Volunteer Opportunities
Current
Volunteer your time! Can you spare up to 2 to 4 hours? We are looking for volunteers to sort, organize and distribute clothes to our migrant families. We are so happy to pay for the Uber - we just need your time. Perfect for teenagers who need community hours.
School, Church or Corporation? Please contact us to brainstorm ways that you can get involved. We can all do something! We can do with coats, warm clothes, toiletries, toys and sneaker drives. Email us here
Unhoused Neighbors: Come join us serving our homeless and low-income neighbors for 3 hours at one of City Relief’s several locations around the city. No previous experience necessary! Sign up here.
Refugees: There are so many ways to get involved. You can mentor newly-arrived teens, serve as art teachers on an ad-hoc basis or organize groups of 8-10 people who are committed to walking alongside refugee families who have recently arrived in Jersey City (great opportunity for church groups, PTAs, or social and community groups). Enquire here.
Volunteer for Ukraine: Afya Foundation is looking for volunteers to help sort and pack donated items from local hospitals that have been requested by Ukrainian and regional hospitals. You can sign up here.
March/April
Don’t Walk By: This is the largest annual outreach to our homeless community in NYC. Teams will walk the streets and invite homeless guests back to a base to get services. This will take place March 26th, April 2nd and April 9th. We would love you to join us by signing up here.
Volunteer for Ukraine: Afya Foundation is looking for volunteers to help sort and pack donated items from local hospitals that have been requested by Ukrainian and regional hospitals. You can sign up here.
Afghan Community Sponsorship: One of our local partners, Church World Service, is looking for for groups of 8-10 people committed to walking alongside arriving Afghan families who have recently arrived in Jersey City. Specifically, this is an opportunity great for church groups, PTAs, or social and community groups.
February
Coat Drives: If your child’s school or your company is interested in partnering with us this holiday season, please reach out here and we can share more details on setting up a drive for our cold friends on the streets.
Get involved with the Afghani Refugee Community: We are excited to share that our local partner will be hosting a zoom for those looking to get involved with their their clients who are currently residing in the Northern New Jersey area. They will share one-off opportunities as well as those for long term co-sponsorship where you can walk alongside a family and build friendship and community. Please email us if you are interested. We will set a date within the next couple of weeks
November
CHiPS (an organization providing food and shelter to mothers and children based in Brooklyn) is accepting donations of food items during Thanksgiving week - click here to sign up.
Cards for refugee families in detention centers - spread your love and joy. It's that special time of year again when we can send our love and light to refugee moms, dads and kids currently trapped in immigrant detention across the Northeast as well as at the southern border, who remain held in Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. Email us here for details. Please aim to have them postmarked by Dec 3 .
September/October 2021
Post Ida Clean-Up - Hurricane Ida extensively damaged City Relief’s base of operations in Elizabeth, NJ. They are looking to put together a resource list of those who would be willing to help during the month of September as they clean up and rebuild their space. If you are willing to help, please come forward and we will connect you! Email us here.
Reach out if you have a heart for the numerous Afghan refugees arriving in NYC/NJ imminently. We can get you involved. Click here.
June 2021
Consider volunteering to help refugee and migrant families arriving to New York City from the US/Mexico border by signing up with Team TLC.
May 2021
Consider volunteering to help refugee and migrant families arriving to New York City from the US/Mexico border by signing up with Team TLC.
April 2021
New York City Relief is hosting its 2021 Virtual Gala on April 20th from 7-8pm. Each ticket is $32 (for each year they have been up and running) and will provide a meal to 30 outreach guests. So come and be inspired, meet the amazing leaders who transform not only the guests on the streets but the volunteers too while feeding those who so desperately need it. Tickets here
Preemptive love: Learn to be a peacemaker and light in your community during these divisive times by joining a free Love Anyway workshop series with Preemptive Love (launching mid-April), designed to connect you deeper with your neighbors and understand how to “love anyway” despite differences. If you’re between the ages of 18 to 27, you can also check out “Generation Peace”, an online gathering for youth interested in waging peace in their communities.
March 2021:
Join us at the Rescue Alliance Homeless Summit! It’s an excellent way to learn how to turn every day into an opportunity to serve. The Summit will offer trainings in how to better care for the friends we may pass living on the streets each day. March 20th 9am to 12.15pm on Zoom.
February 2021:
1) Come join us at Don’t Walk By, an annual winter outreach to people experiencing homelessness in New York City. Volunteer teams canvass the streets and subway lines of Manhattan looking to provide assistance to our neighbors in need. Bindia is leading teams weekly throughout February! You can sign up here for Feb 13; here for Feb 20; and here for Feb 27.
2) Create Valentine’s Cards for our refugee and migrant friends currently being held in detention centers, where they face isolation, loneliness and difficulty as they wait for results on their asylum requests. Valentine’s Cards may be the only bit of light and love our friends receive during this dark time in their journeys. Get instructions here!
January 2021:
1) Come join us at NYC Relief Bus (several locations around the city). If you need an excuse to go, Bindia is volunteering most Fridays and Saturdays so sign up at New York City Relief
2) YFC are looking for mentors to do life with youth that are incarcerated; If you want to learn more, join their “See The Story” zoom or become one of a “1000 friends” by donating $20 monthly- for more information, see HERE.
December 2020:
Don’t spend Christmas day alone! Join us as we try to bring some cheer to our friends on the street by serving Turkey and Cranberry rolls, baked goods, hot drinks, care packages and holiday cards for a few hours on the day itself. If you would like to participate, in person on the day, by delivering items on Dec 24th, or donations, email Bindia.
November 2020
Bake pies for our refugee shelters in Jersey City and for RDJ; 2 pies to be delivered on Thanksgiving.
come join us serving at The Bowery Mission - we have signed up for the 2.30-6.30pm shifts and there are slots available.
Cards for refugee families in detention centers - spread your love and joy - post mark date Dec 9th
It's that special time of year again when we can send our love and light to refugee moms, dads and kids currently trapped in immigrant detention across the Northeast as well as at the southern border, who remain held in Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. These families, frequently separated, fled their home countries in search of safety to find themselves imprisoned indefinitely due to the current U.S. presidential administration. We are unable to reach them with much, but can get cards of a select nature into the prisons to remind them we are with them.
Here's how:
- Draw/ write non-political notes of encouragement and holiday greetings in English or Spanish. SPANISH PREFERRED.
- Do not put your cards into individual sealed envelopes, or ICE will not allow them in. Please place them in a large manila envelope.
- Do not use glitter or glue, or ICE will not allow them in.
- We recommend signing your first name and city/state, so the recipients know a real person's on the other end praying for them!
- Please mail all cards to First English Lutheran Church, ATTN Hope for the Holidays, 3807 North Charles STreet, Baltimore, MD 21218. Please aim to have them postmarked by Dec 9 .