Educate & Exercise With Seniors

Poor dietary habits and physical inactivity are NOT just apparent in the younger population. In fact, malnutrition and laziness do exist among the elderly cohort, and it is a growing problem. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, "28-34% of adults ages 65-74 and 35-44% of adults ages 75 or older are inactive."

Therefore, in an effort to encourage exercise and a healthy diet, Met Council has expanded programming at our Manhattan senior housing sites to include nutrition and fitness workshops. We need volunteers to help lead and develop these exciting workshops. If you have a love of exercise or an insatiable knowledge of nutritious cuisine--- this opportunity is perfect for you!

Please email volunteer@metcouncil.org or call 212-453-9675 for more information and join Met Council in helping to contribute to a healthier America.

Goodbye to Sarah Leiner

Unfortunately, Sarah Leiner has concluded her AmeriCorps year of service for Met Council. I speak for everyone she worked with when I say thank you and we'll miss you. Below is Sarah's goodbye message:


As my AmeriCorps term at Met Council comes to a conclusion, I would like to take this opportunity to express how grateful I am to have landed this wonderful job. Not only did this experience open my eyes to the range of needs among poor New Yorkers, but it helped me to develop a greater ethic of service, as well as helped me to grow as a professional.

I truly loved my job as an AmeriCorps Volunteer Coordinator, helping to create and sustain ongoing programs that addressed the nutritional and social needs of Met Council’s senior residents. I found working with this vulnerable population to be very meaningful and rewarding. As I embark on the next chapter in my life, in which I will be pursuing a Master’s in Social Work at NYU, I will be taking on a field placement where I’ll be able to apply theory to practice. When I met with my field placement adviser, I already knew that I wanted to be placed at an agency whose clients were senior citizens. Thankfully, I was able to secure a case manager position at Search and Care, whose mission is to seek out older people in the community who need help in managing life's daily activities or accessing essential services, and to provide them the support and companionship they require to live with security and dignity in the manner they choose. After having learned so much about the elderly at Met Council and being provided the opportunity to work directly with this population, I believe my transition into Search and Care will be a smooth one.

And although I only earned a small stipend for the year, I certainly felt a wealth of satisfaction that comes from helping others.

A special thanks to my colleagues and supervisors for making my experience at Met Council an excellent one!

Volunteering as a team!

How long would it take you to paint a room by yourself? It's the type of work that always goes smoother with a partner or a team.

So when a recreation room needed to be repainted in one of our senior homes I immediately thought it would be a nice project for a team.

Now to let you in on a little volunteer coordinator secret, there are two ways that we might get a team of volunteers. One way is to find a group of people who already volunteer together through a community they are in, such as a school, temple, or place of employment. However, another way to get a team of volunteers is also to recruit individuals for a project.


There's something very magical about watching individuals come together as a team. For the painting project we completed our volunteers all came from different backgrounds. Some were high school students, others were working adults, and other were graduate school and college students. It's a group of people who might usually not realize they have something in common--they have an age difference, the come from different parts of the city--but they all came together here in order to give back and help out!


If you're thinking about volunteering, remember, the impact you make won't just be on the clients you serve--you'll also get to meet some interesting people and maybe learn something from each other as well. I often notice older volunteers taking younger volunteers under their wing and giving them advice on how to complete a task, and even beyond that. Some volunteers have given each other career or school advice, other volunteers have met a great friend, there's no telling what might happen and it makes my job all the more interesting as the person who brings volunteers together!

Volunteer Leader, Andrea Berkman blogs about her first experience leading the Profesional Networking Workshop

I have been volunteering for a relatively short time (a few years, if that) and was introduced to Met Council through New York Cares. Both are extremely dedicated organizations whose primary goal is the betterment of others in the community. I'd met Shifra Elman a couple of months back and was honored when she asked me to lead one of the Professional Networking Workshops – an event I had attended a few times before.

The goal of the Professional Networking Workshop is to teach people how to, well, network. The focus has nothing to do formal interviewing but rather informational interviewing and the soft skills that make people you meet want to help you… "soft" being the operative word.

Fast forward to my workshop, shall we?

The night began like this… I left my meeting in midtown and arrived at Met Council just to find that I'd left both my wallet and my cell phone at my client's office. $60 later and a half hour behind schedule I arrive at Met Council and see Shifra sitting at the head of a table of women. These were not just any group of women; these women, although quite lovely, were the "fire" in that old phrase "I was thrown into the fire.”

