If you are in New York City and are eager to really give thanks there are tons of opportunities throughout the area. Listed below you’ll find ways to give back whether you prefer to serve from a soup kitchen, donate, or bring meals to families who need them.

Soup Kitchens

City Meals On Wheels

Citymeals-on-Wheels’ Senior Centers need your help on Thanksgiving Day. Help PREPARE, SERVE and DELIVER MEALS.

City Harvest

City Harvest provides New York City’s 1,000 soup kitchens and food pantries with food that has been donated (“rescued”) from local food retailers.

Contact Information

Daniel Morgan, Manager of Community Affairs and Volunteer Services at City Harvest, dmorgan@cityharvest.org or 917-351-8762.

Food Bank For New York City

This food-distribution program helps feed more than 1.5 million people per year citywide. Pitch in at the group’s Hunts Point warehouse preparing nonperishables collected from food drives for distribution, or volunteer at a local soup kitchen (call for a location near you). Through January, shop at A&P, Pathmark, Shop Rite, and Whole Foods, and $5 added to your grocery bill will provide a family of four with dinners for a week or more.

Contact Information

For more information, please contact Heather A. Josepth, Volunteer Services Manager, at 212-566-7855, ext. 8557, or hjoseph@foodbanknyc.org.

Bring Goods

Bowery Mission

Serving more than 3,700 meals on Thanksgiving Day. Volunteer slots for the week are already filled, but would-be helpers can donate yams, sweet potatoes, cranberries and stuffing to assist in creating the meals. Dinner guests also receive personal care packages, so if you really want to lend a hand then bring in individually wrapped healthy snacks, personal-size toiletries (like toothbrushes, soap and razors) and winter clothing such as socks, hats and gloves.

Location

227 Bowery between Rivington and Stanton Sts (212-674-3456, bowery.org)

Volunteer contact

Matt Krivich (info@bowery.org)

Give your time

Jan Hus Presbyterian Church

Volunteers act as waiters in the restaurant-style dinner program schlepping plates for a two-hour shift every Tuesday, including a Thanksgiving meal. Between dinner and cleanup, voluteers are encouraged to grab a plate, sit down and chat with visitors. Also needed: piano players who can provide light entertainment during the Thanksgiving meal (and on regular Tuesdays as well). A party atmosphere is exactly what the pilgrims were going for.

Location

351 E 74th St at First Ave (212-288-6743, janhus.org)

Volunteer contact

Amy Conley (amy@janhus.org)

St. John’s Bread and Life

The all-day affair promises a visit from some of St. John’s University’s Red Storm basketball stars. While hot chocolate and donuts are available outside, the kitchen serves from 9:30am until everyone’s fed, and volunteer spots are filling up—they use helpers to clean, unpack food, and greet visitors. Hope you’re organized.

Location

795 Lexington Ave between Malcolm X Blvd and Patchen Ave, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn (718-574-0058, breadandlife.org)

Volunteer contact

LaVerne Spencer (spencerl@breadandlife.org)

God’s Love We Deliver (GLWD)

More than 1,500 homebound New Yorkers will receive special hand-decorated bags and Thanksgiving baskets in addition to their usual three-course meal from God’s Love We Deliver. And while GLWD is fully staffed with food-prep volunteers for Thanksgiving, extra help is still needed on the delivery end. You can read a map, right?

Location

166 Sixth Ave at Spring St (212-294-8100, godslovewedeliver.org)

Volunteer contact

Susan Oher (volunteer@glwd.org)

New York Cares

The city’s largest volunteer organization, has dozens of programs you can take part in over Thanksgiving week—from serving meals to running children’s art projects. All volunteers are required to go through a one-hour orientation before signing up for a program; the orientations, which can be booked online, take place every Monday through Thursday until Tuesday 23.

Location

214 W 29th St between Seventh and Eighth Aves (212-228-5000, newyorkcares.org)

Volunteer contact

Conor Carroll (info@newyorkcares.org)

St. Francis Xavier’s Church

On average, 900 hungry New Yorkers come to the Welcome Table at St. Francis Xavier’s Church every Sunday (1–3pm), when the cafeteria in Hurtado Hall becomes an aid center. Says one volunteer, “The most coveted service position is sugar girl, because everyone comes up to you with their coffee and goes, ‘Gimme some sugar!’” Shifts are already filled for a special Thanksgiving Day meal but if you have your own wheels, you can deliver food baskets (10:45am–1pm).

Location

55 W 15th St between Fifth and Sixth Aves (212-627-2100, sfxavier.org)

Volunteer contact

Christine Raglan (sfxwelcometable@gmail.com)

Give Money

feedingnyc.org

Actively soliciting the help of corporations but still needs financial support. This year, FlatRate Moving will provide trucks and drivers to help our volunteers reach the families in need. A donation of just $175 is enough to feed five entire families this Thanksgiving. They also seek volunteers to help assemble and deliver meals the week preceding Thanksgiving.

For more infromation, visit feedingnyc.org

Feel free to let us know of us other organizations that can be added.

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