October 2022 Newsletter

We are off to a great start for the 2022-2023 school year.  We will be serving 7 schools for a total of 105 families.  PCCS will be sorting, packing and delivering for the program. We also have a group of people interested in funding an additional school. We will keep you posted as this develops.  We were awarded a Con Edison grant in the amount of $5000 for our WFBP. PLEASE CONTACT MICHELE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HOST A COLLECTION OR ARE INTERESTED IN SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES.

AS THIS PROGRAM GROWS SO DOES ITS MONTHLY BUDGET WHICH MEANS WE WILL BE LOOKING FOR NEW FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES. THIS INCLUDES GRANTS AND INDIVIDUAL DONORS. ON NOVEMBER 12th FROM 2-4 WE WILL BE HOSTING AN OPEN HOUSE AT THE PANTRY FOR DONORS AND PROSPECTIVE DONORS. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN ATTENDING PLEASE RSVP TO MICHELE.  We have major announcements to share with you. We received a $5,000 donation from the Ollis Foundation and additional private donations in support of NTS. These donations will help us to continue our growing efforts. Each of our October pantry openings saw over 110 individual visits with a total covering 380 family members. PLEASE CONTACT MICHELE FOR SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES.  LOCATED ON FORT WADSWORTH WITH VOLUNTEERS FROM BLUE STAR FAMILIES, THIS SITE IS OPEN TWICE A MONTH.

Our newly revamped Literacy program began in earnest this month when the team had its inaugural session at PS57. We received fantastic feedback and look forward to developing and enhancing this program with our community partners.

Here’s a peek into what our Junior Giving Circles are up to: St Clare: STEM kits, gently used clothing, Halloween and Thanksgiving collections St Patrick’s: Halloween costumes, STEM kit collection, Halloween candy and thanksgiving collections. SI Junior Giving Circle:  gently used jeans, Halloween candy, and hats and gloves. In addition to these schools we are strengthening and building our community relationships by asking our partner schools to assist with collections of our most needed items. Currently IS72 is hosting a cereal collection PS56 collected 170 boxes of cereal PS42’s cereal drive is ending next week Notre Dame HS collected over 70 boxes. Cereal is one of most sought after items. Between all of our food insecurity programs we need more than 700 boxes a month.  By enlisting the schools to help we are able to then provide additional items for Nourish the Service and our WFBP. We have a list of schools who will be working with us in the future for this and other collections. Staten Islanders are very generous and with their help we will continue to make a difference to many local families. FOR INFORMATION ON STARTING A JUNIOR GIVING CIRCLE AT YOUR SCHOOL PLEASE CONTACT KATHY BARZAL AT KATHYSIGC@GMAIL.COM

Josue unveiled our newest mural completed for the American Legion Cespino Russo Post 1544

Our bi-monthly kids birthday parties were FINALLY able to resume this month. We celebrated the birthdays of children in the family shelter, with cake and presents. A small but mighty team attended the gathering and helped make it a success.

Our annual donation arrived from Bombas and as soon as those socks came in we were able to deliver to our community partners. Socks were distributed to our school partners, NTS, and our Homeless initiative.

Fraidy Reiss and Samantha Marder are the principles of Unchained at Last, an organization whose mission it is to serve victims of forced and child marriage. Both shared stories that opened our eyes to this ongoing issue. Please take a look at their website for additional information. A donation was made to Unchanged At Last to help them continue their important work. https://www.unchainedatlast.org

To make a donation please use the following: Venmo: @StatenIslandGivingCircle PayPal: SIGivingCircle@aol.com Checks may be mailed to: Staten Island Giving Circle PO Box 120301 Staten Island NY 10312

WE’RE KEEPING THINGS VERY SIMPLE THIS MONTH, WE ARE COLLECTING: Thanksgiving side dishes. See flyer.

We get inquiries for teens looking to score service hours to satisfy school requirements. We have been recommending the students organize a collection of food (cereal, granola bars, fruit cups) to be used for our Food Insecurity initiatives. Students can create flyers, host the collection and deliver to the recipient for their service credit. Please contact us for a list of items needed.

Michele Yacovello 917.733.7937 MicheleSIGC@gmail.com Evelyn Kormanik 718.980.4862 sigivingcircle@aol.com

Our meetings are held at Oakwood Heights Community Church, 345 Guyon Avenue. The morning meeting is at 9am, in person only.  The evening meeting is at 7pm, in person and Zoom. Please see schedule below for upcoming dates.