March 2020 - NYC

 
 
Serve a Hot Meal to the Homeless
Manhattan Church of Christ

Date/Time(s): Saturdays:
  • March 14, 9am - 1:30pm
  • March 21, 10am - 2pm
  • March 28, 9am - 1:30 pm
Location: Manhattan Church of Christ, 48 East 80th St., NY

Ages: All ages, families are encouraged to volunteer together

Time Commitment: Varies, come for a few hours or stay for the entire shift.

The Saturday Lunch Program provides hot meals with dignity and compassion to the homeless or those who live marginally.  All shifts are family-friendly, and involve a set-up team to set tables and decorate, a service team to run trays of food back and forth to the guests, and a break down & clean up team. Volunteers help set up, prepare and serve meals, then break down and clean up.

Contact: [email protected]. Volunteers should email Rev. Carl Garrison to sign up.
www.manhattanchurch.org

 
Brooklyn Book Bodega Event
Brooklyn Book Bodega

Date/Time(s): Sunday, March 15, 10am - 4pm. Shift times:
  • 10am - 12:30pm
  • 11:30am - 2pm
  • 1:30 - 4pm 
Location: Brooklyn Navy Yard, Building 77, 141 Flushing Avenue, Queens

Ages: Families with children of all ages are welcome. Volunteers under age 16 must be supervised by a parent or guardian

Time Commitment: Two to two and one-half hours

The mission of Brooklyn Book Bodega is to increase the number of 100+ book homes in Brooklyn. We believe every child in Brooklyn deserves to own the books that they want to read and enjoy. A Bodega Book event is a book collection and distribution event. Volunteer responsibilities at the event include checking in guests, checking out guests, setting up books, helping guests with browsing and assisting with miscellaneous tasks.


 
Purim Project in Carroll Gardens
Repair the World

Date/Time: Sunday, March 8, 9am - noon

Location: Hannah Senesh Community Day School, 342 Smith St, Brooklyn

Ages: Geared toward families with children from birth to age five

Time Commitment: Three hours

Repair the World Brooklyn is facilitating a family-friendly project catered to our youngest volunteers in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn! Drop by our table at the Purim celebration for an impactful project and learning experience based in Jewish tradition and social justice. Entrance fee is $5. Generously made possible UJA Federation of NY.


 
Playdates with a Purpose at JCC Harlem
Repair the World

Date/Time: Sunday, March 8, 2 - 4pm

Location: JCC Harlem, 318 W 118th St, New York

Ages: Geared toward families with children ages three to six, but open to younger and older siblings!

Time Commitment: Two hours

Join us at JCC Harlem's Family Purim Festival with a project geared toward 3-6 year olds! Ready to dance, sing, and celebrate with your little ones? Join us and our friends at PJ Library for this neighborhood celebration! Come play in our costume pop-up corner, make your own mask and get your face painted. There will be fun crafts, a tzedakah (justice) project, games and more! Whether Purim is your favorite holiday or you've never celebrated before, all are welcome! This is a party you don't want to miss. Costumes are encouraged. Let us know you'll be there! Then, we'll go ahead and send you the ticket information by email. Playdates with a Purpose is a PJ Library project. Cost to attend the festival is $25/family (up to 5 people) or $10/person.


 
Caring Crafts in Cobble Hill!
Repair the World

Date/Time: Sunday, March 1, noon - 1pm

Location: Kane Street Synagogue, 236 Kane St, Brooklyn

Ages: Geared toward K-2nd graders with their adults, open to younger and older siblings

Time Commitment: One hour

Decorate and make a tzedakah box (charity jar) and choose from Repair the World Brooklyn's local community partners for your family to commit to donating to! We'll also have tote bags for you to decorate and then bring home to collect canned and dry goods for one of our pantry partners! We'll celebrate the upcoming Jewish holiday Purim (one of the most fun Jewish holidays!) by learning about the practice of sharing "mishloach manot" and explore how these gifts can extend to our Brooklyn neighbors. Geared to families with children in kindergarten through 2nd grade, but younger and older siblings are welcome too. Open to the public, free of cost. Generously made possible by the UJA Federation of NY.


 
DOROT Purim Family Visits
DOROT

Date/Time: Choose your volunteer day: Sunday, March 17 between 1 -3 pm; and Wednesday, March 20 between 4 - 6pm. Families choose a 30-45-minute window within that time frame for their visit.

