Leave the gun take the canoli

The thick white layer of snow that covered NYC on Friday was a filthy, slippery, slushy mess by Saturday morning. Flurries continued  after dawn  and the mercury refused to budge past 33 degrees.    I wondered how many  of my  volunteers would make it out  to deliver hot  meals this weekend.

My cell phone was ringing as I exited the 8th Street stop on the R train.  Volunteers experiencing transportation delays had been calling or leaving text messages all morning.  A new recruit was lost somewhere on MacDougal Street.  I was headed for an  an anxiety attack until I read Carol’s e-mail.  She volunteered for the long and winding Bank Street route.                 

Inside the Caring Community building, on Washington Square North, a modest amount of volunteers  waited for the caterer to arrive.     Tom and I tried to figure out how to readjust the routes for our limited number of delivery persons.    Suddenly, a  stream of  people flowed through the door.   Like wet  Gremlins,  my labor force had miraculously multiplied.   All 20 of my NYCares volunteers  were present and accounted for.  Firefighters, Zac  and Gordon, from Post 6008 brought a dozen  teenagers from the FDNY Explores Program.   Raquel of AmeriCorps provided  another 9 young adults who joined a team of students   from NYU.  

By  11;30 the sun had pushed away the clouds.  The ice patches on the sidewalk were  melting and our volunteers had visited  150 lonely New Yorkers.                     

January is a cold, cruel month.  The philanthropic spirit of the holidays vaporises around the time that Christmas trees become mulch.  The midnight oil burns in board rooms of non-profits as exec’s brainstorm ways to find donors and fill seats at their spring fundraisers.   This is the month when the dilettantes sleep in on Saturdays,  leaving   preeminent volunteers from Caring Community and New York Cares  to brave the weather and visit the shut-ins of Manhattan.

This week my NYCares crew and  a dozen members  from  Kingston  Church in Michigan joined my fantastic five,   Lauren and Marciano Estigarriba, Tom Vilar,  Ginger (Wild Hearts) and Joel Mejia (Things Are Changing),  as they helped alleviate hunger and loneliness in Greenwich Village.             

 The fantastic five  use their time  and talents to spread compassion, social  justice and benevolence around the city.   Like any true super hero, their cool, yet mild mannered exteriors  offers no clue to their powerful  commitment to  making the world better for the next generation.

Lauren  and Marciano assist an organizations that serves teenagers.  Tom is devoted to helping  disabled and autistic youth.  Joel empowers kids by teaching with technology.  He teaches them the photography and video skills they need to create multi-media projects.  Ginger is  the creative consultant of my inner circle,  offering marketing tips and   brilliant strategies for promoting  worthy causes.