It takes all kinds of parents to make a family, and foster parents play an essential role for kids who most need love and protection. That’s why this year for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, RITZ has launched a new campaign called “Foster Welcome” to celebrate foster moms and dads and all the work they do to create welcoming families.
As part of the campaign, RITZ has released a new video highlighting the emotional experience of bringing a new foster child into your home, created in collaboration with The Martin Agency and the National Foster Parent Association. Grab some tissues because we’ve got it ready for you to watch now.
“Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are the perfect occasions to celebrate all the foster parents who might not get the recognition they deserve during this time of year,” says Santiago Gomez Bernal, Associate Marketing Director at RITZ. “Through our collaborative with the National Foster Parent Association, we’ve learned there is much more to be done to help and support the incredible work these parents do every day. We hope to elevate their inspiring stories and raise awareness around how meaningful it is to be a foster mom or dad, from large families to single parents to same sex parents, they are truly the ultimate welcomers, and we are honored to share their stories.”
You can visit TasteofWelcome.com to learn how to donate to the National Foster Parent Association, find volunteer opportunities and discover if becoming a foster parent might be in your future. For a bit of fun on Instagram, search #FosterWelcome into the sticker search bar and find stickers that RITZ has created for foster parents sharing family photos. It’s the perfect way to help celebrate families of all kinds.
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s the value of self-reliance and a greater appreciation of the freedoms that the great outdoors affords—which is exactly why community gardens are blooming everywhere in Atlanta! Keep reading for our favorite spots to learn how to garden, to plant your own garden, or to support local farmers.
West End Community Garden Are you interested in learning how to create and sustain your own garden? How about learning the countless benefits of eating healthy, homegrown foods? Want to experience the amazing sensation of garden therapy? If this sounds like the place for you, then meet Haylene Green, the Garden Queen, whose goal is to teach people how to identify, grow and prepare healthy food, especially in at risk communities.
Volunteer: Volunteers are needed Monday-Friday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays noon to 4 p.m. (1 hour minimum). Yo might plant seeds & seedlings, build boxes, make compost, weed, help with general clean-up, recycling, food preparation, painting, or helping with the market.
352 University Avenue SW Atlanta, GA 678-933-1087 Online:thegardenqueen.com
Lakewood Environmental Arts Foundation (LEAF) Operating in the Lakewood neighborhood, this 501C-3 has a house and 6 acres where they receive thousands of pounds of donated food every week that they distribute to individuals, families, churches and other non-profits in the Greater Atlanta area. Expect to find many weekly volunteers who help unpack and distribute food, and a handful of resident volunteers who help with distribution and maintaining the property, garden and compost.
Volunteer: LEAF is almost always looking for more hands to help with tasks around the property. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Cassie at cassie@leaftrust.net.
Blue Heron Nature Preserve Community Garden The garden is home to over 30 organic plots, and the largest plot is dedicated to growing vegetables for the St. Luke’s Crossroads Kitchen, a volunteer-based effort that feeds unhoused people in Midtown. This garden is open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis, and annual fees ensure gardeners are given their own plot to tend. The garden is organic, and organic gardening principles must be followed: no chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Gardeners are also responsible for working together to maintain the common areas in the garden.
Membership Info: Contact the Garden team (gardenmembership@bhnp.org) for plot availability and waitlist. Annual dues are $100.
4055 Roswell Rd. NE Atlanta, GA 404-946-6394 Online:bhnp.org
Cabbagetown Community Garden The Community Garden's mission is to leverage its unique urban location to engage the community, educate gardeners of all ages and backgrounds, and empower them to plant, grow and harvest healthy, organic food. The Garden is built on city owned property but not located on parkland. With the help of city council, Park Pride and CI, the city passed legislature to realize a community effort to created a shared gardening space.
Membership Info: Dues for the 2020 season were $42, and paid for the adoption of one plot in the Community Garden, access to onsite water and gardening equipment, maintenance of non-growing areas in the garden (lawns, pathways, beehives, table space), early access invitations to all Community Garden social events and fundraisers, and subscription to Garden-related news through the Cabbagetown Neighborhood Improvement Association (CNIA). Membership is open to Cabbagetown neighbors having lived in the neighborhood between 0 - 10 years.
Global Growers Network GGN partners with people from diverse cultures who grow fresh food for their families and for local marketplaces. Together, they build and sustain networks of growers, land, resources, and markets in order to create a more equitable food system that is driven by cultural diversity, inclusive economies, and regenerative agriculture practices.
