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The Bowery Mission, Thanksgiving 2017
From Trending In New York
A Season for Giving: Holiday volunteer opportunities in NYC
By CityRealty Staff
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
After last year's Zoom dinners, many of us are welcoming a return to a more traditional Thanksgiving celebration this year. But what should not be forgotten is that the blessings of the holiday are not evenly distributed throughout the city. We present a list of organizations dedicated to offering a hand and a hot meal to our city neighbors as well as ways to get involved.
November 23, 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of FeedingNYC, which has delivered over 90,000 boxes with ingredients for Thanksgiving dinners to families in need in that time. The organization relies on the generosity of New Yorkers, individual volunteers and corporate sponsors alike for help in this regard. The traditional box packing event is taking place with health and safety protocols in place; but if you're out of town for the holiday, donations will help finance the boxes.
- Delivers boxes of ingredients for Thanksgiving meals, from turkeys to side dishes to desserts
- Has fed over 90,000 families in the past 20 years
- Individual volunteers and donors, corporate teams, and sponsors are instrumental in achieving this goal
Citymeals on Wheels started in 1981, when New York restaurant critic Gael Greene and food world legend James Beard teamed up to prepare and deliver 6,000 meals for their homebound elderly neighbors. Since then, the organization has delivered over 65 million meals, established a network of volunteers to deliver the meals and offer companionship, and developed special elder care initiatives. Citarella shoppers can make a donation to Citymeals at checkout, and Good Day New York host Rosanna Scotto recently emceed Citymeals' Power Lunch at the Plaza Hotel, which raised money for the organization.
- Services include delivered meals, packages of nonperishable food staples, and mobile food pantries
- A public-private partnership with the New York City Department for the Aging, one of the first of its kind
- Weekly calls, visits, and letters and cards brighten the days of homebound New Yorkers
Since the 1870s, the Bowery Mission has served the poor and homeless of New York City. Their annual Thanksgiving feast is taking place with safety precautions like social distancing in place this year, but what will not change is the nourishing meal and compassionate service provided to all those who come to their signature "Red Doors."
- Established in the 1870s to serve homeless and hungry New Yorkers
- Provided 429,500 meals, 104,000 nights of shelter, and 27,600 articles of clothing in 2020
- Their doors and services remained open at the height of the pandemic with safety protocols in place
Over the past 30+ years, God's Love We Deliver's headquarters have expanded from a small Upper West Side church kitchen to a state-of-the-art Soho facility. Wherever they are, their team is committed to delivering nutritious, high-quality, medically tailored meals to clients too ill to cook for themselves. The organization was declared an Essential Services Provider in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, and notable fundraisers like the Race to Deliver and Golden Heart Awards have resumed.
- Founded in the 1980s in response to the AIDS epidemic
- Has delivered over 25 million meals in 35 years
- Medically tailored meals such as these are proven to improve health outcomes and reduce hospitalizations
Image via Heart of Dinner
Heart of Dinner was founded at the height of the pandemic to address two issues - food insecurity and social isolation - experienced by Asian American seniors. Not only does the team deliver hot meals and fresh produce to elders, but the food is delivered in cheerfully illustrated bags and accompanied by a handwritten letter in the recipient's native language.
- Started as a supper club in the heart of Chinatown, but pivoted to meal delivery at the height of the pandemic
- Sponsor farms and restaurant partners are instrumental to the deliveries
- From delivering meals to illustrating bags to working behind the scenes, there are unlimited ways to get involved
Image via Neighbors Together
In 1982, Neighbors Together was established as a soup kitchen and community organization to help residents of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Ocean Hill, and Brownsville - three of the lowest-income areas in New York City. They continue to provide food and social services all year round, and their 30 Thanksgivings campaign supports their work over the holiday.
- Neighbors Together's Community Cafe provides over 80,000 free, nutritious meals a year
- The Empowerment Program seeks to connect residents to housing, public benefits, healthcare, mental health services, and legal resources
- The Community Action Program engages low-income New Yorkers in organization efforts to improve policies that impact their day-to-day lives
Image via City Harvest
It's quite the paradox: New York City has both an abundance of excess food and a large number of residents struggling to feed themselves and their families. City Harvest seeks to address this imbalance by distributing food from restaurants, local farmers, and wholesalers that would otherwise go to waste to food pantries, soup kitchens, and other community partners that help food-insecure New Yorkers.
- With an expected 111 million pounds of food feeding more than 1.5 million New Yorkers, City Harvest is New York's largest food rescue organization
- In addition to day-to-day work, City Harvest has pivoted to respond to crises like 9/11, the Great Recession, Superstorm Sandy, and the pandemic
- Ted Allen, Geoffrey Zakarian, Dominique Ansel, David Bouley, Tom Colicchio, and Lena Ciardullo are among the chefs and culinary experts on City Harvest's Food Council