To our 3,756 volunteers: We celebrate you!

By
Hope for New York

At Hope for New York, we believe that volunteers serving out of a gospel motivation, generously giving their time, are an invaluable resource to our non-profit affiliates and to their work serving the poor of our city.

This summer, we’re celebrating our 3,700+ volunteers who gave over 47,000 hours to serve the poor of our city this past fiscal year (July 1, 2016-June 30, 2017). 

Every year when we look back at how our volunteers have impacted our affiliates and our city, we celebrate the life transformation that is possible through service— for both the volunteers and the people they serve. Their generosity of time also extends the work of our non-profit affiliates beyond what could have been done otherwise.

While it would take much more than a blog post to list out everything our volunteers have done through over 120 different programs at 45+ non-profits, we wanted to give you just a few examples of their work this year:

  • They hosted two new His Toy Stores, making 11 pop-up stores throughout the city to provide toys to families in need and connect them to our affiliates for year-round support.
     
  • They woke up early to run with homeless men and women throughout New York with Back on My Feet, helping them gain confidence and momentum as they experience life transformation.
     
  • They provided free legal services to poor and oppressed men and women through Open Hands Legal Services.
     
  • They lead workshops on job readiness and budget-making for men and women re-entering their communities after incarceration with Exodus Transitional Community. 
     
  • They launched a volunteer program at Urban Hope NYC, our first-ever Staten Island affiliate, serving youth faithfully in an after-school program from the West Brighton neighborhood.
     
  • They came alongside middle schoolers at Operation Exodus to write plays during a multi-week workshop. The plays were then performed live by professional actors for the whole community to enjoy.
     
  • They stepped up in amazing ways as leaders. Our volunteer team leaders, HFNY Reps, Young Supporters Committee, and other leaders provided leadership to programs, helped recruit and retain volunteers, and rallied their networks toward loving and serving the poor. 

Awesome volunteers, we celebrate you and thank you for loving and serving your neighbors so well!