Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: ‘What are you doing for others?'”
Each year, Americans across the country answer that question by coming together on the King Holiday to serve their neighbors and communities.
On January 19, more than 30 volunteers from the Food Bank for New York City spent their holiday bestowing a fresh coat of paint and an early spring cleaning on Project Hospitality’s Community Service Center in Stapleton. http://www.silive.com/northshore/index.ssf/2015/01/king_holiday_inspires_voluntee.html
But nearly every day on the calendar, Project Hospitality is blessed by that same spirit of service.
More than 600 volunteers a year share themselves with Project Hospitality to support our mission of feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless and uplifting our neighbors on their way to self-sufficiency. Some regulars volunteer almost every day, others come on an occasional morning or afternoon. School groups, church and business groups frequently spend full days or weekends helping us help the community.
Project Hospitality also welcomes more than 30 groups a year from places across the nation for week-long stays with our Faith in Action program.
During these extended trips, volunteers literally roll up their sleeves and take part in the real life work of helping those in need. They take away from the experience a deepened perspective on poverty, a more visceral understanding of our inter-connectedness and an abiding sense of gratitude.
“It’s very different than your own little world,” said Faith Boonstra, 16, who volunteered over the summer with her youth group from the First Reformed Church of Hawthorne. “You see people who have problems with homelessness and hunger.”
The teens and their adult chaperones traveled from their homes in New Jersey to spend a week living, working and volunteering with Project Hospitality through our Faith in Action program. (click here to see photos of Faith in Action groups)
“I see there are more people who need help after Sandy,” said Angel Laracuente, 16, as he and a group of friends hammered sheet rock into the basement wall of a home still uninhabitable after being damaged by the storm.
Five adults and 13 teens from Greendale Community United Church of Christ in Greendale, Wisconsin, also spent a week this summer with Project Hospitality’s Faith in Action program –sharing their strength, their open minds and giving hands.
“It’s cool how appreciative everybody is,” said Vanessa Osterberg, during a break from handing out plates to more than 100 hungry Staten Islanders who had come to eat in Project Hospitality’s Stapleton soup kitchen. “Everybody is super grateful. It is nice to see the smiles on their faces.”
She and her group split their time between serving food and stocking our food pantry shelves and lending a hand in a home devastated by the storm.
“They’re learning they have skills and gifts inside,” said the Rev. David Gaeth, describing the growth in the young participants during their week of hard work, bonding and learning about themselves and others in Project Hospitality’s Faith in Action program. “They’re seeing their compassion coming through.”
Faith in Action groups typically arrive on a Sunday evening and leave the following Saturday morning.
While here, the volunteers serve food the soup kitchen and food pantry, prepare meals and help in the clothing pantry at our Outreach Center, assist with the recreation program at the family shelter, helping in our summer day camp program and in the Sandy-affected community. During their stay, volunteers meet and talk to people who have experienced homelessness, hunger and disability and develop new perspectives on poverty and justice through workshops on homelessness, hunger, HIV/AIDS, and other challenges facing those in need.
Most groups take one day off during the week to go sight-seeing. Meals and housing are provided. A donation of $150 per person is requested in order to help us cover the costs.
There is still availability for Summer 2015. For more information and a registration packet, please call us at 718-448-1544 ext. 134 and speak with Deacon Paul Kosinski paul_kosinski@projecthospitality.org.