Meet Iryna Kit, and learn how her experience participating in New York Cares’ SAT prep program changed her life for good and forever. Iryna recently shared her inspiring story at New York Cares’ 6th Annual Breakfast of Community Champions.

Hello. My name is Iryna, and I’m 20 years old.

Today, I’d like to tell you about how two lucky tickets changed the course of my whole life. That’s it. Just two tickets.

The first was my ticket to the United States when I was 13 years old.

I grew up in the Ukraine. Many people in the Ukraine want to emigrate to the U.S. but it is practically impossible. My parents wanted my brother and me to have more choices in life. They had applied at least three times to get visas, but they were always rejected.

Then, five years ago, we found out we had won the coveted visa lottery. We didn’t have a telephone, so we used to borrow the phone of a neighbor across the courtyard. I remember being in bed and hearing this neighbor yell out the window to my mother that we had a phone call from Warsaw. My parents stayed up all night talking, and the next day they told me and my brother that we would be going to America.

We got four tickets to fly from Lviv in the Ukraine to some place called JFK. We arrived on December 28th, 2006 and have been here every since.

That was my first lucky ticket. Read the rest of this entry »

Today 300 Barclays Capital employees revitalized Pelham Bay Park/Orchard Beach and I.S. 123 X James M. Kieran School in the Bronx, New York. Volunteers rolled up their sleeves to plant flowers and shrubs, remove debris, paint facilities and weed overrun sections of the parks and spruce up the school through planting, weeding and painting. To kick off the festivities, an opening ceremony took place from 9:00-9:30am EDT with Congressman Crowley and Barclays Capital executives, alongside Steve Bartlett, President and CEO of The Financial Services Roundtable, and representatives from Partnerships for Parks and New York Cares.

This event is part of a larger 500-person Barclays Capital volunteer initiative where summer analysts and associates contribute to the community by revitalizing local parks and schools. This is Barclays Capital’s fifth year partnering with Partnerships for Parks and the second year New York Cares, which has helped coordinate this effort with Partnership for Parks and Barclays Capital. Read the rest of this entry »

This week, we announced 5 New York City nonprofits that will participate in our new Volunteer Impact Partnership program (VIP).  These Community Partners will be part of an intensive 3-year volunteer impact study to identify and measure the benefits of multi-level volunteer services on nonprofit capacity.

The organizations will benefit by expanding and enhancing their programming through volunteer resources delivered by New York Cares.  The program is free to the organizations, which will collectively receive services valued at $750,000 over three years.

Participants:

• * Gallop NYC - a nonprofit that uses therapeutic horseback riding to bring new levels of confidence, coordination, communication skills, and emotional connections to children and adults with various developmental, emotional, social and physical challenges.
• * Jewish Home Life Care – a Manhattan-based non-profit pioneer in caring for the elders of New York, offers a full range of skilled nursing, rehabilitative, housing and home and community-based health services at its three campuses.
• * PS 188M, The Island School - a New York City K-8 public school on the Lower East Side.
• * Sunnyside Community Services - a multi-service organization in Queens that provides a continuum of services to community members of all ages, including programs for seniors and educational and recreational programs for children.
• * Women in Need – a comprehensive service provider offering transitional shelter housing, permanent supportive housing, and substance abuse treatment to over 10,000 of New York City’s homeless and disadvantaged women and children each year.

Read the rest of this entry »

We just learned that longtime New York Cares Team Leader Allan Sih recently passed away.

Allan joined New York Cares in 1999 and quickly became a Team Leader.  He gave 1,155 hours of his time over the years, participating in an amazing 450 projects and leading 261 projects as a Team Leader.  He led new volunteer orientations as a member of our Speakers Bureau since 2003, inspiring thousands of New Yorkers as they joined the New York Cares community.

Allan was a regular at Dog Walking at BARC, Village Temple Meal Service, Meal Prep at God’s Love We Deliver, Reading at PS 150Q, and the Kickoff at the NYC Marathon, among his many projects.   In 2007, Allan received a New York Cares Leadership Award, and earned Presidential Service Awards more years than we can remember.

Allan’s dedication to serving others was an inspiration to all.  He was first to volunteer, last to leave a project, and made an immeasurable impact on our city and its people.  We send our deepest condolences to his friends and family.

Allan was truly a New Yorker who cared and we will miss him. New York Cares has established The Allan Sih Tribute Fund  to celebrate his life and deep commitment to volunteerism. Please click here to contribute.

By Gail Harris, President of the Board of Directors, New York Cares

In late 2010, President Obama appointed New York Cares Board member Thomas Nides to a senior post in the US State Department.   Tom was sworn in as Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources on January 3^rd where he’ll serve as Chief Operating Officer serving under Secretary Clinton.  He was previously Chief Operating Officer of Morgan Stanley.

