Steinhardt's community service committee 'hardt to Heart is sponsoring the first ever Month of Service this month. Last week we sent some people to a local soup kitchen, next weekend we'll have people going to two soup kitchens, making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, sewing SurgiDolls, and playing baseball with Play! and on the 26th, we'll also be sending more volunteers down to Play!
However, today we participated in the Annual New York Cares Hands on New York Day. A group of us went to Marine Park in Brooklyn with a number of other volunteers (we had 48 total at our site today). To be honest, although I love doing community service, I was somewhat skeptical all week because it was supposed to rain today. But the day turned out way better than I would've ever expected.
After receiving a brief introduction and welcoming, the volunteers lined up along the water in teams of 6 where we proceeded to rake and bag leaves as well as pull tons and tons of weeds. After lunch I asked someone how many bags we had stuffed and the number was up to at least 135 and we still had more time to go. It was incredible to see the transformation before and after--I wish I had taken a picture of that! The whole area we were working on was so clean after!
I felt very positive after leaving the park for our hour bus ride back to Manhattan. I had had the chance to spend time with some other Steinhardt students, meet some other volunteers from all over the city (and even one from my hometown--such a small world), and hopefully make a difference in the lives of Brooklyn residents. The whole Hands on NY Day program is absolutely phenomenal--between 7,000 and 8,000 volunteers TODAY ALONE were sent out to "helped revitalize 110 New York City parks and gardens, playgrounds, community centers, schools and homeless shelters" according to the Thank You email we received after the event.
I would HIGHLY recommend trying to get involved in this event which takes place twice a year--oonce in the fall and once each spring.