Monday, January 21, 2008

MLK Day Serve-A-Thon A Success!

The Coalition hosted its 5th Annual Martin Luther King Day Serve-A-Thon this past weekend at 30 soup kitchen and food pantries across New York City. Over the serve-a-thon's three days, approximately 400 volunteers participated in taking a "day on, not a day off" and donated their time and efforts in honor of the great Dr. King. Volunteers served food, packed pantry bags, painted, cleaned, distributed information on food stamps, and engaged in a variety of other tasks to boost food programs capacities. Dr. King said, "anybody can be great because anybody can serve." As one participant, Dominic Lounds observed about Dr. King's words , "More than just on a holiday, I think he wanted people to do it all the time. You've got to try and go out and do it as much as you can.” The serve-a-thon was covered by the Daily News, NY1, and News12 Brooklyn.

Thursday, January 03, 2008

NYCCAH'S NEW Online Volunteer Matching System!

The Coalition has a new, pioneering volunteer matching website - nyccah.org/volunteermatching - that allows people to log on and search for anti-hunger volunteering opportunities by neighborhood, nearby subway stops, available times, personal skill sets, etc., to find the opportunities that fit them best. People with accounting, computer, development, law, and other special skills can use the system to "adopt" food pantries and soup kitchens that need assistance in those specific areas. The state-of-the-art system, which is one of the most advanced such systems in the nation, was launched at an event at Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen on Tuesday, January 1. Please take a moment to check it out today and see what volunteer opportunities are available!