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April 2020 - NYC |
We are all currently experiencing the impact of the efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 in our communities. Our lives have changed dramatically in the past few weeks - our schools are closed, community events and everyday activities have been canceled, our homes transformed into schools and workspaces. Many nonprofits that serve vulnerable populations are now struggling to meet their basic needs. Although we like to encourage our subscribers to get out in the community and volunteer, right now fulfilling an organization's wish list or making a financial donation may be the best way that we can help. Below is a list of organizations you can contact in your community, as well as a few national sites you can use to search for additional organizations in your area. We suggest you be cognizant of potential staff shortages and the increased work demands on nonprofit staff and check an organization's website and social media channels for updated information.
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Here are some organizations that serve our hungry neighbors that can use your financial assistance:
Also, visit the Doing Good Together COVID-19 response page for a growing list of ways your family can share kindness, volunteer, donate, and learn together, even as you stay home together to slow the spread of the pandemic. There is much that we can do from home to lift the spirits of others who are struggling with ongoing issues made more difficult by the current crisis. Let's take this opportunity to turn our gaze outward, to spread joy, to help our neighbors and to be kind to ourselves and others. Everyone at Doing Good Together sends warm wishes for the health and safety of every member of our community. Be well.
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Virtual Family Project - Make Greeting Cards for Seniors!
Repair the World
Date/Time: Monday, April 13, 11am - noon
Ages: Geared toward children ages 6-12 with an adult, open to younger and older siblings
Time Commitment: One hour
Join us on Zoom for a special project at home, together! Families are invited to learn with Repair the World in this engaging virtual project. From home, we'll craft greeting cards together for seniors living in Met Council on Jewish Poverty's affordable housing buildings. During this time of physical distancing, let's connect to reach our most socially isolated neighbors! Open to the public, free of cost. Generously made possible by the UJA Federation of NY.
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Virtual Playdates with a Purpose
Repair the World
Date/Time: Sunday, April 26, 11:30am - 12:30pm
Ages: Geared toward children ages 3-6, open to younger and older siblings!
Time Commitment: One hour
Join Repair the World Harlem and JCC Harlem for a project for our youngest volunteers! Playdates with a Purpose includes facilitated play, learning, and storytime around issues of equity. This month's Playdates will be from the comfort of your own home! Join us on Zoom to play and learn at home, together! Generously made possible by PJ Library, a program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation.
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Thank You Letter to a Sanitation Worker
Big Reuse/DSNY
Date/Time: Anytime
Location: At home
Ages: Everyone can participate
Time Commitment: Varies
Sanitation workers work hard to keep our city clean, healthy, and sustainable. Especially during this time, they are putting themselves at risk to do a job that our city depends on. Please show them your support by writing a letter of thanks. If you know your sanitation worker's name, you can personalize your letter. Feel free to include drawings, too! Then take a picture of your card, and send it to us. We will share it with the sanitation garage in your community, (and, if personalized, will do our best to make sure your particular sanitation worker sees it). Through the Make Compost, Not Trash campaign, DSNY employees, volunteers, and organizational partners like Big Reuse and the NYC Compost Project, are working to spread the word about the importance of using the NYC curbside composting brown bin. When you put your food and yard waste in a brown bin, you are helping to nourish soils, make energy, fight climate change, and reduce our dependence on landfills. The sanitation workers who collect the waste are an essential part of this operation. Send pictures of your thank you letters to [email protected].
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Take a Picture with Your Food Scraps or Create a Food Scrap Sculpture!
Big Reuse / DSNY
Date/Time: Anytime
Location: At home
Ages: Everyone can participate
Time Commitment: Varies
For families who have the NYC curbside composting brown bin, recycling food (and yard) waste is one of the good deeds you can do from home. Through the Make Compost, Not Trash campaign, DSNY employees, volunteers, and organizational partners like Big Reuse and the NYC Compost Project, are working to spread the word about the importance of using the brown bin. When you put your food and yard waste in a brown bin, you are helping to nourish soils, make energy, fight climate change, and reduce our dependence on landfills. You can help us promote this program by taking a picture of your family with your food scraps or by creating food scrap art! You can create a food scrap sculpture. Or a painting of food scraps. Or any food scrap inspired artwork. Then take pictures of your food scraps or food scrap art and send them to us. We might feature it on our social media and then other families will be inspired to participate, too! Send your photos to [email protected].
