About
OUTREACH DAY
We’re excited to have you joining our arsenal of volunteers. We are indebted to you.
To stay up to date, please join our WhatsApp group
DROP OFF LOCATION
Donations can be dropped off at 126 Forsyth St. from 12-1:30pm every Sunday. Weekday drop off can be coordinated to our storage in the Lower East Side. by contacting volunteer@streetservice.org.
OUTREACH
SSNY serves 100-200 guests each outreach on Sundays from 12-2pm. We are located at 126 Forsyth St. (enter on Delancey Street). Street parking is available on Forsyth and Delancey (orange lines). Several garages denoted below as “P” are also available nearby.
OUR GUESTS
The average age of our guests is 46.6 years with the majority (>80%) identifying as male. Just under 50% of our guests also identify as Hispanic with approximately 30% Black and 20% Asian, White or other. In NYC alone, nearly 1 in 83 New Yorkers are considered homeless although the number has risen to support an influx of refugees and asylum seekers. Due to the current situation, we have served guests as young as 6 months old and families with an average of 5+ members.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Please write your name on a name tag and write SPANISH if you can help translate.
Here is a list of potential roles you can partake in during outreach. You have full autonomy over your work - if you aren’t comfortable doing something, let us know! We have listed the roles in order of how much prior experience is needed. To clarify, roles at the beginning of the list can be completed by anyone. Roles near the end are usually conducted by our seasoned volunteers.
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Organization gurus: You will be tasked with organizing and sorting incoming donations day of. You will also participate in the roll-up prep (utensils) and inventory notes (ie: letting us know if something is out or depleted)
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Runners: These volunteers will run clothing and goods to our front-line distribution from inside our space. You will be charged with ensuring clothing and goods stay tidy and locating items for distribution
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Food angels: These volunteers will help serve food and drink to our guests seated inside. You will ensure every guest gets a plate of food, utensils, and a drink during their time with us.
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Social Coordinators: You are tasked with taking videos and photos for the duration of the event. Social media content creation is optional and can be shared with FTS commanders following outreach.
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Data Collector: You will be in charge of greeting guests and collecting baseline demographics. Data will be recorded electronically and kept anonymous.
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Front-line distribution: Those who feel comfortable are able to directly serve our guests. You will interact with the guests and communicate the needs to the runners. These volunteers should dress warmly, as you will be outside conversing with guests.
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Patrol: Repeat volunteers have the ability to observe and supervise outreach flow inside and outside of the space. In this role you will be tasked with ushering guests to seats, organizing lines, answering immediate questions, and guiding guests to haircuts upon being called
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Barbers: If you are licensed to cut hair in NYC then you’re welcome to cut hair for us! Bring your clippers and we’ll handle the cleanup.
A FEW IMPORTANT NOTES
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We ask that everyone who can stick around for a quick cleanup.
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The space we work out of is a Seventh Day Adventist Church, led by Miguel and other congregants. Although we are NOT affiliated with the church, we do respect their space and clean up after ourselves. We will conduct a short prayer to respect their wishes - we treat this as our kumbayah moment.
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The space is on the ground level and has access to bathrooms for volunteers.
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No role requires any heavy lifting except for anyone who may pick up a box during cleanup.
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We usually have photographer friends present. If someone does not wish to be photographed, please let us know.
For updated information surrounding our events and needs, please follow @streetserviceny on Instagram.