ICAP Spring Volunteer Week

Project Summary

The Bowery Mission – the charity’s combined programme sites serve more than 1,000 meals per day to poor and homeless men, women, and children and more recently, the unemployed who are doing everything possible to make ends meet. ICAP volunteers helped to prepare, serve and clean-up dinner alongside the staff and resident students. https://www.bowery.org 

Only Make Believe (OMB) – this charity creates and performs interactive theatre for sick children in hospitals and care facilities.  Actors dressed in colourful costumes, armed with fun props visit children in their wards to entertain and perform for them.  Through the interactive magic of theatre and imagination, OMB is helping to speed up the recovery time for these very sick children. Two options were offered to ICAP employees. Costume Collective:  ICAP volunteers used their artistic skills and imagination to create one-of-a-kind costumes for patients to wear during performances.  One held in Harbourside, one in midtown. Cast Party:  ICAP volunteers travelled to one of OMB’s partner hospitals, Bellevue Hospital, decorated the playroom, enjoyed the show alongside the children, and threw a party for the children!  ICAP volunteers filled and handed out goody bags, snacks and cleaned up after the show and party. http://onlymakebelieve.org

Power My Learning – offer a range of programmes and services designed to help schools integrate digital resources, meaningfully engage families and develop sustainable learning practices that advance personalised instruction and drive student ownership of learning. In order to ensure families at partner schools receive high-quality technology resources, ICAP volunteers helped refurbish and organise computers for their Family Learning Workshops.  Volunteer activities included cleaning and testing computers, keyboards and other equipment to make sure they were all fully functioning when families receive them. http://powermylearning.org

City Harvest –help to feed nearly 1.4 million New Yorkers facing hunger each year by rescuing nearly 150,000 pounds of wasted food each day and regularly donating this to 500 community programmes. As a part of their Mobile Markets programme, ICAP volunteers distributed fresh produce in a greenmarket setting free of charge to attendees at Prince Hall.  At this event, ICAP staff helped supply more than 400 families with thousands of pounds of food. http://www.cityharvest.org/ 

Moms Helping Moms – This charity based in Union, NJ, collects and distributes donated baby supplies and essentials to local families in need of assistance. ICAP Volunteers across a morning and an afternoon shift, helped sort inventory and package bags of goods requested by local shelters, orphanages and children’s hospitals for delivery throughout Northern NJ.  ICAP staff also hosted an office-based Moms Helping Moms Mother’s Day Drive in the Harbourside office, to donate new or barely used baby items to the charity.  Collectively ICAP donated 37 brand new pieces of clothing, 30 blankets and bibs, 36 brand new bottles and sippy cups, 26 bottles of baby wash, lotion and diaper cream, 240 diapers and 1,248 wipes among other items. http://www.momshelpingmomsfoundation.org/ 

Tuesday’s Children – Founded in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 the group is a response and recovery organisation that helps young people, families and communities impacted by terrorism and traumatic loss. ICAP employees hosted high school-aged children in a departmental rotation in the Harbourside office as a part of the ‘Bring Our Children to Work’ Programme.  The children received a synopsis and tour of each support area by a member of the department and also were able to sit on two desks to learn and observe live trades. http://www.tuesdayschildren.org

Henry Street Settlement - opens doors of opportunity to enrich lives and enhance human progress for Lower East Side residents and other New Yorkers through social services, arts and health care programmes.  The group offers early childhood education, art programmes, after school and summer camp programmes, computer labs, career counselling, employment and training services, adult basic education, crisis intervention, domestic violence shelter, health services, transitional housing programmes for the homeless, parent counseling, mental health services and senior companionship programmes. ICAP volunteers helped refresh the Youth Services Headquarters with a new coat of paint that will make the space more welcoming for children and their families. http://www.henrystreet.org

Global Green - The US arm of Green Cross International, is a national leader in advancing sustainable and resilient communities. The charity focus on creating green cities, schools and affordable housing to help protect human health, improve livability and support our planet's natural systems in an effort to stem climate change. ICAP volunteers participated in a food rescue, transporting food by foot from New York University’s Stern School of Business to the Bowery Mission soup kitchen. http://www.globalgreen.org