The women were first generation Russian immigrants seeking positions in nursing. They were in need of help but were quite resistant to the idea of… how do I say this…? They were resistant to the idea of not kvetching about their predicament and being open to a new way of interacting with people who may be able to give them support. Either directly because they work in the medical field or indirectly because they hit it off with someone who may know of someone who can help.

After two rounds of networking with one round of feedback in between, I was exhausted and thinking that maybe I was in over my head. My confidence in my ability to lead the event and make it worthwhile was in question… or so I thought.

As I mentioned, the group of women during this session were not the easiest to communicate with and earning their trust was difficult. However, at the conclusion of the evening a few of the women said that they really enjoyed the session and found it to be useful! I thought I misheard until Shifra confirmed this for me later.

In conclusion, my first go-round as a Volunteer Leader was amazing. These women were able to teach me how to be more accepting of barriers while I, along with the other amazing volunteers, was able to help these women open up to what may be around them. I honestly walked into the event thinking "I'm in Sales, I can sell these women on how to network and why it's important" but I was completely wrong. So thank you to the ladies, the volunteers, and Met Council for allowing me to lead this workshop, as well as be led.

For Seniors and Volunteers, Met Council’s Lunch Program Provides More Than A Free Meal

For more than a year, Met Council's volunteer-led Senior Lunch Program has been serving up hot meals and good company to low- income seniors living in Manhattan. The program is based at Met Council's Third Avenue residence, which boasts 10 studios, 38 one bedrooms and a live in super in the Kips Bay neighborhood. The lunch program takes place every Sunday and is open to all the residents who live there as well as those who live in any of Met Council's 10 other low- income senior residences in Manhattan.

Since it began, the Senior Lunch Program has been very popular with both volunteers and with the residents, who enjoy not only a nutritious and Kosher hot meal, but more importantly the opportunity to socialize with their neighbors and the volunteers. on any given Sunday, the second floor community room where the lunch is held brings together people from a wide variety of backgrounds- including residents who are immigrants from Eastern Europe, China, and Latin America- as well as volunteer groups that vary in age, ethnicity and gender.

Stefanie Greenberg, Met Council's Volunteer Department Manager, explained that the program fosters an important sense of community among seniors. "This is not a nursing home or an assisted living facility," she explained. "It's simply affordable housing for seniors. For the most part they live independent, but Met Council wants to create a nice environment for them [to live in]...The lunch program gives the seniors an opportunity to come together with their neighbors once a week and catch up over a nice meal. If a regular [attendee] misses a meal or hasn't been seen in a day or two, their friends will know to look in on them."

It also provides an ongoing opportunity for volunteers looking for meaningful service opportunities. "It's a very concrete project with clear tasks," said Greenberg. "Greeting the seniors as they arrive, preparing and serving the food, and interacting with the seniors- there is something for everyone to do and at the end of the day everyone feels like they have accomplished something worthwhile. "

If you would like to be a part of this great program please contact the volunteer department at volunteer@metcouncil.org

Remembering 9/11

Since 2002, families of loved ones who perished in the terrorist attacks have been engaging in acts of service to pay tribute to those who rose to service in response to the tragedies of 9/11. In an effort to build support for this idea, 9/11 has been designated a National Day of Service and Remembrance and eventually established into law.

To honor the 10th Anniversary of 9/11, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is challenging nonprofit organizations to act in accordance with the law. In the spirit of unity, compassion, and remembrance, organizations are challenged to bring Americans together to engage in service projects that are linked to the tragedy that occurred on 9/11.

Met Council will be participating in the National Day of Service and Remembrance with emergency preparedness workshops across the city. For more information, please contact volunteer@metcouncil.org. We highly encourage you to get involved for this special day.

Volunteer with Kids

I’m sure you’ve noticed it. It’s been evident in the blog posts, email blasts, and websites. Met Council’s volunteer opportunities are EXPANDING significantly thanks to people like you who want to take action against poverty in New York City.

Today I want to talk about one of the many ways we’ve increased programming. As of this year, Met Council now offers two exciting ways to make a difference in the lives of young at-risk children in New York City. We now offer a mentorship program for formerly homeless children as well as an after school program for children that have been victims of domestic violence.

There are few experiences as meaningful as making an impact on a child’s life. Sign up for these opportunities now if you want to make a different. Please email volunteer@metcouncil.org or call 212-453-9675.