How to Make the Perfect Ice Cream Sundae

Last week, Met Council volunteers learned an important skill that they will treasure for ever - how to make the perfect ice cream sundae!

New York City's temperatures have been set to boil this July, so our department decided that it was high time for the 3rd annual Cool Off in July party for low income seniors. Every summer, we invite senior residents to escape the heat by coming to the Cool Off in July party - hosted by volunteers - which serves ice cream, fresh fruit, cool beverages.


Below is volunteers' collective wisdom on how to make the perfect ice cream sundae:

1. Have a healthy selection of ice cream flavors (we chose vanilla, chocolate, mint chocolate chip)

2. Add chocolate sauce to top of three flavors of ice cream

3. Add generous dose of rainbow sprinkles

4. Add fresh fruit like strawberries or cherries

5. Don't forget the most important ingredient . . .

And so what is the most important ingredient to the Cool Off in July Sundaes? Hint: it isn't the sprinkles or chocolate sauce. The most important ingredient was the friendly smiles and great conversation volunteers gave senior residents to accompany the ice cream. There's nothing quite like an ice cream served with a warm smile on a hot summer day!

Too Hip to Volunteer at Met Council?

The June 2011 Report on Jewish Volunteering from Repair the World opened up a lot of questions for Met Council’s Volunteer Department. I would like to focus on one of them in this blog. Below is an excerpt from the report which talks about young Jews not always finding the kind of volunteer opportunity they are looking for; rather they volunteer for those things that get the most press or are most easily accessible.

Jewish young adults want to “make a difference,” and the majority appears to have a sense of personal efficacy. However, those subgroups that are least likely to volunteer also have the weakest belief that their volunteer efforts can contribute to desired effects. The personal relevance of the causes for which Jewish young adults are being asked to volunteer may also play a role in their decision making. Many Jewish young adults do not find their way into volunteer opportunities related to the causes about which they care most deeply. Volunteer options related to the full spectrum of Jewish young adult concerns may either not be available or may not be well known among this demographic.

An AmeriCorps grant has given Met Council the ability to expand their Volunteer Department and as a result has seen 48% increase in volunteers over the past year. This huge jump means 1,529 new volunteers serving New Yorkers in need!

Met Council recruits volunteers in two ways: by individual and by group. The groups are usually groups of young Jewish professionals who are coming to volunteer with an organization they are affiliated with and want to help out. They are coming with their friends or acquaintances for a few hours of collaboratively making a difference. According to our volunteer questionnaire, most individuals that we recruit are not Jewish and state that they are signing up to “give back to the community.” They come to us on their own and for no other reason than it is part of their ethic.

While Met Council has no preference for Jewish over not Jewish volunteers, we are a Jewish agency who has a unique position within the Jewish community; we have the cultural expertise with Jewish and immigrant communities. A unique mix of volunteers is exactly what we need, but it still begs the question- why it is more difficult to recruit individual volunteers that are Jewish?

Maybe there is something to the fact that young Jews like to socialize with other young Jews and they are guaranteed that when they volunteer with a group of young Jews! Or maybe volunteering for Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty isn’t as attention-grabbing as some of the high profile social justice movements that are out there?

What do you guys think?

Keeping our seniors happy and healthy!

We all know it's important for every community to take care of their seniors. A recent study shows that seniors who live in public housing are less healthy than their peers. Read more about it here! With that in mind, it's especially important for Met Council to be able to provide programming for our low-income senior housing sites. Thanks to our wonderful volunteers we can provide programs that promote health, fitness, and good nutrition.

Just take a look at all the upcoming events for one of your senior residences in Brooklyn:
Let's all work together to keep their calendars full of events!

The POS Outreach Campaign and Its Positive Impact on New York City Residents

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. New Yorkers now have improved access to public benefits at 32 Single Stop USA and Jewish Community Councils (JCC) locations that operate year-round throughout all 5 boroughs. These sites are easily accessible to underserved New Yorkers and are located in familiar neighborhood locations, such as community based organizations and food pantries. At these sites, clients are able to meet one-on-one with mulit-lingual and culturally sensitive staff to determine their eligibility for government benefits and electronically apply for Food Stamps and Medicaid in a safe and welcoming environment. Staffs are also able to refer clients to other on-site resources, including financial and legal assistance, all the while reducing hassle and waiting time.

