New Yorkers Spend Christmas Volunteering
New York, NY —
New Yorkers found some innovative ways to volunteer for the poor, homeless and elderly yesterday.
REPORTER: At the Laugh Factory, comedians worked the stage as 1000 people ate hot meals. And, about 1000 seniors from around the city descended on a Merrill Lynch office downtown, where they made free calls to family and friends. John McDermott, who organized the effort for the company, says many of the participating seniors are immigrants.
MCDERMOTT: They get to talk to places as far away as Russia, China, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan. You really can see the joy on people's faces when they're able to make contact with people they haven't been able to speak with in a while.
REPORTER: Even Mayor Bloomberg handed out meals to the home-bound - through city Meals on Wheels. The group distributed food and gifts to 18,000 people on Christmas Day.
For many people, holiday celebrations included voluntary work for various community groups. At the Goddard Riverside Community Center, on the Upper West Side, volunteers fed 1200 homeless and elderly people... more than the thousand that had been expected. And 400 volunteers with "God's Love We Deliver" cooked and passed out meals to people stranded at home by chronic illness.
But Karen Pearl, the president of the organization, says most of its volunteers don't just come in for Christmas.
PEARL: We've got 1800 active volunteers. We count on volunteers in the kitchen every single day. We count on people in delivery, even some of our offices. We're a very volunteer-driven organization.
REPORTER: Even Mayor Bloomberg volunteered his time yesterday. He handed out meals to the home-bound - through city Meals on Wheels. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the group distributed food and gifts to 18,000 people on Christmas Day.
