My daughter receives Confirmation next Autumn. As part of her preparation, she needs to do 2 larger service projects (as opposed to just accumulating hours) this year. When her brother was at this stage, he did a huge coat drive, and collected something like 100 winter coats. A friend ran a coordinating hat/glove drive, and together they did a lot of good for the poor of NY. But in the aftermath of Sandy, I don't know anyone who has anything old to donate. Anything and everything extra, from hats to gloves to coats to blankets, was donated last year. So, instead, I have her excited about doing an internet gift donation drive for Christmas. First, I contacted Moore, OK, the site of those horrific tornados last spring. I've contacted a number of people there, but have gotten no replies. Then I tried the site of the floods in Colorado-- same lack of response. So I've just contacted two NYC agencies. If they don't come through, the project can change to Toys for Tots. It's just so infuriating. Time's a wasting, and she can make a real difference this Christmas. She just needs someone to reply to the email.
I live near Joplin, MO (it is the "city" I use for all of my shopping, etc, so I am there at least once a week). Joplin was devastated by a tornado May 22, 2011. 160 people were killed, 1,150 injured, St. John's Hospital (1 of 2 med centers for our area) was destroyed, Joplin High School was leveled, a technical college was leveled, several elementary schools were leveled, 7,000 homes were destroyed, a huge swath of the business district was wiped out. Not that you need to see the images to believe the destruction, but a Google search will bring tears to your eyes. Two programs that came to the forefront (at least for me) for helping children of Joplin are: ArtFeeds and The Miracle League of Joplin. ArtFeeds uses art therapy for traumatized children (you can imagine the good they did after the tornado). They have a link for giving on their site: http://artfeeds.org/ An art supply drive could be an idea for your daughter. Details on supplies are at the bottom of the page titled Give. The Miracle League of Joplin allows children with physical disabilities to play baseball. The baseball field (Will Norton Field) is named after a high school aged boy who lost his life in the tornado. Their site has a link for sponsorship: http://joplinmiracleleague.org/ These two organizations seem totally legitimate from my inspection. My student council is volunteering this spring at The Miracle League. Just some ideas. St. Johns Hospital was sponsored by Catholic Health Initiatives and later Sisters of Mercy. They are rebuilding a state of the art medical complex. The new name is Mercy of Joplin. (Just some details that might be helpful if your daughter wanted to do something for the hosptial ... I don't know any giving agencies that help them directly, but I could probably find out if you wanted me to investigate). Someone on the forum here was near Moore, OK ... may be able to find a connection to Moore from ?her.
Could she do a donation drive to a charity? I've run a few of those in my spare time when bored online.
What about a homeless shelter or home for abused women? Or a no-kill shelter? When I was a Girl Scout leader we did projects for those places and they were endlessly grateful.
How about a local children's hospital? They can only take new, unwrapped toys. I know NUMC would have a need, as well as Cohen's. The Ronald McDonald house is near Cohen's. They have a food pantry for volunteer groups that make dinner there. A donation to them might be an option.
We heard back from one of the NYC agencies, so donations will be going to: http://www.safehorizon.org/?gclid=CPTGsJrBoboCFYee4AodnHwAMQ But keep the ideas coming... I'll forward them to the Director of Religous Ed for anyone else having trouble coming up with ideas. The guidelines are very broad... basically, you have to help someone.
I've seen local kids do backpack drives for homeless shelters...donated back packs and school supplies. Your daughter could do something similar with holiday gifts...stuffed animals for children of battered women, or sometimes fire departments give teddy bears to children whose homes ave been gutted by fire or other disaster....
When I was in hs a friend and I would stand outside of a grocery store for Salvation Army on Xmas eve.... Every year we were so touched by the amount of people that came up and said thank you to us! We were able to collect a good amount too. Idk if that would count as "large" but it was and is one of my most favorite memories to visit.
2 ideas I love:1) my mother's civic group works with a large children's hospital. They make a simple doll out of fabric. From what I understand, the doctors draw on the body to show the young patient how the surgery is done. They make little hospital gowns for the dolls too. 2) I had my youth group collect donations from church members of cake mixes, icing, party favors , decorations etc to donate to the homeless shelter so kids living there on their special day can have a party.
I live in the area of Oklahoma that was hit this summer. We are collecting gift cards for Christmas gifts. I would work with anyone that is interested.
