On-line data helps battle ongoing hunger

Community members looking for volunteer opportunities to combat hunger problems will now be able to find a match on-line through a newly launched system from the New York City Coalition Against Hunger.
“Around the holidays, pantries and kitchens often have more volunteers than they can use, but after the holidays, they are in desperate need of such help,” said Joel Berg, the executive director of the coalition. “That’s why we are urging all New Yorkers to make a New Year’s resolution to volunteer to fight hunger by signing up to volunteer using our new online system.”
By logging onto https://www.nyccah.org/volunteer, interested persons can search for volunteer positions using various criteria. Among them are neighborhood, proximity to the subway, and times when volunteers are needed. Matches can also be made based on personal skills such as computers, accounting, public relations, web development, law, strategic planning and graphic design.
“In particular, we hope that people with special professional skills will ‘adopt’ pantries and kitchens that can benefit from that expertise,” Berg said. “Five hours of accounting work can often help these agencies more than 20 hours of serving soup.”
From Saturday, January 19 to Monday, January 21, the New York City Coalition Against Hunger will also be holding its fifth Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend Anti-Hunger Serve-A-Thon. During this event, participants get sponsors and then volunteer their time at a soup kitchen or food pantry in one of the boroughs.
“Many people don’t realize it, but there are more than 400,000 children that go to bed hungry in our city. This is a moral issue for everyone,” Councilmember Eric Gioia said. “Food pantries and soup kitchens are often the last line of defense and the difference between a child going to bed hungry or with food in their stomachs. I urge all New Yorkers to spend some time in the New Year to pitch in and help the fight against hunger. It’s now much easier with this new website.”
To sign up for the Serve-A-Thon, visit https://www.nyccah.org/volunteer/mlk-day or call Andrea Dispenza at 212-825-0028, Ext. 202.
Along with finding volunteer matches on the New York City Coalition Against Hunger’s website, interested persons can call Volunteer Programs Coordinator Neal Flowerman at 212-825-0028, Ext 210.