Holiday Volunteering

On Christmas Eve, eight of Met Council’s outstanding volunteers hosted a holiday party for our low-income seniors at our East 61st Street residence. Volunteers and residents played BINGO, made crafts, decorated cookies and brownies, and enjoyed sparkling cider to ring in the holiday season! Residents and volunteers had a fabulous time together and are even planning a joint birthday party for some time in the near future. :-) Thank you to our wonderful volunteers and housing staff for making this possible! Happy holidays!

Upcoming Volunteer Event

Bingo with seniors

Spice up a cold winter afternoon for Met Council's low income senior clients. We are looking for volunteers to help organize and run a bingo game in one of our senior residences. Volunteer duties will include setting up the room, greeting residents, facilitating the bingo game, and - most importantly - socializing with our clients.

To sign up for this opportunity, please see our posting on Volunteer Match or contact Kelley Baldwin at kbaldwin@metcouncil.org.

The Gift of Listening

Listening to one another can be a powerful experience . . . and that’s why our Volunteer Department enlisted the services of StoryCorps to record the personal histories of our senior clients.

Over the course of two days, student volunteers interviewed 10 senior residents from Council Towers in the Bronx about their life stories. Through this unique opportunity, volunteers listened to stories about immigration, war, language, parenthood, family, and much more. Our clients’ unique histories and experiences will be added to the collection at the Library of Congress. To read about one of these stories, click here.

Thank you to SAR High School and StoryCorps for gathering these treasured resources and making this wonderful event possible.

Thanksgiving Volunteer Extravaganza

The holidays are always a busy time for Met Council’s Volunteer Department. On Sunday, November 22nd, 87 enthusiastic volunteers cooked a turkey dinner, played bingo games, made holiday food packages, and served Thanksgiving meal to 115 of our low income clients.

In the spirit of thankfulness and appreciation, we would like to extend our gratitude to the volunteer groups – Park Avenue Synagogue and UJA-Federation – who made all these events possible. And a special thanks to our volunteer chef, Deborah Gelman of Dujour Foods, who supervised the chopping, sautéing, and roasting of the delicious festive meal.

In the words of a Met Council senior client, "thank you to the young men and women who greeted, socialized, and served the residents . . . I have not seen a finer group of people in this city for awhile." We couldn't agree more!

Happy holidays!