#99 - Lend A Hand At LI Cares

Last week, Hauppauge Patch played up a love for wintertime activities including snow and ice. We took a trip to The Rinx's Friday night Rock'N' Roll ice skating activities. 

During the cold winter months, some local residents are struggling to overcome the cold weather conditions as a heating can be expensive, creating a tighter than normal budget. Its a time of year when non-profit agencies such as Long Island Cares - The Harry Chapin Food Bank are as busy as ever making sure Long Islanders have warm coats and plenty of food. 

Long Island Cares was founded in 1980 by singer and activist Harry Chapin, beginning operations in 1982. In recent years it has expanded from being a food bank distributor to having its own emergency first stop food pantry to its Mobile Outreach Resource Enterprise van that delivers to homeless on the streets. It also has a Kids Cafe that provides after-school and summer meals for children of needy families along with School Tools and its Pet Pantry. 

A quick step inside LI Cares warehouse shows there's plenty of work to do, bins of donated food wait to be sorted and packed for either the MORE van, Kids Cafe or into 5-lb dry goods or 10-lb canned goods. 

Amy Datkun, coordinator of volunteer services, has an e-mail sign-up list that frequently sends out messages seeking volunteers in all areas of operations. For many tasks volunteers are required to be 18 years or older, but supervised minors are occasionally permitted to help out. 

Be careful to dress in warm layers, as the large warehouse is cool in the winter months and warm in the summer. 

Some of the recent searches for volunteers include: 

• Packing lunches and snacks for the Pack it Up for Kids Children's Lunch program on Feb. 3 and Feb. 10, 9:30 a.m. - noon. 
• Help in preparing brochures for their Classic Golf fundraiser in May 2011, on Feb. 9 from 9 a.m. - noon. 
• Warehouse help loading and unloading trucks. Volunteers must be 18 or older, and be able to do heavy lifting. 
  
   

Category: Volunteer
Price: free
Season: year-round
Note:  Contact Amy Datkun at adatkun@licares.org for times and dates that volunteers are needed, or arrange to host a food drive.