This guest blog entry is by Scott S., who does a fantastic job of describing how nine dads spent their recent Saturday afternoon…
You know the feeling you get when you watch your baby sleeping, the unmistakable sense of peace, the feeling that you are the luckiest man alive? We feel lucky because we know not every parent has the same good fortune.
There are over 500.000 children living in poverty in NYC.
As we all know, babies quickly outgrow their clothes and it is only a matter of time before they become uninterested in their toys. Do you ever look around your apartment and wonder what are we going to do with all this “stuff”?
Some of us have donated our extras to non-profits like Goodwill and Salvation Army hoping it goes to needy children, but how do we know? Anyone can walk into a Goodwill store and buy clothes. This is where Baby Buggy differs from other non-profits.
When you make a donation to Baby Buggy it goes directly to the children who need it most. Baby Buggy works with over fifty social service organizations throughout the five boroughs including the Nurse-Family-Partnership, Head Start, and Women in Need.
Along with a few members of NYC Dads Group, I had the pleasure of spending a recent Saturday afternoon helping this dedicated organization. Baby Buggy’s Executive Director, Katherine Snider, gave us a brief history and a tour of the loft. It was amazing to see the amount of goods donated and ready to be distributed. As Katherine explained, BB has distributed over four million items during their nine year history and receives over 50,000 donated items a month.
At the end of the tour is when Jasmine Rosario, Volunteer Program Manager, happily put us to work. We started with shoes donated from the Children’s Place. Our task was to first make sure the shoes were paired up (careful – two right shoes is not a pair) and organize them in boxes with a label listing the contents.
After the shoes, we bundled clothes – three shirts and two pants to a bundle. We started asking one another, “does this look good together”? Picturing the girls who receive these bundles we tried our best to coordinate outfits. Clearly, some dads are better dressers than others.
Then we watched a quick video explaining Baby Buggy’s mission to help alleviate the stress of poverty and prevent crisis. Baby Buggy receives corporate donations (the Children’s Place, Maclaren, and Babies ‘R’ Us) as well as individual donations. If you have been looking for a place to recycle gently used or never worn baby gear, this is it. Visit BabyBuggy.org for a list of items they hope to collect.
It feels good to help those who are less fortunate, especially during these tough economic times.
If you would like to volunteer, you may contact Jasmine Rosario at jasmine@babybuggy.org or visit the Baby Buggy volunteer page for more information.
In an effort to get more dads involved with their families, Baby Buggy is reaching out to groups like NYC Dads Group. With our support, Baby Buggy is making a difference. For those dads and dads groups around the country also looking to give back, we were informed that there are similar types of charities in several other major cities.
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