Location: New family orientations and package pick-up at DOROT, 171 W. 85th St. Families can visit with seniors that live on the Upper West and Upper East Side. Families will receive their senior visiting information when they pick up the package. Families who have not volunteered with DOROT before must attend an orientation at DOROT on one of the following days:
  • Thursday, March 5, 5pm
  • Tuesday, March 10, 5pm
Ages: Open to families with children ages 5 - 12

Time Commitment: 40-minute orientation for new families at DOROT. Families who have volunteered with us before can arrange to pick up the package at DOROT during business hours. Visits last 30-45 minutes and take place in the senior's homes (so volunteer time will include travel to and from the older adult's location.)

DOROT alleviates social isolation among the elderly and provides services to help them live independently as valued members of the community. We serve the Jewish and wider community, bringing the generations together in a mutually beneficial partnership of elders, volunteers and professionals. Celebrate Purim by delivering gifts of food to our older friends and sharing a wonderful gift - the gift of friendship. Fulfill the mitzvah of giving mishloach manot, a traditional Purim food package filled with goodies, especially hamantaschen. Learn more here.

Contact: Quinn Lockwood, [email protected], 917. 441.3714. Families must register online.
https://www.dorotusa.org/

 
Host a Birthday Party for Kids
CelebrateU

Date/Time: Thursday, March 5, 6 - 7:45pm

Location: The Henry Street Settlement, 530 Baruch Place

Ages: Sixth grade and older can volunteer on their own; fifth grade and younger can volunteer with their parents.

Time Commitment: Approximately two hours

The Celebrate U Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to spread happiness by throwing birthday parties for children in shelters or who can't afford to celebrate their birthday in the New York City area. The effect of these celebrations goes way beyond cake and party favors. Celebrate U believes that by showing children that their community truly cares about them, it can raise self-esteem, provide hope for a brighter future and empower children. Early education is essential, but so is building a child's self-esteem, giving them hope for a bright future and knowing society cares about them. And every child deserves a birthday party. Volunteers set up a birthday party with decorations, a banner and paper goods, they do an arts and crafts project with the kids, sing songs and serve cake to the children. The party celebrates any child with a birthday that month and is open to all shelter guests.  A short training session will take place for new volunteers one week prior to each event

Contact:  [email protected], 917.502.2850
www.celebrateu.org

 
Annual Book Drive
Project Cicero

Date/Time(s): Friday, March 6 through Sunday, March 8. There are a variety of shifts available.

Location: The sorting and distribution event will take place in the Gold Ballroom at The Hotel Pennsylvania, at the corner of 33rd Street & 7th Ave. Book drives are held the week of March 2- 5, and all books are picked up by March 6. Check with your school to see if they are participating in the annual drive. Books can also be donated to Project Cicero through their Amazon wishlist page.

Ages: Everyone can participate in book drives. Volunteers for sorting and distribution event must be ages 12 and up with an adult.

Time Commitment: For the sorting and distribution event, 2 hours or more is preferred.

Project Cicero is a partnership of independent, public, and parochial schools, private and public organizations, and corporations whose primary goal is to create and supplement classroom and school libraries for children in under-resourced New York City public schools through an annual citywide book drive. Project Cicero also puts books into homeless shelters, juvenile detention facilities, community centers, before and after school programs, and wherever else there is a need. To date, Project Cicero has placed 3,750,000 new and gently used books into more than 30,000 classrooms and school libraries reaching over 1,000,000 children in under-resourced schools in New York City.   Donated books must be in excellent condition, and only children's book (through young adult/high school level) will be accepted. The sorting and distribution event involves helping to sort, display and organize over 150,000 donated children's books as teachers visit and select books for their classrooms.

Contact: [email protected]. Registration for the sorting event is available online and slots fill quickly.
www.projectcicero.org

 
MV4NY's Book Sorting Event for Project Cicero
Muslim Volunteers of New York

Date/Time: Saturday, March 7:
  • 11:30am - 12:30pm
  • 12:30 - 1:30pm
Location: Project Cicero Sorting and Distribution Event, Hotel Pennsylvania Gold Ballroom, 401 7th Ave, NY

Ages: All participants should be in grade 8 or older

Time Commitment: One-hour shifts

The mission of MV4NY is to engage the community at large, along with the Muslim-American community in a variety of grass-root efforts to give back to New York City and its residents. Project Cicero is an annual event where 1200 NYC teachers at public schools in need personally select as many books as they can to transport to their school and classroom libraries. Since 2001, 3,750,000 new and gently used books have been given to more than 30,000 NYC classrooms, reaching over 1,000,000 students! MV4NY Volunteers is coordinating a group to attend and help with organizing the books donated to Project Cicero according to subject, age and genre. Teachers will select from these sorted books. We will provide a community service letter to volunteers upon request.

