Met Council thanks YOU!

Here at Met Council, we care about people who care about others. We appreciate the volunteers who give up their weeknights or weekends to serve at Masbia or help out at one of our job readiness workshops because we would not be able to carry any of these programs without them. We are known for sending our birthday cards and, as you can see from reading our blog, for recognizing the volunteers who have really gone the extra mile in our "Volunteer of the Month" section.

But how much does a THANK YOU really matter? According to a study by volunteer organization New York Cares on its own volunteers, it matters a whole lot. 16% of their volunteer opportunities in 2009 were filled just because they showed that they were thankful to volunteers for their service. Volunteers who were thanked served 27% more and became leaders at a rate 25% faster than those who were not.

All of these numbers prove what everyone has always known: that it's nice to feel appreciated. So, to all who have volunteered with Met Council before, we absolutely appreciate you and will continue to show how much we love you. We couldn't have done it without all of you!

What do YOU think? How far do you think a word of thanks goes? Feel free to leave a comment and let us know!

Here are just a few of our many awesome volunteers hard at work serving Seniors, preparing clients for the working world, and helping out at Masbia.

“Festival of Lights Shines a Light on the Youth”

Chanukah is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the re-dedication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem as well as the miracle of the oil. On the 25th day of Kislev, which may occur at any time from late November to late December, the festival is observed by the kindling of the lights of a nine-branched menorah and it celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, of purity over adulteration, and of spirituality over materiality.

Chanukah customs include eating traditional fried foods on this holiday because of the significance of oil to the holiday. Foods such as latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiot (donuts) are enjoyed. Games such as playing with the dreidel are a significant pastime. The giving of Chanukah gelt to children reinforces the custom to give gelt (money) to children, so that we can teach them to give some of it to charity—and just to keep things festive and happy!

In the spirit of charity, volunteers from our MVP group hosted a Chanukah Party and Cheers for Volunteers event for families affected by domestic violence. It was well attended by over 20 clients and 16 volunteers from the community. Our volunteers assisted with activities such as arts and crafts, dreidel games, sports games, and distributed chocolate gelt and Chanukah toys to the children.

Providing opportunities through our youth enrichment projects allows our volunteers to make an impact, engage and instruct children, as well as have fun! Our volunteers brought innovation and grassroots changes to an already existing program by showing up and being role models to the clients. After the event, the volunteers went out for drinks.

Year in Review

As the year is wrapping up, let’s take a look back at what the Volunteer Department at Met Council has accomplished this year:

In January, volunteers from all over the city teamed up to sort through our donated clothing on MLK day.

One of our favorite volunteers, Monita, taught a cooking class to seniors.

For Passover, Met Council had many volunteer-run food distributions for struggling families.

A new program called the Senior Nutirtion Workshop was started in order to keep our seniors well informed about the food they were eating so that they could make healthy choices!

A senior fitness class was also started to help our seniors stay fit and active!

Lots of things were happening on the career services side too. From resume reviews to mock interviews, and even networking workshops!

Some of our best ongoing programs continued as well, such the Senior Lunch Program, which helps to provide a hot kosher lunch for seniors every week.

The Youth Enrichment Program took off this year, providing children in our temporary homeless shelter with fun and educational activities every week.

And with the warm weather, came many volunteer gardening projects! Almost every seniors home garden at Met Council got a make over!

In the fall we rembered 9/11 by having emergency preparedness workshops at our senior residences.

In the fall we also teamed up with UJA for an event called Care to Share, where volunteers were invited to donate extra food from their farmshares all over New York!

And most recently we had "Growing Together" projects in which multi-generational groups made windowsill herb gardens for the seniors at Met Council!

It's been a great year!

The New Face of the Volunteer Department

The faces of Met Council’s volunteer department have changed! We’re extremely happy to present this year’s three new AmeriCorps members – Irijah, Jessica, and Simone - who will be working hard with you, our wonderful volunteers, to better serve New Yorkers in poverty.

Irijah Stennett is excited about working with the Met Council. She has over 15 years of experience in volunteering and servicing communities in New York City and Washington, DC through health as well as educational programs. She believes, by providing opportunities to people in need, we will expand on relationships with local leaders as well as gain support from the citizens we serve. Irijah will be focused on volunteer opportunities out in Brooklyn. She is sitting outside my office and can be reached at IStennett@metcouncil.org

Jessica Cheng will be working on career readiness volunteer programming. She is really excited! Jessica is a recent graduate of The College of New Jersey, where she studied English and Political Economy. But her passion has always been for non-profits and community outreach initiatives. For the past year, Jessica worked as Advocacy and Communications intern for AARP New Jersey to create positive legislative changes for the older adult community and promote volunteerism for those over 50 years old. Jessica is sitting outside my office and can be found at jcheng@metcouncil.org

Simone Carvalho is excited to start her yearlong adventure as an AmeriCorps Volunteer Coordinator with the Met Council where she will be working on food, nutrition, and wellness volunteer programs. Simone graduated this past May from Rutgers University with a BS in Management and a minor in Anthropology. Besides trying to be socially and environmentally conscious in everything she does, she doesn’t take herself so seriously and has a great sense of humor and passion for food. Simone can be reached at SCarvalho@metcouncil.org