How to Support: Global Growers Network offers fresh veggies grown in Decatur through a safe, no-contact order and pick-up system. With support from the farm stand, new Americans are rebuilding their lives in the United States by using their agricultural expertise to nourish their families and yours.
Gilliam's Community Garden Gilliam's is a 3-acre sustainable urban garden located in Atlanta's Westside neighborhood that produces beautiful vegetables, herbs, fresh eggs, and their very own dried spice blends. Gilliam's Community Garden serves as an outdoor educational center for local children, homeschool families and schools seeking unique science-based and STEM learning. They provide cooking classes for seniors, as well as learning tours and urban farming experiences for volunteer groups. Core to their mission is the determination to see more healthy, equitable communities across Atlanta.
How to Support: A mobile farmers market, known as their beloved "green machine, " allows you to have boxes of fresh vegetables delivered to families, as well as home-bound seniors, who otherwise cannot access it on their own.
Looking for a way to spread a little joy to the world? Get ready to be inspired by Bay Area high school junior Arnav Mishra who started Pumpkin Letters as a way of connecting with senior citizens. He’s looking for kid volunteers and we’ve got the scoop on how your little ones can join in this rewarding program!
Back in April 2020, Arnav knew that his grandparents were really missing seeing his family. He and his little sister started writing letters and making cards for them. But he didn't stop there. He knew that there were other grandparents and seniors who were also missing their grandchildren due to COVID-19. That's where the idea of Pumpkin Letters came in.
Pumpkin Letters encourages interested kids (and their grown-ups) to sign up as volunteers on the website. After that, Arnav will send over all the info you'll need to get started. He collects the completed letters and artwork, and distributes them to organizations across the country who support seniors. While the website says it's for kids ages 8-17, younger children are welcome to participate with a parent.
Arnav hosts optional zoom meetings where kids get together to draw and write letters based on themes like seasons and upcoming holidays. So it's a fun experience for the volunteer kids, too!
Since April 2020, Pumpkin Letters has sent out over 2,500 letters to seniors across the country. Ready to get involved? Sign up today and spread some sunshine, one letter at a time!
Your kiddo’s soccer team needs a coach. Somehow you were the one picked from the sort of slim volunteer pool. Now what? If you’re not exactly a super-star athlete, MOJO is here to help!
MOJO is a new app that helps parents to learn the ins and outs of coaching. Forget about paging through playbooks, googling “youth sports drills” daily, or trying to figure out which YouTube coaching tutorials to trust—MOJO does all the work for you.
This interactive app is a parent-coach’s BFF. It features personalized practice ideas that are customized to the teams’ ages and skill levels along with high-quality short form instructional and entertainment videos, articles, advice and other content you’ll need to coach your kiddo’s team.
Ben Sherwood, MOJO founder and CEO, and a volunteer coach for the last 12 years with two sons playing four different sports, said in a press release, “With world-class technology and storytelling, our mission is to bring the magic—the mojo—back to youth sports.” Sherwood added, “I really needed an app like MOJO when I was coaching soccer, baseball, basketball and flag football. In fact, most parent-coaches wish they had a trusted one-stop solution that made coaching easy and fun. That’s MOJO’s goal – to save you time and effort, to give you what you really need, and to deliver more memories and magic on the field or court.”
If you’re still need sure whether you could use MOJO, Reed Shaffner, MOJO co-founder and COO, explained, “I just finished coaching a season of 10-year-old boys in Los Angeles, and despite playing soccer my whole life, it was really hard. The modern sports industrial complex largely ignores parent-coaches who need easy, age-appropriate help now more than ever.”
MOJO currently has soccer content, but will soon include information and ideas for all major youth sports. The app is available on iOS, with basic access free for parents. The premium MOJO+ tier is $19.99 annually.
Just in time for Random Act of Kindness Day (tomorrow, Feb. 17), we’ve made a list of our favorite ways for kids to spread joy and kindness to the world around them. From easy ways to volunteer (from home) with your kids to little steps to make the world a better place, we’ve got a ton of ideas for Bay Area kids.
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1. There's lots that kids can learn about empathy from animals. While we can't donate items to our local SPCAs right now, we can spread kindness by offering to walk a neighbor's dog for them.
2. Incorporate Meatless Mondays into your family’s dinner plans. Here’s our great list of plant-based recipes to get you started.