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Emergency Assistance Fund for College Youth
Together We Rise
Date/Time: Ongoing
Location: Online
Ages: Everyone can help
Time Commitment: Varies
Together We Rise's mission is to help ease the transitions that foster children experience within the system. The foster care system can be a confusing and sometimes disheartening place for children. Together We Rise's fundraising and network of passionate volunteers strives to give children in foster care a brighter future, a sense of normalcy and belonging. Right now college students formerly in the foster care system are being displaced from their dorms and on-campus housing. The Together We Rise network is working on creating emergency housing, providing travel, utilities, and groceries to these students. You can help by making a financial donation to this emergency fund.
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Operation Gratitude
Date/Time: Ongoing
Location: Put all loose artwork and letters/cards (no individual envelopes) in a large envelope or box according to their recipient type, and ship to:
Operation Gratitude
ATTN: Letter Writing Program
9409 Owensmouth Avenue
Chatsworth, CA 91311
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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Send Kindness to an Elder
Letters of Love
Date/Time: Anytime and as often as you'd like
Location: Mail cards to:
Love For The Elderly
P. O. Box 24248
Cleveland, OH 44124
Ages: Everyone can help
Time Commitment: Varies
The mission of Letters of Love is to bring joy into the lives of the elderly. They do this by collecting cards and mailing these to elders in senior communities across the globe. These include nursing homes, assisted living facilities, hospices and senior centers. With the outbreak of COVID-19, it's more important than ever to fight loneliness with love for our elders. Here are their letter writing guidelines:
- Letters must be legible (large print) and handwritten.
- Avoid religion. Please refrain from including anything religious in your letters, such as religious quotes, words like "God," etc.
- Exclude the date (day, month, and year).
- Embrace creativity! Recipients love it when the letters are personal. We encourage you to make your letters detailed, thoughtful and heartfelt.
- Be kind and thoughtful (more than talking about yourself). This is a one-way letter exchange, meaning you will not receive a letter back, so remember that no reciprocation attached is part of the beauty of your act of kindness, and the recipients don't feel burdened by feeling obligated or being unable to respond.
- Envelope your letters if you can! It's so much nicer to open up an enveloped card, don't you think? If you're sending more than 1 letter, leave your enveloped letters unsealed and unstamped and put them in a larger envelope or box to send.
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Family-to-Family
Date/Time: Monthly donation
Ages: The whole family can participate
Time Commitment: Varies
Family-to-Family, Inc. is a grassroots nonprofit 501(c)(3) hunger and poverty relief organization dedicated to providing food, personal hygiene products and other basic life essentials to American families struggling with the challenges of poverty. Your family can help by sponsoring a family in need with a monthly box of groceries. Once you sign up to Sponsor a Family,Family-to-Family will match you with a family in one of the communities they sponsor, and email you information about your "new family." Monthly sponsorships are $36.50 and will help provide enough groceries for an average of 15 meals per month. Families are encouraged to learn more about one another, and you are encouraged to exchange emails and letters with your family. Family-to Family offers other options to help hungry families - click here to learn more.
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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 projects and share their stories! Simply join our Facebook group or find us on Instagram (@doinggoodtogether and #sharekindness)
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Stay home, teach kindness, make a difference, and have fun!
Homebound with your kids? This is the ideal time to teach your children that when our community faces difficult challenges, your family thinks about helping others, too. We've put together a DGT Kindness Kit that allows you and your kids to offer simple acts of generosity right from your own kitchen table. Find all you need to advocate for issues that matter; combat hunger; treat homebound folks to creative artwork; share gratitude with people who mean the world to you; and spark fun, meaningful conversations about empathy, compassion and the common good! Find more information about our Kindness Kit in our DGT Store and order today: only $9.95, including shipping. (Bulk discounts are available.) We're also offering a digital version for $4.95. However, if the cost is a problem, use the coupon code KINDNESS to download it for free
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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.
© 2020 Doing Good Together™
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