The holiday season is as much about giving as it is receiving. As we prepare to feed family and friends over Thanksgiving and our respective winter celebrations, exchanging gifts and well-wishes, we should also challenge ourselves to give our neighbors a little extra love this season.
Monetary gifts to city-wide food access organizations, while always generous and never a bad idea, are only one way to celebrate the spirit of the giving season. Hands-on work at a local level can be just as effective as cash donations — if not more so.
If you find yourself with the time and desire to spread a little more warmth and cheer this year, here are a five neighborhood-based organizations that are taking on volunteers right now:
New York Common Pantry (Manhattan & The Bronx)
With locations serving both East Harlem and Hoe Avenue in the Bronx, the New York Common Pantry has been operating a number of food access programs since 1980. The neighborhood-based organization’s Choice Pantry program provides nutritious, culturally aligned foods to Harlem and Bronx residents free of charge, in addition to a Hot Meals program and a Mobile Pantry.
With additional services available for seniors, unhoused New Yorkers, and others in need of assistance, NYCP places a special focus on the underlying causes of hunger throughout the city.
Those interested in volunteering can apply online for shift assignments.
Project Hospitality (Staten Island)
Serving more than 26,000 New Yorkers annually, Project Hospitality provides a broad range of essential services to the Staten Island community, including substance abuse treatment, shelter, and, of course, food access.
With a soup kitchen running twice a week, a food pantry running concurrently, and yet another food pantry running every second and fourth Thursday, in addition to a Mobile Food Pantry program, Project Hospitality has a number of volunteer roles for those seeking to donate their time and energy. If your time is scarce, they also accept food donations, as well as holiday goods for the coming winter season.
Astoria Food Pantry (Queens)
Founded in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Astoria Food Pantry works within the larger Astoria Mutual Aid Network to distribute food free of charge to western Queens. In addition to running a pantry every Monday, AFP also provides the neighborhood with a mobile library, monthly diaper distributions, and weekly mobile food distributions at the Astoria and Queensbridge Houses, as well as maintaining a number of community fridges.
Volunteer shifts are available most of the week for each program; new volunteers can sign-up to help online.
Community Help in Park Slope (Brooklyn)
Founded more than 50 years ago, Community Help in Park Slope (better known as CHiPS) operates food access programs six days a week, including a kitchen serving breakfast, lunch, and sometimes sandwiches “after-hours”; a food pantry that’s open six days a week; and a number of mobile pantries. CHiPS also provides housing services for women and children at its Frances Residence, with a focusing on pre- and post-natal support for new and expecting mothers.
With such a robust level of service, CHiPS is always looking for volunteers to help with food rescue, distribution, and preparation. New Yorkers with a reliable source of prepared, fresh, or shelf-stable foods are also welcome to donate food to CHiPS.
Graffiti Church (Manhattan)
Graffiti Church is a different type of faith-based service organization, with the East 7th Street Baptist Church earning the moniker in the 1970s after allowing local artists to use its pantry storefront as a canvas. A mainstay of the East Village community, Graffiti Church provides meals every Wednesday night in addition to free lunches in Tompkins Square Park every Saturday afternoon.
There is an open call for volunteers for these programs, in addition to youth outreach programs. Graffiti Church also accepts cash donations.