3. Make sure that local kids are ready for school by hosting a backpack drive. While this has gone virtual for 2021, you can typically collect new backpacks and the supplies to fill them through Operation Backpack.
4. Get the kids painting kindness rocks. It's a fun activity and then you can leave them in neighbor's yards or create a giveaway box for your front yard for people to take one as they walk by.
5. Practice Kitchen Table Kindness by participating in activities that can keep children meaningfully engaged while spreading kindness to others.
6. Visit one of our favorite donut shops with the little ones… and buy an extra dozen to give a neighbor.
8. Join forces with Surfrider Foundation to protect the ocean and beaches. See how to volunteer here.
9. Teach your kids to be kind to themselves and practice mindfulness and meditation through the practice of yoga. This creates an outward ripple effect for them to create love and joy in the world.
10. Drop off flowers or a lovely plant for a neighbor or family member who is feeling isolated.
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11. There are loads of awesome fairy gardens in the Bay Area and you can join in this fun kindness-spreading activity in your own yard.
12. Join your local Buy Nothing group and get your kids to clear out those toys and books they have outgrown.
13. Share these stories of inspiring Bay Area kids and get your little ones thinking about how they can help out in their community.
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14. Cover your driveway with inspirational chalk messages or draw some art and hang it on your windows to make passersby smile.
One of my favorite quotes about service is from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In one of his final speeches, given two months before his death, he said, “Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” While most parents with school-aged children know that the third Monday in January has been designated as a holiday honoring Dr. King’s birthday—and providing a day off from school—not many people are aware of the history of this commemoration, and the way it has been transformed into a day of service over the last 25 years.
The campaign for a federal holiday honoring the slain civil rights activist began soon after his assassination in 1968. President Ronald Reagan signed the bill creating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in 1983, and it was first observed in 1986. However, in 1994, two veterans of the Civil Rights Movement who had worked with Dr. King, Representative John Lewis of Georgia and Senator Harris Wolford of Pennsylvania, co-authored legislation to create The National Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, a nation-wide effort to transform the federal holiday honoring Dr. King into a day of community service to help solve social problems. It was their hope that a national day of service, inspired by Dr. King’s ideals, would galvanize volunteers to create meaningful change and uplift local communities. They wanted to honor Dr. King’s legacy by making the observance of his birthday a “day on” rather than simply a “day off.”
While some may only recognize the long weekend in the middle of January as an opportunity to take a road trip or go skiing, the movement behind the MLK Day of Service has grown in recent years, and acts of service are now carried out in all 50 states. AmeriCorps (a federally supported volunteer program) and the Atlanta-based King Center for Nonviolent Social Change lead the MLK Day of Service in partnership with numerous national nonprofit organizations, faith-based and community groups, state service commissions, and other government agencies. Thousands of volunteers across the county deliver meals, refurbish schools and community centers, collect clothing and food, build homes, and provide services for veterans and military families, among many other acts of service and kindness.
Many schools, houses of worship, and community organizations encourage volunteerism on the MLK Day of Service by providing opportunities and events, sometimes extending these throughout the weekend and pairing them with workshops, discussions, or speakers. If you haven’t had a chance to experience one of these events in the past, this may be the best time to get involved. After the difficult year we’ve all experienced, we are reminded of the countless acts of kindness and sacrifice that helped to get us through and will continue to inspire us in the months ahead. A day of service in the first month of this new year feels especially powerful and motivating. If you and your family want to kick start your kindness practice from home, or you want to learn how to give back in your local community, the MLK Day of Service is the perfect opportunity. There are so many small, actionable ways that you can turn an ordinary day off from school or work into a meaningful day ON in service of others and the greater good.
If you are looking for ways to help in your local community, check out these resources:
Explore the official website for the MLK Day of Service for information and to search for opportunities in your local area
Color printable sheets for veterans, hospitalized children, nursing home residents, or anyone in need of a smile through Color a Smile
Create blankets and donate them to children in need of comfort through Project Linus
Write letters of gratitude and support for our active-duty military and send them to Operation Gratitude
Back cookies or make cards for your local first responders, to show them how much your family appreciates all they’ve done for us this past year
However your family is inspired to get involved, take the MLK Day of Service (this year celebrated on Monday, January 18th) as the perfect opportunity to start a conversation with your children about service, empathy, and civic duty. Create a new family service tradition around the holiday, and start this new year with a positive intention and a sense of purpose which might just move us all closer to Dr. King’s vision of a “beloved community.”
