For those who run in charity circles, the weekend before Thanksgiving is the start of a marathon. The race is on to mobilize volunteers, solicit donations and confrim the pledges of coats, canned foods, toys and turkeys. This year’s obstacle course comes courtesy of the recent recalls on toys made in China.
Last weekend, I pulled a double shift at Children of the City, arriving early on Saturday morning to oversee the Reading Partners Program and help out with he paperwork for our annual “boxes of love” Thanksgiving dinner distribution. My New York Cares crew, ( Charity, Evelyn, Estella, Han, Jennifer and Lauren) where having a great time with the kids while I struggled to help an Asian parent fill out a registration form. I’d spent four years at NYU learning Mandarin so I assumed that I could elicit some basic information from the guy. The poor man was bewildered and frustrated as I rattled on in rusty Chinese until his daughter finally said “My father can’t hear or speak.” As the weekend progressed. I realized that this guy was the least of my challenges. Confusion and frustration ensued when a group of volunteers bailed on Saturday and a record number of teenagers showed up to help on Sunday.
My fellow New York Care team leader, Reine, was the model of composure as she led her team through the paces of greeting clients, taking tickets, translating and handing out “boxes of love” alongside board member Rocco Basile and his family. Over 100 families received a holiday dinner on Sunday.
Reine was kind enough to let me make a pitch for our annual toy drive and the Winter Wishes Program at New York Cares. Winter Wishes is a project where children’s letters are given to people willing to buy a gift for a specific child. My personal experience with these letters has been heart wrenching. Children in need rarely ask for things for themselves. They usually want a coat for their mother or a toy for a younger sibling. It means a great deal to these kids to get a gift that is wrapped and embellished with ribbons or stickers. Sometimes its the only present they get all year.
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January 7th, 2011 at 12:25 am
[…] In November, we helped with donations to feed 400 families (or 800 people) at the Children of the City (childrenofthecity.org) annual Thanksgiving food drive. Children of the City has reached thousands of children at home, school, and on the streets and playgrounds since its inception in 1981. Julia Masi talks about it in her blog post here. […]