Contact: 646.267.9410 or [email protected].
Registration is available online. Click your preferred time before to register:

 
'Make Compost, Not Trash'
Big Reuse, in Partnership with NY Department of Sanitation

Date/Time: Varies

Location: Brooklyn Community Boards 2, 6 and 7

Ages: Most of the volunteer opportunities are best suited for teenagers

Time Commitment: Two hours

We want to grow participation in curbside composting to keep waste out of the landfill, keep methane from our atmosphere, and Make Compost, Not Trash. Join the Make Compost, Not Trash campaign by volunteering at an upcoming event with our team. Opportunities include neighborhood canvassing, street tree care, and park clean ups, and compost distribution events. Neighborhood canvassing involves educating your neighbors on curbside composting by joining us as we knock on doors and speak with New Yorkers about their experiences with the brown bins. Street tree care and park clean ups involve cleaning tree pits and parks and applying compost to plants and trees. All of these events are led by one of our Outreach Associates, who will educate and train all volunteers.  
 

 
Support GallopNYC's Therapeutic Riders
GallopNYC

Date/Time(s): Winter term runs through March 22. The spring term will begin on March 31 and the schedule may vary slightly.

Tuesday:
  • Morning, 9:30am - noon
  • Midday, 12:15 -1:45pm
  • Afternoon, 3:30 - 6pm
  • Evening, 6 - 8pm
  • Under 16, 3:30 - 6pm
Wednesday:
  • Morning, 9:30am - noon
  • Midday, 12:15 - 2pm
  • Pony Club, 3:30 - 6pm
  • Evening, 5:30 - 8pm
  • Under 16, Pony Club, 3:30 - 6pm
Thursday:
  • Morning, 9:30am - noon
  • Midday, 12:15 -1:45pm
  • Evening, 4:30 - 8pm
Friday:
  • Morning, 9:30am - noon
  • Midday, 12:15 - 2:30pm
  • Afternoon, 3:30 - 6pm
  • Evening, 5:30 - 8pm
  • Under 16, 3:30 - 6pm
Saturday:
  • Morning, 8:30 - 11:15am
  • Midday, 11:15am - 1:45pm
  • Afternoon, 1:45 - 4:15pm
  • Pony Club, 4 - 6pm
  • Under 16, Pony Club, 4 - 6pm
Sunday:
  • Morning, 8:30 - 11:15am
  • Under 16, 8:30 - noon
  • Midday, 11:15am - 1:45pm
  • Under 16, noon - 4pm
  • Afternoon, 1:45 - 4pm
  • Evening, 4:30- 7pm  
Location: All sessions take place at GallopNYC, 88-03 70th Road, Flushing

Ages: 16+; mature younger teens welcome with a parent and after a screening process

Time Commitment: Two to four hours per shift. Volunteers are encouraged to commit to the same shift for at least 5 weeks, if possible.

GallopNYC is a non-profit organization based in New York City that offers therapeutic horsemanship programs to children and adults with disabilities. We serve over 500 riders a week and operate our riding program at four locations, all within NYC. Schedules at each location vary seasonally. Therapeutic horsemanship teaches the skills of horseback riding and horse knowledge to build developmental, emotional, social, and physical skills for each individual rider. Under the direction of a PATH International certified instructor, supported by trained volunteers, each rider progressively acquires riding skills and measurable improvements in life skills. Through weekly sessions, we help riders walk, talk, learn and have FUN! We also offer hippotherapy services. Therapeutic horsemanship means learning to ride a horse but it means much more - it means building a bond with a horse, learning to care for a horse, understanding how horses perceive the world and respond to people, and ultimately being a leader to a horse.

Volunteer Duties may include:
Side Walking: Assist the instructor during therapeutic riding sessions by working directly with the riders. Act as an intermediary between the rider and instructor by assisting the rider in carrying out the instructor's directions.
Lead Walking: Volunteer will lead horses during therapeutic riding classes, working with a group of side-walkers, keeping primary focus on assigned horse (and not the rider) while maintaining communication with team.

No experience is necessary. We provide all required training. Volunteers should make sure to dress in weather appropriate attire and most importantly, volunteers need to wear shoes that covers their entire foot, ideally boots.


Contact: Cheriselle Scott, [email protected], 646.518.8699. Registration is available online.
volunteer.gallopnyc.org 

 
Do you have a teen who is making an impact in the community?

Riley's Way Foundation is asking teens across the country to tell us how they can drive change that inspires kindness and builds meaningful connections in their communities. Working with their school or a nonprofit partner, teens can submit a brand new idea or tell us how they plan to improve or expand an existing teen-led initiative. Riley's Way will award 15 winning projects with $3,000 and the opportunity to join a virtual community of like-minded peers from across the country. The deadline to apply is March 31, 2020.

Please visit our website at www.callforkindness.org for more information:



 
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https://www.doinggoodtogether.org/donate-monthly

 

 

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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. 
                                                                            

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