A 600 Turkey Day

Now that we are in the pre-Christmas winter months, people's thoughts turn to gifts, parties, and (hopefully) giving back to the community. My office is no exception, and since we get 2 days per year as paid time off to volunteer, five of us from accounting went for the day to help out at the Bowery Mission. Founded in 1879, the Bowery is one of the largest homeless aid organizations in the city.

A little known fact is that NYC is the only city in the country legally required to provide shelter for anyone who seeks it. Yes, anyone. The city is required to find a bed for each and every person who seeks it out, and on cold nights NYC has even rented out entire cruise ships to shelter people.

So what makes the Bowery so special, when the city would shelter the homeless? Besides the fact that Chris and I know the Bowery's president and his wife (whom we deeply respect), the Bowery has a unique approach to the city's marginalized by offering both short term and long term care. So yes, they do serve three meals a day, 365 days a year, providing clothing and shelter as well to meet immediate needs. But, crucially, they also have long-term programs where men and women stay between 6 months - 2 years and receive computer training, financial/spiritual/personal counseling, and have rotating jobs within the Bowery organization so that they have job experience on their resume when they leave. The womens' program, for instance, doesn't graduate a resident until she meets 5 criteria, including that they have a job, have a place to live (Bowery helps them save wages to afford a deposit while they live in the program), and are reconciled to their family.

All this as background to say that I deeply believe the Bowery has a powerful approach to helping those in need, and I was excited to help out in preparing Thanksgiving meals.

Still, I was totally astounded by the sheer scope of the work Bowery goes through to serve Thanksgiving. I had read they serve 3,800 people on Thanksgiving day, but it is another matter entirely to see volunteers working in shifts around the clock (literally!) to get 600 turkeys, 1,000 lbs of potatoes, 900 pies, and 800 pounds of stuffing prepared and cooked. My co-workers and I helped prepare turkeys, peel potatoes, make stuffing, organize the pantry and other odd jobs (below).








Let me add here that when I heard 1,000 lbs of potatoes and 800 lbs of stuffing, I imagined huge industrial boxes of potato flakes and Stouffer's stuffing getting mixed with hot water. Not so. The Bowery believes strongly in treating the homeless with with dignity, and as such everything was made from scratch. I believe the main thought going through my mind all day was "Holy moly!"... huge stacks of potatoes lined the pantry, and each was hand peeled, baked and mashed for mashed potatoes. Other groups of volunteers did nothing all week long but dice loaves of bread to be mixed with broth and spices for homemade stuffing. Wow.

After 8 hours picking turkey meat, hand mixing huge containers of stuffing, dicing bread, stacking pies, and unloading trucks of donated food, we were all exhausted to the bone - but it's great to be a part of such an exciting effort in the city!

How will you get involved to give back?