Metropolitan Moms Prepare Clients for the Job Hunt

Metropolitan Moms, a group of young professional women living in the city, recently joined Met Council to volunteer and help clients improve their resumes. The event was the launch of a two part workshop for career readiness, which will also include a mock interview session next week.
The workshop kicked off with a storytelling exercise. Each of the attendees was asked to improvise a portion of a story, incorporating small details about their lives into the ever-changing plot. This activity put participants in the mindset of sharing their story, in order to help them do the same with their resumes.

Each person was then paired with a Metropolitan Mom volunteer to begin work on their resumes. The experienced and caring volunteers instantly began to connect with their clients so that they could together prepare an extraordinary resume.

Many participating clients are recent graduates of the Met Council Empower RN program. The Empower RN program prepares immigrant nurses for the NCLEX ((National Council Licensure EXamination), an exam for the licensing of nurses in the United States. Other clients are victims of domestic violence and are now facing life changes, such as getting a job for the first time in many years or looking for new employment to better suit their situation.

An excellent resume is essential in finding employment in today’s competitive job market. Volunteers from Metropolitan Moms worked vigorously to understand their clients’ needs and goals in order to create professional resumes. Clients left the workshop, not only grateful for the experience, but also ready to send out their new and improved resumes to potential employers.
To learn more about Met Council volunteer opportunities, call 212-453-9619 or email volunteer@metcouncil.org.

Remarkable Volunteer: Julia Plistyef

In light of the hard work that she has devoted to our Senior Lunch Program and her awesome dedication to Met Council in general, the volunteer department is pleased to announce that Julia Plistyef is the recipient of this month's Volunteer of the Month award! This is our way of saying thank you to Julia for skillfully and enthusiastically upholding her responsibilities as a volunteer leader.

Julia started volunteering with Met Council in the summer of 2009. She learned about Met Council when she was looking for a job and other volunteer opportunities after her position at the Anti-Defamation League ended. When Julia discovered Met Council's website, she was so impressed with the organization's mission that she contacted Met Council to set up a volunteer opportunity. To this day, she has been extremely valuable in helping us fulfill our mission of fighting poverty.

"Since I was little, I've been taught by my parents that it's very important to provide help to others. Consequently, Met Council's mission gives me a great opportunity and chance to spread kindness and give back. First as a volunteer and then as a Volunteer Leader, I've been involved in a variety of projects and programs, which range from collecting and distributing back-packs for needy children, creating packages for the Food for Life campaign, distributing Passover packages, movie nights, gardening at low income housing, assisting residents with Census forms, bingo nights, to assisting with the opening of the Masbia soup kitchens and Sunday luncheons for the seniors in low income residents. It's such a great experience when I see how happy the clients are to receive food packages for holidays, have free hot lunches, or attend different activities. As a result, I feel good and proud to make a difference in people's lives and to be part of this great cause. Thank You! I am hoping to get involved in more projects in the future." -Julia Plistyef

Met Council is so grateful for Julia's efforts and we take such pride in her ongoing volunteerism with our organization.

Thank you so much, Julia!

NY Cares Mock Interview Workshop

Even with the snow storm scare, Met Council Clients and NY Cares volunteers came out after work to have a fun and useful Mock Interview Workshop. Each client brings two copies of their resume as well as a copy of a job posting that they are qualified for to the workshop. The interviewers then use this posting to interview the clients so they can get real interview experience with productive feedback at the end of the session. The volunteers and clients are separated as they enter so it will be as real an experience as possible, one never knows who will be interviewing them, and they come together at the end of the evening to talk about their experience. Both the volunteers and the clients talked about their impressions and feelings on this tough subject of getting back into the swing of interviewing and how best to market one's skills and personality to be considered a real candidate for the job one is interviewing for. The energy at the end of the evening was high and everyone seemed to have had a meaningful experience.

Feedback from evaluations and phone calls:

Client: Thank you for a memorable evening, it was very very well organized and it was very informative, it was good, it reinforced again what I believed all along. Thank you.

Client: I have to say that this workshop helped me a lot to fix some of my problems that I have when I come to an interview. I could recognize some of my weaknesses in an interview, which from now on my interviews should be better. They also saw some errors on my resume which I will fix. This will help me in the job search progress.

Volunteer: I love this workshop. The candidates are highly motivated, competent and intelligent. They did not break character and really appreciated our feedback at the end.

