Give & Get Open Forum

This past weekend I volunteered with New York Cares, Common Cents and others in Jenny’s Garden in West Harlem. The day was a celebration and kickoff of the National Conference on Volunteering and Service, which started today in NYC. With supplies generously donated by a corporate sponsor, we had enough mulch, top soil, hoes and rakes to keep us busy for hours. And busy we were…

The Riverside Valley Community Garden is on 138th and 12th Avenue inside of Riverside Park. It houses fresh vegetable and fruit plots that grow lettuce, potatoes, eggplant, peaches, plums, pears and cherries and more. This garden and many others within a 10 block radius, have been tended to by Jenny Benitez for the past 25 years. At 76, she has been volunteering her time every day to keep her neighborhood beautiful alongside other caring community members. Jenny was there on Saturday and the way she was pruning and digging and lifting and mulching, it seems clear that gardening is one great way to stay healthy and active! She is an amazing woman who, in the late eighties, saw a vacant lot filled with abandoned cars, drug addicts and garbage, and chose to do something about it. That lot is now a neighborhood gem and popular spot for groups of volunteers to get their hands dirty on summer weekends.

Arriving at 10am, our group of 25 volunteers received a brief tutorial on the tools we’d be using and where the gardens were located. They span about 20 blocks, sloping off of Riverside Drive and 12th Avenue, so it was good to have a sense of where we’d be for the day, if only to make sure we didn’t get lost from the pack. From the main Community Garden on 12th Avenue, we set out on Riverside Drive and spent the next three hours cleaning up a few large garden plots. We made a real difference that day, which is one of the best things about beautification projects: you can see results immediately, and that feels good.

While I was on my hands and knees pulling weeds from the garden that ran along the street, I saw a pair of hands on the other side of the fence doing the same. I picked up my head to see an elderly gentleman holding car keys in one hand, and a mass of weeds in the other. I thanked him as he handed me his bounty to throw in our garbage bags, already full of pruned hedges and garbage, and with a nod of acknowledgment he went back to work on the weeds I couldn’t reach from inside the garden. It was touching to see someone stop what they’re doing and take a moment to help; he was seemingly a local, on his way to his car, and felt compelled to help, if only for 5 minutes. It made my day.

We finished around 1pm, at which point we headed back to the Garden to eat pizza under the shade of grapes growing on a large trellis.  With the sun shining, surrounded by good people doing good things for an appreciative community, it was a truly great day.

You can help Jenny tend her gardens by volunteering solo or with a group. She’s a great woman who can teach you a thing or two about gardening, and she loves all volunteers that come to help. You can do so by visiting the Riverside Park Fund website and filling out the volunteer inquiry form, or sign up with New York Cares.

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Thanks to the National Conference on Volunteering and Service for hosting the day and providing some sweet t-shirts for all the volunteers that came out to help Saturday. You can watch highlights of the conference and stay informed virtually by clicking here.

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On April 24th, I’ll be volunteering for Hands On New York Day, beautifying a park in Flushing, Queens. What will you be doing during National Volunteer Week?

What: sort through donated clothing, through New York Cares

Where: Room to Grow, East Midtown

When: Tuesday, 5:30-7:30pm

Room to Grow is a Manhattan-based non-profit supporting babies in poverty throughout their first three years of life, providing parents with one-on-one parenting support and essential baby items throughout their children’s critical stages of development. As such, they receive a LOT of donations from the generous public, large corporations, and retail stores; someone needs to go through everything and separate the good from the bad, and definitely get rid of the ugly. That’s where you come in, new volunteer!

When you first arrive at Room to Grow, you’ll take a seat on the couch and listen to some simple instructions. Since they have so many different offerings there (toys, clothing, books,etc), your instructions may be different than mine but the idea is the same: keep anything that looks new, get rid of anything you wouldn’t buy in a store yourself. Our task for the night was to do a preliminary sorting of clothing donations, separating everything by age and taking out anything that wasn’t wearable. It wasn’t difficult, and the time flew by as I picked through bag after bag of adorable baby clothing. Anything that I was unsure of, I held up and waited for one of the staff or head volunteers to give a thumbs up or thumbs down. The simple, repetitive task was actually one of the most calming activities I’ve participated in after a long day of work, second only to my brownie-stuffing experience at God’s Love We Deliver. My foot falling asleep every 5 minutes was the only reminder that I was, in fact, still conscious- otherwise, it was quite meditative.