Natalie Silverstein, MPH, is the NYC coordinator of Doing Good Together. She is a writer, speaker and consultant on the topic of family service. Her first book Simple Acts: The Busy Family's Guide to Giving Back was published in 2019 and her second book for teens will be published in 2022.
As we head into the holiday season, it seems this year, more than any in recent memory, is one to reach out and support others in our communities. Of course, it’s more difficult to gather and volunteer in person in 2020, but you and your kids can still make a difference from home. Read on for ideas on how to volunteer with kids in NYC and support local causes, even if you can’t physically be there. (Need some inspiration? Check out these rock stars!)
The Marine Corps' Toys for Tots program has been collecting and distributing new, unwrapped toys and to less fortunate children during the holidays since 1947.
You can buy a toy and drop it off at one of the many, many participating businesses in the five boroughs, which includes all Starbucks locations! Most are accepting donations through December 14.
Our elders are at the highest risk from the pandemic, and in many places around the US visits to older people in group and personal homes have stopped to protect their lives. This means they can stay safe and away from where they might contact the novel coronavirus, but it also means many hours of being pent up inside and feeling lonely.
Enlist the help of your kids to bring some sunshine and a touch of personal care to some locals by writing them a letter! While the most well-known program that distributes letters to elderly people in nursing homes, calledLove for the Elderly, is held on a national scale, there are ways to help if you want to focus nearby instead.
Volunteer New York has an opportunity to create letters for the elderly in Westchester County. Want to get even closer to home? A number of city meal distributors are encouraging residents to write letters for recipients of their free meals.
Food Bank's letter-writing toolkit has a ton more information about how to write letters, and even includes some coloring pages for kids to use and send on to bring a smile to someone's face. Letters can be mailed in and will be distributed by hand to visitors to the city's pantries and soup kitchens throughout the boroughs.
It might be a good idea to let your kids know that, in nearly all cases, the messages are anonymous and kids won't receive a response to their letter.
Make a Little Free Pantry—Or Share Goods With Your Neighbors
But you can also bring the sharing closer to home by creating a neighborhood or even apartment pantry.
If you live on a private property, you and your family can put up your own little pantry and fill it with non-perishable foods. Encourage neighbors and passersby to take what they need and give what they can. We recommend checking out the Free Little Pantry website for ideas and tips for making sure that your pantry is helping, not bothering, those around you.
Live in an apartment building? You might be able to help, too. Call and ask management or your building super if you can put a small box in a high-traffic area in your building for neighbors to use. Of course, the response will vary by place - respect your building's rules and regulations.
When it does work, though, it can be a beautiful way to bond with neighbors. This writer's building's super is fine with items being left downstairs in a particular spot for no more than 24 hours. Although there was never any written communication between our family and our neighbors, things have started popping up downstairs from cans of food to books and clothes. We've left hand sanitizer, tissue packs and gently used toys downstairs. Best of all, once a donation is taken, another donation from a different neighbor often takes its place. It's an activity that kids can easily take part in and can extend to a general feeling of community, not just a sharing of much-needed items and food.
Just remember not to leave anything in your building's lobby unless you have the okay of the building managers!
Chalk Your Walk or Make Some Kindness Stones
World Rocks Project
Kids can leave a message of hope and positivity right outside your home by decorating the walk for anyone passing by.
Grab some chalks and draw a bright message on your sidewalk, inside a park or any other public place where you think it might be appreciated. You can encourage your kids to draw and write positive things to thank frontline workers or just brighten the day of anyone walking by.
The Kindness Rocks project takes the craftiness up a notch, asking kids to draw their messages and pictures on rocks. You can then decorate your yard with the picture rocks or leave them in a local park for others to find.
One more way to spread joy is to hang it on your window! Kids are encouraged to draw rainbows and write messages of hope on sheets of paper, then tape them to their windows, facing outward. Even if you're high up in an apartment building, someone looking across from their own high-rise may get a colorful reminder that "this, too, shall pass."
Though this way of helping is obviously not for everyone, if you have the space in your home for an animal now is a great time to foster a pet. The animal you help will get to live in comfort instead of being locked up in a cage in a time when volunteers are scarce, while your family will get a companion to help weather the worst of this situation. And you never know, your foster might end up becoming a member of the family!