As he moves into this demanding new position, Tom is stepping down from our Board, on which he has been an active member since 2004.  Tom chaired our most successful Winter Benefit, helping raise more than $1.2 million for our work.  Over the years, he and Paul Taubman (his colleague on the Board and at Morgan Stanley) helped champion the firm’s involvement with New York Cares, as one of our most active corporate partners and most generous donors.  We’ll miss his incredible wisdom, astute counsel, and great sense of humor.  It’s a testament to his commitment to giving back to society that he is now engaged in public service.

On behalf of all of us at New York Cares, I’d like to extend our gratitude to Tom for his service and leadership, and congratulate him on his new office.

By Tim Gibson, New York Cares Team Leader

Ever wonder how those thousands of coats move from a collecting box to the backs of needy New Yorkers?

Well the great annual New York Cares Coat Sort happens on the deserted floor of an office building in lower Manhattan (i.e., the Coat Drive Warehouse – which is actually quite busy this time of year! ED.). Teams of volunteers, from corporate partners, civic groups, our Youth program, or individual New York Cares volunteers, spend weeks ripping open bags and boxes. It’s like a permanent Christmas morning, except nothing is gift wrapped.

Volunteers rapidly examine coats to check their condition and sort them into piles for men, women, children and small children/infants. Volunteers then re-bag them, five coats per bag, and social services agencies come collect and distribute them to those in need. It’s dusty and finger numbing work. The greatest need is for coats for guys, but guys habitually keep their coats longest. Women change their coats more often and therefore those are the coats we get more of. Thus, any large zip front coat that could be used by either sex automatically becomes ‘male’.  By late January, it is all over for another year.

Since many people couldn’t donate coats in late December due the blizzard, we’ve extended coat collections at several locations.  If you have a coat to give, please visit:

• * New York Penn Station, LIRR and Amtrak concourses: Weekdays 7:30-9:30am
• * Port Authority Bus Terminal: Weekdays 7:30-9:30am
• * New York Cares Coat Drive Warehouse, 250 Hudson Street: Weekdays 9:30am-5:00pm
• * Manhattan Mini Storage locations

It’s not too late – help us collect as many coats as possible for New Yorkers who need them during this cold and snowy winter.

New York Cares had another special guest at one of our projects last week.

The Friday Night Meal Service project at Gay Men’s Health Crisis is one of our most popular projects. Miss Universe 2009 Stefania Fernandez joined the team and lent a hand serving dinner to people that depend on GMHC.

Thanks to Stefania, Team Leader Adriana Kalapodas, and all our volunteers for their hard work and dedication at this project.  Congratulations!

Vice President Biden and Dr. Jill Biden surprised and delighted volunteers Saturday when they visited one of our 9/11 volunteer projects.  The Vice President and Dr. Biden greeted and thanked volunteers, then rolled up their sleeves to help.

The Vice President and Dr. Biden joined 100 volunteers at PS140, the Nathan Straus School, on the Lower East Side. The group painted playground murals and line games, and made care packages for troops overseas.

The 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance, signed into law last year as part of the Serve America Act, encourages people to support charitable causes, perform good deeds, or engage in other service in observance of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. We’ve run projects in partnership with MyGoodDeed, the organization behind making 9/11 a day of service, for the last 6 years.

Also participating were Jordin Sparks, American Idol winner and current star of the Broadway musical In The Heights;  Susan Stern, Chair of the New York State Commission on National & Community Service; and Diahann Billings-Burford, NYC’s Chief Service Officer.

Across town in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, 100 volunteers from Fidelity Investments and the local community revitalized MS 354, The School for Integrated Learning.  Congresswoman Yvette Clarke and NYC Chief Service Officer Diahann Billings-Burford thanked volunteers for their generous efforts.

Work included creating active play areas and building outdoor tables and seating space; redesigning the cafeteria with new painting and inspirational murals; creating a welcoming entry way in the auditorium by building and installing paneled canvas murals; and creating a customized school mural based on the quote “We can see far for we are standing on the shoulders of giants.”

The MS 354 Transformation Day was part of Fidelity Investments’ partnership with HandsOn Network to revitalize learning environments and support educational needs of 11 middle schools across the US.

Photos by Gary He and Colleen Farrell.

The New York Cares Coat Drive doesn’t kick off until December, but on October 14th, the male models and cast members of BET/MTV’s upcoming reality TV show, Model City, will give the shirts off of their backs to raise awareness of the critical need for coats this winter by homeless and low-income New Yorkers.

Together with New York Cares and the Harlem YMCA, they’ll be collecting donated winter coats at the Jackie Robinson Youth Center (181 W. 135th St.) on Wednesday, October 14 from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Clean out your closets and give last year’s winter coats to the men, women, and children who need them to stay warm. You’ll also have the chance to meet the stars of this soon-to-be hit show.