The place itself was immaculate (get a 3D tour here), and I think I’d actually prefer to shop for clothing here than in a retail store; its a relaxed, organized environment with everything one would need to outfit a baby for a few years, all in one room. Also, its free (which is a pretty amazing deal). They are also VERY thorough; after our initial sort, the next group will give everything a second look before putting it on the rack. Anything that doesn’t make the cut moves further down the donation chain; Good Will and the Salvation Army for the less than perfect items, and those that can’t be salvaged? Their fate is to become insulation for houses. Other things to know:

- Be prepared to sit on the floor for two hours, or at the very least, be hunched over a pile of donations for an extended period of time (read: bad back or bad knees-> call before going to see what the day’s project is).

- If you’ve got baby fever but aren’t ready to have a baby, do not volunteer here. The power of tiny outfits on a woman is bizarre and the enigmatic force thrives here, so beware. I mean, have you seen how tiny those shoes are?!

- If you donate, know that anything you give will in some way be used, by someone, or something. However, if your kid has a propensity for spaghetti flinging and drooling uncontrollably (pretty much sums up my childhood…and college), and now you’re looking to get rid of their “gently used” vomit-covered onesies, give it to someone else. Room to Grow only uses like-new donations, and for good reason.

- This isn’t just a place for poverty-stricken women to pick out cute outfits; it’s a lot more than that. Its a support system made up social workers, providing information and necessities to parents who have been referred by a selected group of prenatal programs in the city. For more information, visit their website. And of course, you can volunteer directly with them.

This past weekend I volunteered at the 2009 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk in Central Park. I signed up through an ad posted to Craigslist about two or three months ago, and completely forgot about it until I received a letter in the mail reminding me to show up. Not that I wasn’t aware of the walk or it being Breast Cancer Month, I just forgot that I signed up to participate. It being the same weekend of the New York Cares Day event I did one day prior, I was worried that I wouldn’t really feel up to volunteering all day outside. My apprehension aside, I made a commitment so I was going. Come hell, high water, or unseasonable cold temperatures and rain, perfect for sleeping in.

So, on Sunday the 18th, I was up by 6am and heading into Central Park by 7. It was about 35 degrees out and raining, and somehow, my socks were already wet. I was not happy. But once I got to the 72nd St Bandshell in the park, I realized how big this event is and how important it is to so many people, and I quickly changed my attitude.  There were tents set up with different promotional items for sale, and a huge pink tent with a banner that read ‘Welcome Survivors’. I headed over to check in with the other volunteers, put on my XL volunteer t-shirt, and had a bagel and coffee (provided by Tim Hortons) while the sun came up. I was concerned that having signed up on Craigslist, the process of getting oriented and ready for thousands of people to arrive would be chaotic and unorganized. I should’ve known that a huge organization like the American Cancer Society would not only have things under control, but the volunteers would be led with military precision. Whether assisting with set-up, checking in walkers, or passing out water along the route, all of the volunteers seemed to be comfortable with what they were doing, as if they had been doing it for years (some of them had, in fact, been doing it for years)

I was assigned to the registration and online check-in tents. There were mini-orientations for volunteers as they arrived: when about 7 or 8 people got to the tent, a lead volunteer or staff member would tell us what we would be doing, and send us each to our location for the day. I was to direct the walkers to the appropriate place as they arrived, depending on whether or not they had registered online, were with a group, etc. Having studied the map of the event footprint before the walk started, I was also able to give people directions to event areas or park exits and subways. I assumed the weather would deter people from attending and was prepared to deal with cranky, wet participants, impatiently waiting on line. Once again, I was wrong. Not only did 20,000 people show up, but they were happy to be there. No one was running for shelter from the rain, or complaining about the cold. Droves of people continued to arrive for the rolling start from about 830 to 11am. The music played on and some people danced their way to the starting line. Groups of high school and college students waited, taking pictures and cheering. Every time a survivor registered or checked in for the walk, a team of volunteers would begin ringing cowbells and cheering, which incited sporadic cheers all morning from walkers, volunteers, and staffers alike.  By the end of the day, the Making Strides in Central Park walk raised over $2,400,000.

On their website, the The American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer writes that they provide “a community for all of us to join together with a shared passion to end breast cancer once and for all. Together, we will make a difference, make history, and make strides against breast cancer.” At this event, I really did sense that this was a community; of women, families, children, coworkers, people from all walks of life, supporting one another. It wasn’t just a fund raiser; it was a day dedicated to paying tribute to anyone affected by breast cancer, and a day to recognize that no one has to go it alone. I was proud to be a part of it, and look forward to next year’s Walk.

To see if there is an event coming up in your area, or to make a donation, visit the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer homepage by clicking here. You can also check to see what volunteer opportunities the American Cancer Society has by clicking here.