On Tuesday evening, 140 New York Cares Team Leaders, dedicated volunteers, and staff gathered for the 2013 Leadership Celebration at The Three Monkeys Bar. Each year, we hold a special event to celebrate our Team Leaders and the great work they’ve done.

In addition to getting the recognition and celebration they deserve, this outstanding group of volunteers has the opportunity to meet and mingle with our staff, as well as fellow Team Leaders. It is also an opportunity to encourage dedicated volunteers to take the next step and become a leader.

One of the highlights of the evening was the photobooth, provided by The Modern Photobooth. Everyone had a great time posing with friends and props. There’s even a video if you don’t have to look through 500+ photos.

Because of our Team Leaders, we are able to offer 1,500 volunteer projects a month for 56,000 volunteers throughout the five boroughs. This year, our Team Leaders helped volunteers contribute over 38,400 hours of service!

We’ll celebrate you too, all you have to do is become a Team Leader yourself. It’s a great way to get your own projects running, and become more invested in volunteering. Thanks to everyone for coming out, and keep up the great work.

By Takisha Dozier

Summer weather is finally here which means a couple of extremely important things: baseball is in full swing and you’re needed on volunteer projects more than ever. Yesterday we were lucky to combine the two as we kicked off the Mets Volunteer Challenge in Far Rockaway.

The Mets Volunteer Challenge is simple, and there are a number of ways you can participate between now and September to win prizes.

Home Run:
Complete at least 3 projects to receive 4 tickets to a game in September.

Grand Slam:
Complete at least 6 projects to receive 4 tickets to a game in September and you’ll be recognized on the scoreboard.

Perfect Game:
Complete at least 9 projects to receive 4 tickets to a game in September, scoreboard recognition, and you’ll get to participate in a pre-game, on-field ceremony.

To help us kick off this great initiative yesterday, Mets pitchers Greg Burke, Jeremy Hefner, and Scott Rice worked alongside New York Cares volunteers at The Action Center in Far Rockaway serving hot meals, distributing clothes and water, as well as handing out Mets apparel.

More than 100 volunteers have signed up to take the challenge already, will you be next? Sign up today.

By Susan Torres

The second annual GoogaMooga took place in Prospect Park over the weekend, and despite a rain out on Sunday, Saturday was a huge success.

We’d like to thank our amazing volunteers, GoogaMooga, Ca’Del Bosco, and all of the patrons who stopped by. It was a great day full of delicious food, drinks, music, and fun. A portion of proceeds from our El Cavino station along with all of the generous tips will benefit our year-round programming. One of our volunteers told us that after a couple people found out a portion of tips were being donated to us, they put a whole $20 in the tip jar!

In the past 10 years, library usage across the city has skyrocketed. But funding hasn’t kept pace, and has actually decreased. How can we fill the gap? Volunteers of course! Love a Library is June 8th, and our latest infographic highlights how important the work we’ll do on that day is to our local library branches. Check it out, and sign up to volunteer today.

GrowNYC is a great organization that aims to improve the quality of life in New York City through environmental programs to secure a clean and healthy environment for the future. So we are always excited when we can send volunteers to them to help with their projects. And we were even more excited when we got the following thank you note from them:

First off, we would like to thank New York Cares for being such an amazing organization to work with. Since the expansion of our Stop’N’Swap® program, New York Cares has brought in amazing volunteers to help facilitate our free reuse events.

Leesa, as the amazing and well-organized Team Leader, followed up with each New York Cares volunteer and assisted in areas where we needed help the most. She was an extremely well-rounded Team Leader! Leesa, please forward our gratitude to your team as well! Without New York Cares’ support to our recent changes and demands, we would not be where we are now.

On that note, our Jackson Heights Stop’N’Swap® was our most-attended swap thus far! On Saturday, April 27th, we received approximately 3,400 pounds of donated gently-used items. Of the remaining donation, only 353.8 pounds of clothing, household items, and electronics were either donated or recycled. 70 pounds of classified contraband items was diverted from the public.

In addition to the commendable diversion rate, many attendees of the event raved about the organization of the swap. We have been getting phone calls about our future swaps since then!

Last but not least, please check out the Jackson Heights Stop’N’Swap® photos on our Facebook page. Please feel free to tag yourself and share your accomplishments with your friends and family members.

We look forward to working with New York Cares again and thank you once again!

By Cindy Yee

When I was a kid, I remember going to the local library and marveling at the mountains of books. I always loved reading, and the library was always a place I felt at home. This was a feeling I wanted to pass down to my daughter, Molly, and have tried to be consistent about over the last (almost) 3 years. 

There was no greater joy for me than participating with Molly on Love A Library Day last September. Not just Molly, but for so many other children, it was a day to celebrate what the library had to offer and see them discover the joys their local library can bring. For me, it was a homecoming. The library where I served as Team Leader was the same one I went to as a kid, after school, looking for one of my favorite books. The posters on the wall may have changed, the books on the shelves may be different, but for me, it was like returning home, and showing my daughter where I grew up. 

The activity for the day included reading books with the volunteers, then making books of our own. Some children were so excited, declaring that they were authors. Some, like Molly, latched on to a book and clung to it the entire day. Molly proudly told anyone who asked that “this one was her favorite”. It was a wonderful moment, because you could easily see the different effects the library had on the different age groups. And of course, the highest praise came at the end, when all the children (even Molly) asked if we could do something like this every week.

