Located at 227 Bowery Street between Prince and Rivington Street, the Bowery Mission is the last hope for many of the city’s homeless and at risk children. This building, long identified by its bright red door, provides 392,000 meals a year to thousands of men women and children. Additionally, the Bowery Mission provides clothing and a place for the down and out to stay to turn their life around.
There are many paths to homelessness and even some of the city’ s most well respected citizens have lived on the streets at one time or another. It’s important not to stereotype the homeless because each has a different story that got them to their horrible place, a place of hopelessness and despair; one without dignity or pride.
How to Help
I recently volunteered at the Bowery Mission, and it is in need of just about everything from financial donations to old fashion physical labor. The Mission has meal service every day at their “Five Star Dining Room” as they like to call it. The food is healthy and plentiful for the guests dining at the Mission that day. You can volunteer as a chef, pantry helper, in the clothing room or in clean up – each is in need everyday and it makes for a great NYC Weekend soul cleansing experience,
I worked in the clothing distribution downstairs, and that was definitely eye opening. I passed out “head to toe” clothing and we ran out of clean socks and underwear quickly, followed by pants with a waist of 46” and a length of 30” (I found it odd that this waist/length combination was in such need, but it seemed like one out of every three or four men needed this measurement). Big belts were also in short supply, and backpacks were the #1 item requested.
The cloths don’t need to be new they just need to be clean.
So it you are looking for volunteer work this weekend, or just want to donate your old clothes, belts, backpacks, etc. There is definitely a dire need, and you might be saving someone’s life.
Bower Mission contact information:
227 Bowery New York, NY 10002
212-674-3456
Donations may be dropped of 24 hours a day.