The ASPCA has all the details you need to know on their website, as well as an application. You can find a longer list of places that need help fostering an animal on the Mayor's Alliance for NYC Animals website.
Donating items like clothing is always in need and appreciated but Project Linus encourages people to make their blankets by hand for a personal touch. Blankets can be dropped off at any of the New York chapters, and you are encouraged to call ahead and find out what kinds of blankets are in demand.
The project has many different patterns that can easily get the kids involved, including some no-sew options for the younger ones.
Make a Jared Box
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A Jared Boxis a way to share the joy of play with kids in hospitals all over the country. Get a shoebox-sized plastic container and fill it with new and age-appropriate toys. These toys go to young patients in hospitals and help distract and amuse them as they deal with the stress of their situation.
The website has a guide to making a Jared Box and lists of what kinds of toys, stickers, art supplies, etc. you should fill it with. Get the kids involved by choosing an age range similar to theirs so they can choose toys they would personally enjoy receiving. It's a great way to teach the joy of giving.
Three NYS (and one NYC) hospitals are listed in the directory if you want to give locally, though you'll likely have to deliver it yourself. Too far away to make a donation by hand? Call any nearby hospital and ask if they're accepting toy box donations. Though they're not on the directory, many hospitals will be happy to get your donation!
Lastly, if you have the means to make a monetary donation there are many places that can really use the help right now. Though it's a more abstract concept for younger kids to grasp, donating money to charities, nonprofits or others who need it is always appreciated. You can ask your kids to choose the recipient of your donation, and find out more about the kinds of organizations that exist to help people and animals in need.
The website Donors Choose, for instance, allows people to support teachers who are facing the struggles of making their classroom welcoming to students amid social distancing and health safety measures. Teachers often dip into their personal bank accounts to provide classrooms with needed supplies so every little bit helps. Plus, children will have a good understanding of where the money is going since schools and teachers are familiar topics in their lives.
Another option for a charity donation is exploring the nonprofit organizations that do a lot of the invisible work in our neighborhoods and communities. The NYC Service website has a searchable list of nonprofits in the city with information on what each does, many of which accept donations. Choose a cause that your family is passionate about and help out.
With the holidays fast approaching, it can be easy for little ones to get lost in the “getting” part of the season and forget all about the giving. This year, especially, seems like a good time to instill in kids the importance of gratitude and giving back. While many of LA’s annual Thanksgiving and Christmas volunteering events have been called off because of Covid, there are still plenty of ways for you and your little helpers to help out. Keep reading to discover how to volunteer during the holidays—and beyond.
Midnight Mission is perhaps one of the most highly regarded organizations of its kind and a place where every Angeleno hopes to volunteer at one point or another. This year, they have canceled their well-loved Annual Christmas Brunch and Santa's Village charity event but will still be distributing toys to local churches with low-income families in their congregations. The Mission is looking for volunteers to help collect toys through their Toy Drive so please give them a call or email alinares@midnightmission.org to request this year's Toy Drive Toolkit which has everything you will need to kick start your toy drive. They've even created an Amazon wish list to make collecting toys contact-free making it even easier to lend a helping hand!
What better way to give back together as a family than adopting another family who could really use the support? Through the Los Angeles County Department of Public and Social Services, you and your benevolent brood can sign up to aid low-income families served by DPSS by providing new items that will be sure to help everyone celebrate the holidays in a special way. Interested sponser families will be carefully matched with one in need and provided with their contact information along with the family’s “wish list” of requested items. These items may include groceries, home goods, clothing, gift certificates, or toys (all items must be brand new, no hand me down donations are permitted). Visit the website for more information or to register and get ready to spread lots of cheer this holiday season!
One of our fair city's largest holiday running events is going virtual for 2020! The Santa Monica-Venice Christmas Run is a family-friendly fundraiser for local non-profits, specifically Harvest Home, a non-profit residence for homeless pregnant women in Santa Monica. This year your band of merry runners can still sign up for all the holiday fun you love from the comfort of your own home (or your favorite local route)! Register for either the 5K, 10K, or Kids Fun Run and celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas through seasonal challenges, contests, and activities. Win prizes while spreading holiday cheer in a safe and festive fashion. Registration prices are $25 for the Santa's Little Elves package, $44 for the Stocking Stuffer package, and $54 for the Holiday Feast option.