In an effort to spread the word about this new and easy way to screen and enroll for Food Stamps and Medicaid, the Met Council Volunteer Department has recruited volunteers to canvas libraries, grocery stores, delis, CBO's, and other businesses within the target neighborhoods with Help is in Your Neighborhood flyers and posters.

To date, we have distributed approximately 77,000 Help is in Your Neighborhood flyers and posters! According to SSUSA's analysis from 7/1/2010-12/31/2010, there was a 55% increase in the number of clients coming into Single Stop sites because of flyers. This figure includes a 23% discount taken to account for other flyers/non POS outreach flyers used by the sites in the marketing and outreach.

To the volunteers who helped distribute the flyers and posters: We could not have done it without you! Thank you so much for all of your hard work.

Met Council Honors Dedicated Volunteer

Met Council recently recognized longtime volunteer Ami Bar-Tura for his ongoing dedication to the organization. Ami has worked closely with Project Metropair, a program making home visits to people in need of minor home repairs, for more than six years.

“Met Council is a fantastic organization. When you do volunteer work you get rewarded as much as those you serve because it’s really a great feeling to help,” said Ami. “I enjoyed my time very much and I’m happy to have helped.”

Through his work with Project Metropair, Ami was able to help thousands of seniors remain safe and independent in their homes. He was also the recipient of the Met Council 2006 Volunteer of the Year Award.

Ami will be leaving the organization this year to move closer to his family in Israel. “We don’t know what we’ll do without him,” said Val Beloshkurenko, director of Met Council Home Services. “Ami worked nine to five doing all kinds of things. Anything that was asked, he would do.”

Volunteers are an essential part of Met Council programs like Project Metropair (insert link). To learn how you can volunteer, contact….

Photo: (left to right) Ami and his Met Council handyman worker, Sergi.

Volunteer of the Month goes to....Kevin Carroccia!

As a way of saying thank you, Met Council presents Kevin Carroccia with our Volunteer of the Month Award for his dedication and enthusiasm in our Job Readiness volunteer programming. Kevin grew up in Plainville, Connecticut but soon realized New York was calling his name. Since that time, he has graced our fair city – and more particularly our Volunteer Department - with his enthusiasm and desire to help!

Kevin learned about Met Council through a friend who had volunteered with us. After hearing about the important work Met Council does in helping New Yorkers find lasting solutions to poverty, he made it his business to get involved.

“I always wanted to do something, and I always wanted to give back somehow,” Kevin remembers. “I believe that everyone has something they are passionate about and it is important to find that thing and bring it out in others.”

Kevin volunteers with Met Council’s Networking Workshop and Resume Review Workshop which are part of our Job Readiness Programs. The Networking Workshop teaches clients the skills to build a successful professional network. It also gives them the opportunity to practice their newly learned skills by networking with volunteers at the workshop.

As luck would have it, Kevin is an executive recruiter in the Electronic Health Records field which Met Council’s Career Services department specializes in for their training programs. It’s a match made in heaven!

He also volunteers with our Resume Review Workshop which has volunteers working one on one with clients on their resumes. “I get a rush out of it; you leave and think maybe you made a difference in at least one person’s life. Until you go and see and do it, you don’t realize the struggle that people go through.”

Kevin, thank you for the time, enthusiasm, and skill you bring to Met Council!

Senior Nutrition Workshop now at TWO locations!

Tuesday, May 3rd marked the kickoff for the Senior Nutrition Workshop for low-income seniors living in the Seagate community near Coney Island, Brooklyn.

In this community many seniors are fluent in Russian and much more comfortable using that language, which is why we were very lucky to come upon our Nutrition Volunteer, who speaks both English and Russian fluently.

Each senior at the workshop received an educational set of handouts in either English or Russian. The first workshop focused on the new food plate. Each lesson will focus on a different aspect of nutrition and why it's important for senior health. After yesterdays lesson I think we all learned a little more about what we should be eating to keep our bodies healthy at any age!