This year, I’ll be bringing Molly to Love A Library Day again, and we both are excited to participate in the day. The difference the volunteers make, whether they are shelving books, reading to children, or walking around the neighborhood encouraging the community to take advantage of their local library, is so important and appreciated by families like mine. When I think back to the days when I went to the library looking for another Choose Your Own Adventure book, I realize that I’ve pretty much lived one. I’m just glad each path has kept me connected my local library, and given me ways to give back to the place I love.  

By Jaime Denniston-Merced

You can participate in Love a Library this June. Find out how to give back today.

A recent article highlights a school in Roxbury, Massachusetts that fired their security guards and hired art teachers after years of failing grades and violence. The result? One of the fastest student improvement rates statewide, more focused students, and improved test scores. This great story highlights the importance of art programming, and we found a great success story of our own from a volunteer on an Art Explorers project: 

Having team led the Art Explorers program at Washington Heights Academy earlier this year, I can attest to the positive effect the program has on the students who participate. The program at Washington Heights Academy took place on Saturday mornings, after the 3rd through 5th grade students attended a school-sponsored test prep session.

The students were eager to participate in a creative activity after a morning of math problems, and they were excited to show off their talent and ideas to the volunteers. Art Explorers enabled the students to hone more than just their art skills. Students had to share supplies, help their classmates in learning a new technique, and follow directions when cleaning up at the end of the day – all crucial life skills on which children of this age group are still working. Perhaps most exciting was the confidence the students developed after just a few short weeks. There was one student who was particularly shy. During our first session, she sat off to the side and was uncomfortable participating. With the encouragement of a volunteer, however, the student was soon making her own art projects and, within a matter of weeks, was working with the other students and speaking excitedly with the volunteers about her art. Other students also developed a higher level of confidence through Art Explorers: Students who were normally reserved were excited to share their creativity with their peers and get to know the volunteers they were working with each week.

A project in which the students were particularly engaged was a card-making craft. A volunteer with ties to a nonprofit supporting orphans in Nigeria asked the students to make cards that would be added to care packages destined for Africa. The students eagerly looked at pictures of the children who would be receiving their cards and were very excited that their drawings and messages were going to children half way around the world. The students had also just studied Nigeria in school, so they enthusiastically shared what they had learned about the country with the volunteers. I believe this card-making activity is a great example of the multitude of ways in which Art Explorers can benefit children: The students were able to use their creativity, make real-world connections to a subject they had previously studied, and learn the importance of giving back, all while having fun!

Art Explorers is a great outlet for kids’ creativity and ingenuity, but, clearly, it’s much more than that too.

By Kelly Beliveau

Mother’s Day is Sunday, so to celebrate moms all over New York, we’d like to spread the word about our Mom’s Club project. The club is a weekly, on-going support group for women living with their children in homeless shelters in New York City. At the moment, there are two such groups operating, with plans to expand the program to other shelters around the city. Read on for more info about the group:

The mission of Mom’s Club is to provide a safe and confidential setting in which participants are able to share and discover commonalities in their experiences and challenges; receive mutual support and respect from one another; develop parenting skills, including constructive approaches to discipline; and lessen feelings of isolation, shame, and inadequacy. In addition, participants share ideas, knowledge, and perspectives. They share information about resources relevant to obtaining housing, employment, day care for their children, medical services, education and job training, and other community resources specific to their needs, with a view towards taking the next steps toward independent living and self-sufficiency.

Each group is led by a New York Cares volunteer with experience in group facilitation and some experience in one of the mental health disciplines. In addition, where no day care facilities are available on the premises, New York Cares provides volunteers to care for the pre-school age children of the participants, in a separate space provided for that purpose. Read the rest of this entry »

The TD Five Boro Bike Tour was last Sunday and we are so grateful to everyone who rode for our team and raised money for our programs. One rider shared her thoughts after the ride with us: 

I rode:

For New York Cares.

For Boston.

Through the 5 boroughs.

With a smile.

40 miles.

For a challenge.

To raise $2,500 and raising $3,580.

To prove I could to it.

With the support of my family, friends, co-workers and brokers.

With a smile.

For fun.

With gratitude.

For me. 

By Cristin C. Sinnott

What’s coming up this spring? A lot of projects that need you, but here are some of our favorite. We proudly present the Top 5 Projects and Events to Look Forward to This May.

5. Intergenerational Trip to the Museum of the Moving Image

How do seniors and teens experience movies and moving images? Find out on this new intergenerational project. You’ll enjoy a group lunch, then head to the Museum of the Moving Image to see the differences and similarities between how the group reacts to the visuals at the museum. Spots are still available.

4. Nutrition Education

We’re expanding our programs with our Nutrition Education project, which is our first venture into adult recreation programs. Volunteers work with clients to teach the importance of nutrition, cooking tips, and more. Projects happen all over the city throughout the month.

3. GoogaMooga

The second annual Great GoogaMooga Festival takes place in Prospect Park May 17th through 19th and nonprofits staffing beer and wine stands get a portion of all sales. We’re excited to be taking part this year, so if you’re attending the festival, make sure to drink up – for charity!

2. Healthy Cooking with Seniors

This Sunday, volunteers will get into the kitchen with seniors at Sunnyside Community Services. The program started last month, and the seniors loved working together to practice their cooking skills. It’s our first ever full-fledged cooking program with seniors, and we’re really pumped it got off to such a great start!

1. Youth Service Conference

Every May, we recognize the great efforts of our Youth Service Club participants during a conference at Pace University. The students celebrate their amazing service all year, attend seminars and workshops where they can learn more about volunteering and get post-high school career advice, and more. Read about last year’s conference, and check back soon for more great Youth Service stories.