Ocean View Park 2701 Barnard Way Santa Monica, 90405 Online: christmasrun.com
Spark of Love Toy Drive For 27 years Southern California Firefighters have successfully collected toys for disadvantaged children and teens and, in the past two and a half decades, have provided more than nine million toys to local families during the holidays! Due to the current effects of the pandemic and recent wildfires, they anticipate this year's requests for toys will be higher than ever. Even though necessary safety protocols will prevent Southland fire stations from collecting toys in person, supporting the Spark of Love has never been easier. Safe, quick, and convenient toy donations are possible through their virtual toy-box gift registry or financial donations are also welcome, as they allow this wonderful organization to provide toys to communities with overwhelming needs.
Westside Thanksgiving Dinner For 37 years this community celebration has welcomed all those seeking a festive and fun volunteer experience. This year, however, is different as far as the gathering goes but they are still planning to give back to the community. They will be gathering gift cards and blankets to distribute to those most in need and the safest way to help is by donating online.
West LA Civic Center 1645 Corinth Ave. West LA, 90025 310-394-3153 Online: westsidethanksgiving.org
Food on Foot Food on Foot is committed to assisting low-income and homeless people through programs that offer meals, clothing, and work placement. The organization receives no government funding and relies entirely on donations. This year, you can donate online (either a set or custom amount) and your gift will go towards meals, groceries, gloves/masks, and even towards rent payments! If you and the kiddos would rather pick out specific items to donate, consider purchasing and shipping hygiene products through their Amazon wishlist where each item bought off the list will be sent directly to Food on Foot for distribution to those most in need!
1625 N. Schrader Blvd Hollywood (310) 860-0022 Online: foodonfoot.org
One Voice For 37 years One Voice has always been able to make sure that thousands of low-income, Head Start families living in the surrounding communities received food baskets filled with everything they needed for a happy holiday. This year, though they can't gather their usual crowds of volunteers in the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport to help sort and pack, they will be giving gift cards for food and necessities to 2,000 needy families. If you would like to help, please donate what you can through their website.
While almost all of Heal the Bay's public program activities are suspended until further notice, there are still great ways for your water babies to help out with this wonderful organization. Check out their Adopt-A-Beach Program which provides a cool opportunity to learn about and participate in the conservation of our natural and coastal resources as well as help stop ocean pollution. Families can "adopt" an area by committing to three cleanups in one year at a favorite outdoor location (beach, park, creek, or even local trail). The program is extremely flexible and allows participants to choose the day, time, and location of their cleanups (making it easy to stay socially distant and safe). Volunteers will receive a virtual safety talk from Heal the Bay's staff, educational resources, and fun games as well as an official Certificate of Completion from Heal the Bay and the California Coastal Commission.
Park Champions projects are a wonderful way for the whole family to spend time outdoors together while beautifying and preserving our state parks. Because most of these sorts of volunteer opportunities take place outside, there are certainly safe ways to continue making a difference. Currently, the CA State Parks staff have worked hard to create safety protocols and procedures (distancing, wearing masks/gloves, and providing hand sanitizer) that will further ensure everyone's safety. They have also decreased the size of their volunteer groups as well as the length of the workdays. Through this volunteer program, they are planning over 100 projects throughout the year to benefit more than 30 parks across California. To sign up you'll need to register online and create your very own volunteer account where you and your family can sign up for and manage upcoming workdays!
With over 2,000 opportunities to get involved each year, Big Sunday is the mama of all LA charities. Here you’ll find the rich and famous working alongside homeless teens, in the name of developmentally challenged children. If your kids want to help others but aren’t sure where to start, Big Sunday is the perfect place. Many of the opportunities to volunteer this year will be either virtual or donation-based but there are still plenty of different (socially distant) options to explore on their website or social media pages. For instance, their Annual Thanksgiving Stuffing Event is going virtual this year and will take place online Sunday, Nov. 22 from 4 p.m. - 5 p.m. Families can sign up to either make cards, donate food, make videos, or even help assemble bags in person in small Covid-compliant groups.
Looking to join a CSA near you? (Or wondering, what, exactly, a CSA is?) CSAs, or Community Supported Agriculture groups, are mutually-beneficial organizations that help connect consumers and local farmers. Joining a CSA is a great way to get fresh (often organically-grown) food, dairy products and meat at a competitive price and support area growers. And now is the perfect time, for a few reasons! Below, some of our favorite CSAs in NYC, as well as a primer on the basics of joining one.