Volunteer: I liked the workshop today. The environment is great. As an employer I sent lots of questions and I think the members have practiced a lot of interview skills. I am very satisfied with this workshop. The first participant performed well. She has a direct goal and knows what to do in the future.

MLK Day Volunteer Opportunities

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?’”
- Martin Luther King Jr.

MLK Day is almost here . . . what will you be doing for others? Make sure you sign up for our two special volunteer events before spaces are full.

PACKAGE AND DELIVER SELF-HELP DEVICES TO HOMEBOUND SENIORS
Monday, January 17th, 11am-3pm
Packaging at 80 Maiden Lane, 21st floor
Distribution in five boroughs of NYC

Help a senior stay safe and independent in his or her own home! Met Council is giving away assistive devices to homebound seniors to aid them in living independently. Volunteers will be responsible for packaging the material, attending a train-the-trainer session on how to use these devices, and then delivering in person the packages to senior households across New York City. Volunteers must be willing to travel to Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan.
Please RSVP to Kelley Baldwin at kbaldwin@metcouncil.org or 212-453-9675.

SORT AND ORGANIZE DONATED CLOTHING
Monday, January 17th, 10am-12pm
80 Maiden Lane, 21st floor

Through the Machson Mobile, a converted van that serves as a mobile clothing shop, Met Council has brightened the lives of thousands of individual and families in need throughout New York City. For MLK Jr. Day, we need volunteers to sort through thousands of donated clothing and organize them to create an easy and dignified way for clients to select clothes.
Please RSVP to Kelley Baldwin at kbaldwin@metcouncil.org or 212-453-9675.

101 and More to Come!

This Sunday's Senior Lunch Program was marked down in Met Council's calendar with many an asterisk and other funky decorations, as this was a very special day. Met Council is so proud to announce that we celebrated an exciting feat accomplished by Polina, one of our lovely 3rd Avenue residents...Her 101st birthday!!

There were 25 residents in attendance, including Polina's family, and 14 volunteers from Park Avenue Synagogue who were referred to the program by UJA. According to Julia, one of our very dedicated volunteer leaders who staffed the event, people were playing the piano, singing and having a blast. Cake was served and Polina was given a gift on behalf of Met Council.

We are so honored to have provided this incredible opportunity to celebrate the life of a Met Council resident.

Best wishes to Polina and her family!

A Hallmark Volunteer: Stacey Cohen, Volunteer of the Month

In the summer of 2009, Stacey Cohen, a life-long New Yorker, responded to President Obama’s call to service to help revitalize local communities. In her search for a place to volunteer, Stacey found Met Council on a government website.

“The work of Met Council really appealed to me,” says Stacey, “since they provide so many different types of services that reach so many people.”

Because of her artistic skills, Stacey began to volunteer for the Sunshine Greeting Card Program that has volunteers make cheerful greeting cards for homebound and socially isolated senior citizens. Since that time, Stacey has made over 150 greeting cards and volunteered over 100 hours.

“To me the most rewarding part of being a volunteer is that through the Sunshine Greeting Card Program, I know that I am touching the lives of people who I haven’t met and who I may never get to know,” says Stacey.

There are currently 83,000 Jewish seniors in the New York region that live alone, 25,000 of them have no adult children living in the area. Volunteers like Stacey Cohen make sure that they don’t feel as alone and isolated. If you’d like to volunteer for the Sunshine Greeting Card Program, please contact volunteer@metcouncil.org.

6th Graders Pound the Pavement

In preparation for their Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, the 6^th graders of the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale wanted to experience what it felt like to be a “chesed-doer,” or someone who performs an act of loving-kindness. What better way to feel the powerful effects of doing chesed than volunteering for Met Council’s POS program?

The Paperless Office System (POS) is an exciting program in collaboration with Met Council, Human Resources Administration (HRA), Single Stop USA and the Robin Hood Foundation that allows New Yorkers to have improved access to public benefits, such as Food Stamps and Medicaid. In an effort to spread the word about this program, the students distributed over 2,500 pamphlets to various businesses throughout Co-op City.

After the students distributed the materials, they discussed their experiences and how their volunteer efforts were in line with the concept of doing chesed. Their understanding and appreciation for the project they undertook was evident in their positive feedback. Met Council is so proud to have facilitated this empowering experience for the 6^th graders of the Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale and hopes that this volunteer opportunity will instill within them the obligation to continue performing tikkun olam or “repairing of the world.”