop off times
Location: Manhattan Church of Christ, 48 East 80th Street
Ages: Everyone is welcome to participate
Time Commitment: Varies
The Manhattan Church of Christ is collecting the following items for community members who live marginally or are homeless. These items will be distributed at their holiday party in December as well as the NCS residence home for the senior citizens. All items can be dropped off at the church:
- New socks, hats, scarves
- Small toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash
- Deodorant, small soaps, small shampoos, small lotions, hand sanitizers
We are also writing and collecting holiday cards and letters of encouragement to go inside of gift bags. Visit this link for more information on the Community of Hope.
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Toys for Tots
Holiday Toy Collection
Ages: Everyone can help
Time Commitment: Varies
Toys for Tots is a well-known charity, established in 1991 by the US Marine Corps Toys For Tots Foundation. Their mission is simple: to provide a tangible sign of hope to economically disadvantaged children at Christmas. Every child can relate to the idea that they receive so many gifts for the Holidays, and yet some children in our community may not receive a special toy for Christmas. Join in their efforts to ensure that every child in need in our community receives a new and unwrapped toy this holiday season! Learn more here.
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Make-A-Wish
Macy's Believe Campaign
Date/Time: Now through December 24
Location: Online or at any Macy's retail store
Ages: Everyone is welcome to participate
Time Commitment: Varies
This is the 13th year of the Macy's Believe campaign benefiting Make-A-Wish. Your family can help make a child's wish come true! For every letter you send online or postcard you download and drop in a big red letterbox in-store, Macy's will donate $1 to Make-A-Wish, up to $1 million, to create magical, life-changing experiences for terminally ill children and their families. During National Believe Week (November 28-December 4), Macy's is doubling their donation, giving $2 per letter, up to an additional $1 million. This brings the total campaign goal to $2 million! Since 2003, Macy's has donated over $157 million and helped grant over 16,000 wishes. With Macy's support, Make-A-Wish is committed to ensuring that no child waits even one unnecessary day to experience how a wish can encourage the belief in the impossible.
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Neighborhood Meet Up/Clean Up
ONE BLOCK (UWS)
Date/Time: Various - you can clean your block at any time or join our group events usually held on Saturday or Sunday morning
Location: Upper West Side
Ages: Everyone can help. Kids under 14 should be accompanied by an adult.
Time Commitment: One to three hours...do what you can!
ONE BLOCK is a nonprofit with over 1,800 local members who help in a variety of ways. You can bag trash on your street a couple of days a week, join our Saturday or Sunday morning group events, clean graffiti or put together your own group, and we can help facilitate a cleanup for you. We also desperately need help fundraising or donations to support our three employees (who were formally homeless) who are paid to do the tough job of keeping Amsterdam, Broadway and Columbus Ave clean. We also have a few special projects for teens who need community service hours.
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Letters of Gratitude
Operation Gratitude
Date/Time: Ongoing
Ages: Everyone is welcome to participate
Time Commitment: Varies
Write letters to our military, veterans and first responders. Operation Gratitude sends care packages to our active-duty military, veterans, first responders and new recruits. Each package includes a bundle of letters from the American people, thanking them for their service to our country. Package recipients tell us these letters, notes, and drawings are the most cherished items in their box. Visit the Operation Gratitude website for full instructions.
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Annual Coat Drive
New York Cares
Date/Time: Ongoing
Location: Donate online or if you would like to donate coats, click here for our drop-off map to find partners near you accepting donations, the kinds of coats they need, and their contact information.
Ages: Everyone is welcome to participate
Time Commitment: Varies
Now more than ever, New Yorkers are counting on acts of warmth from their neighbors to make it through the holiday season. Not since the Great Depression have so many people experienced hunger, unemployment, and illness. Basic needs like food and warm clothing compete with one another as families and individuals face cruel choices.
At New York Cares, we believe:
- No one should have to skip a meal to buy a winter coat.
- No parent should be forced to choose between buying school supplies and staying warm.
- No essential worker should commute without a warm coat on their back.
Because of your generosity, we are partnering with community organizations in Central Queens, East Brooklyn, and the South Bronx. We’ll deliver new, high-quality coats to residents of areas most impacted by COVID-19 and the resulting economic instability. For answers to frequently asked questions and to access our virtual coat collector toolkit, visit our resources page.
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Two Opportunities for Teens with Mixteca’s Health Conference
Repair the World
Date/Time(s):
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Gift and goodie bag wrapping: Thursday, December 9, 4 – 7pm. Wrap Gifts and Goodie Bags for Mixteca’s Health Conference
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Conference volunteers: Friday, December 17, 4 – 5pm, 5 – 7pm, or 7 – 9pm. Volunteer at Mixteca’s Annual Health Conference
Location: Sunset Park, Brooklyn. You will receive the exact location once you have registered.
Ages: High school age students
Time Commitment: Varies, two to three hours. Email micali.morin@werepair.org ahead of time if you cannot stay for your complete shift.
The Annual Health Conference with Mixteca empowers Mexican and Latin-American immigrants by providing access to services that enhance their quality of life and will allow them to reach sustainable social and economic development. Join Repair the World to make new friends and wrap gifts and goodie bags, or to set up, check-in, and assist at the conference.
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Greet Deliveries with Gratitude |
EXPLORE our growing list of at-home projects you can do whenever you're ready, each with conversation starters, book ideas, and more! Follow along on social media as other families tackle this month's project and share their stories! Simply join our Facebook group or find us on Instagram ( @doinggoodtogether and #sharekindness). |
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Add kindness to your holiday shopping experience. (And support a big-hearted nonprofit too!)
Our newly updated Shop Kind online store has gifts, games, books, apparel, kindness kits and more. Great for gift giving or for yourself! Visit often as we add items through Bookshop, the Amazon Associates program, and from independent vendors. The passive income we receive from sales, along with the small ad cost to DGT chosen vendors, helps our nonprofit as we in turn help busy browsers and buyers find goods that "do good" as well. (Disclaimer: we receive affiliate dollars and a small fee from the vendors to help support DGT.) Thank you!
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Mailing Address:
755 Medina Rd.
Wayzata, MN 55391
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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.
© 2021 Doing Good Together™
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