People in the city want fresh, high-quality food, local farmers have it, and want to sell it to those people! CSAs bring those two groups together, with the members of a CSA partnering with, and supporting, area farms by guaranteeing them customers, and therefore income.
Members sign up (and pay for) a "share" of a farm's output over a growing season in advance, and in return receive a weekly (or in some cases, bi-weekly) box of fresh food from the CSA. Common membership periods are spring/summer, fall, and winter.
CSA offerings typically include a lot of vegetables and fruit, but most CSAs also offer dairy products, eggs, meat and even fresh flowers. Because farming is subject to the whims of nature and other factors, you don't know exactly what you'll get each week—sometimes the bok choy crop is booming, other seasons, it's a bust—but CSAs will give you a sense of generally what has been available in the past. And, if you don't know what to do with all that Romanesco broccoli, CSAs often feature recipes on how to use the latest and greatest bounty.
In addition to the cost per share, most CSAs require that members put in some volunteer time, typically about two to three hours per term. (They are cooperative efforts, after all.) However some have temporarily suspended volunteer hours during covid.
Most CSAs have weekly pickup at the same site (often a Tuesday or a Wednesday), and some are currently offering special pickup hours for members with health issues, or curbside delivery.
Why should you consider joining a CSA now? For one, this is when your local farmers need your support—you are helping to finance the coming spring and summer crops. Some CSAs offer winter shares, which can be a good way to try out the CSA thing, as these tend to be shorter in duration. Finally, reaping the end-of-growing season crops will introduce you to a wide variety of produce that's likely not available at your supermarket—and if it is, it probably doesn't taste as good.
Washington Square CSA
Norwich Meadows Farm
This East Village CSA works with certified-organic farm Norwich Meadows Farm, run by Zaid Kurdieh. Registration for shares occurs in advance of the four growing seasons, which gives new members a bit more opportunity to hop on the CSA train if they want.
The CSA shares provide fresh produce for 1-3 individuals depending upon diet, goals and cooking style. During peak season a share weighs approximately 20 pounds and fills two regular large tote bags. Winter Shares are somewhat smaller, but offset with additional items, and you can choose a Meat Share, a Dairy-heavy Share and a Vegan Share; all shares include vegetables. Depending on season and availability, you can add fruit, eggs, meat, and various pantry items like maple syrup or honey for an additional fee. If you're interested in trying our some of the CSAs goods, check out its Fall Market Day on November 24, when offerings will be available to the public.
Registration for Winter/Spring opens in November. Winter/Spring includes five to seven pickups once a month between January and May. Distribution is located at St. Mark's Church in the Bowery, 131 East 10th Street.
All members must sign up for volunteer shifts to help with distribution, etc.
Pricing varies by season. For fall/winter, a small share is about $500/10 weeks, and a large share is about $750/10 weeks.
A longtime favorite on the Upper West Side, Cream of the Crop CSA works with a few farms in upstate New York, with much of its produce coming from certified organic Hepworth Farm in Milton. The CSA offers a 24-week summer/fall share, or a shortened 15-week share if you're not in town late summer. A large selection of add-ons includes pastured eggs, raw cow or goat milks, yogurts, pastured pork or poultry, 100% grass-fed beef or lamb, cow and goat cheeses, mushrooms, as well as kosher poultry and diary items. The winter share is lots of hearty veggies, with add-ons if you like. The CSA has enlisted precautions and services during covid, including delivery for an additional fee, pickup times for vulnerable members, curbside pickup and more.
Pickup: Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew, 263 W. 86th Street at West End Avenue
Forest Hills Tuv Ha’Aretz is associated with Hazon, a Jewish environmental organization passionate about building healthier and more sustainable communities in the Jewish world and beyond, as well as Just Food, a NYC-based organization that connects communities with local farms. Its agricultural partners are Garden of Eve Organic Farm on Long Island's North Fork, and Purcell Mountain Farms. There is a small administrative fee for non-synagogue members, but the CSA warmly welcomes both Jewish and non-Jewish members.
Summer/Fall shares are 24 weeks, and you can elect for a full or half share. Forest Hills Tuv Ha’Aretz CSA offers a "build your box" option, through which you can swap out an item you don't want, for more of what you do, and you can also put your share on hold if you go away for a week. (Get double when you return.) Volunteer hours are required, and if you don't do your part, you can't join the next season.
For covid safety, pickup is currently at a member's home outside; traditionally, it is at Forest Hills Jewish Center, 106-06 Queens Boulevard.
