Community Corner
5 Ways to Volunteer on Thanksgiving
From hosting a Sandy survivor at your dinner table to packing meals for homebound seniors, there's a wealth of opportunities to give back.
If you want to volunteer on Thanksgiving, there are plenty of opportunities. Here are five that still need volunteers. Add your own suggestions in the comments:
1- Help out at a soup kitchen. Masbia, a network of soup kitchens that has been feeding Sandy evacuees in addition to their regular clients, needs volunteers on Thanksgiving Day to help clean the kitchens. Show up at their Rego Park location (98-08 Queens Blvd.) anytime between 9 a.m. and mid-afternoon (they’re not sure exactly when they will finish up). Wear comfortable clothing and feel free to bring children 11 or older if they are up for the work. No minimum time commitment, even 30 minutes is helpful.
2. Feed Sandy survivors. Occupy Sandy will be preparing Thanksgiving meals for people affected ny the storm all day. Bring your food donations to the kitchen at St. Johns Episcopal Church, 9818 Fort Hamilton Parkway) until 6pm Thursday. Volunteers are also needed on the following shifts: Weds 7pm-2am (or later if you can stay!) and then Thurs 8am-4pm.
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3. Volunteer at a Sandy recovery site. Occupy Sandy will be taking in and dispatching volunteers and cars to recovery sites from 8am until 2pm on Thanksgiving Day from their Sunset Park location, St. Jacobi Church (54th and 4th Avenue). Not that St. Jacobi will not be taking in supplies on Thanksgiving Day and also that their Clinton Hill site at 520 Clinton will be closed all of Thanksgiving Day.
4. Host a Sandy survivor or volunteer at your table. The facebook page A Place At The Table matches hosts with those who would otherwise be eating alone. So far over 40 matches have been made.
Find out what's happening in Forest Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
5. Volunteer in the Rockaways on Friday. If you would prefer to volunteer the day after Thanksgiving, Grace Church, 254 Hicks St. in Brooklyn Heights, will be bringing volunteers to the Rockaways Friday, November 24 at 9 a.m. Volunteers will be sorting and distributing supplies and cleaning out and gutting residents' homes damaged by the hurricane. They have several vehicles with room for passengers, but if you have a car bring one. If you want to volunteer, contact John Musco at jmusco@gracebrooklyn.org.
See our list of ongoing Sandy volunteer and donation opportunities as well as a great list by WNYC.
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