The Park Slope CSA has been on the community agriculture scene for more than two decades! This CSA partners with Windflower Farm in Valley Falls, New York, near the Vermont border. You can sign up for a full share, or every-other-week share (EOW), as well as shares for fruit, eggs, flowers and more. Members must also pay a $25 membership fee and commit to volunteer hours, although volunteering is currently on hold.
Pickup is at Garden of Union located on Union Street between 4th and 5th Avenues.
Pricing: A full veggie share costs $522 for 22 week; it's $261 for 11 weeks.
The West Harlem CSA is a mixed income organization, committed to providing affordable and fresh, organically- and sustainably-grown food to area residents. The CSA also partners with organic farm Windflower Farm, in Valley Falls, New York.
You can sign up for a full or half share, and shares are priced on a sliding scale with four tiers, with discounted rates for those who receive SNAP assistance. Members must contribute three hours of volunteer time.
They are offering a winter share this season, priced at $190 for four boxes, delivered monthly November through February. (Low-income shares are $100.) Winter crops include lots of leafy greens, winter veggies, storage veggies like onions, garlic and many kinds of potatoes, apples and/or pears and a treat in each box like honey, apple cider, jam or maple syrup. Add-ons include coffee and eggs, and Thanksgiving turkeys are available in November.
Pickup is on Tuesday evenings at Broadway Community Inc. at the Broadway Presbyterian Church on 601 West 114th Street (corner of Broadway).
Another NYC CSA that's been going strong for more than 20 years, the Chelsea CSA partners with Stoneledge Farms in Cairo, New York, and provides access to local, organic food for a wide range of Chelsea residents at various income levels. A mixed income CSA, it offers discounted shares and season-long payment plans for eligible households. In addition to a regular share, the CSA offers fruit, mushroom, coffee and dry bean shares. All CSA members must complete 2-hour mandatory work shifts at distribution.
Pickup: Hudson Guild in the Elliot Center facility, 441 West 26 Street, between Ninth and Tenth Avenues.
Pricing: Rates vary according to the type and "level" of your share. A standard share is $575; a sponsor share is $675 and a discount share is $455. Members that can commit to working tow hours weekly of the early shift on distribution day.
A Bronx CSA, the Norwood CSA Food Coop was founded in 2004 and it also works with Norwich Meadows Farms. A winter share will be available this year, with vegan, vegetarian and meat shares, with varying amounts of veggies and other items depending on which you choose. All members have to volunteer hours; for winter share members that is four hours over the season. Summer share, running from mid-June to mid-November in 2021 will also be available with pricing to be determined.
Pickup is at Serviam Gardens apartment building located on 198th street near Bainbridge Avenue.
Founder Wen-Jay Ying describes Local Roots as a "subscription-based online farmer's market", or, a modernized CSA. For the past nine years, Local Roots has partnered with farms throughout the Northeast to source sustainably-grown fruits and vegetables, as well as meat, cheeses, eggs, honey and more. The major difference between Local Roots and a more traditional CSA is flexibility. You can sign on for as short a period as three months, you can join any time in the growing season (the cost is pro-rated), and you can also put your membership on hold if you like. Local Roots offers lots of different plans, so you can go veggie-heavy, add on a meat or bread bundle, or even reduce food waste with a "misfit" bunch of produce. Local Roots delivers, and also has a robust network of spots in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens where you can pick up your order.
Pricing: Bundles range from about $50 - $95 a week.
If your kids are lacking after school activities lately, you’re not alone. In response to a survey that showed up to 40 percent of after school activities have been shut down during the pandemic, Airbnb is launching brand new Online Experiences.
The collection of Field Trips is a way for kids to experience new things from their own home and to supplement their school curriculum. Airbnb is teaming up with several special celebs to kick off the program, and first on the list is Bill Nye, Olivia Wilde and Marley Dias.
In all, over 75+ extracurricular Online Experiences await and are hosted fromover 20countries around the world. Additionally, many activities are affiliated with Classroom Champions, a nonprofit that offers curriculum and mentorship experiences for kindergarteners through eighth graders with volunteer Olympians, Paralympians and professional athletes.
The Field Trip Online Experiences range from $7 to $100 and you can find the entire catalog at airbnb.com/fieldtrips. Not only are these programs educational, but they will help others, too. All proceeds from Nye’s experience will go to The Planetary Society and all proceeds for both Wilde and Dias’s experiences will go to Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco.
