How Can You Give This Holiday Season?

There are so many ways to donate and volunteer this time of year it can be dizzying, but the impacts of our efforts and contributions can perhaps best be measured (and felt) when we direct them locally. 

Here are just a few of the many ways to lend a helping hand, (or in one case, your blood), this season here and nearby. 

Have a charity that could use some help right now? Share the details in the comments and we'll spread the word.

Need inspiration? 

From the Tarrytowns Schools district news: 

• "The Grade 3-5 students comprising the W.I Student Council worked diligently on a heartwarming service project during their November meeting. Students constructed colorful, Thanksgiving-themed placemats to give to the residents of Tarrytown Nursing Hall. These placemats will be used during the annual Thanksgiving Feast held at Tarrytown Hall. The employees were very appreciative of the students’ thoughtful work and well wishes. The Student Council even received a letter from a family member of one of the residents: To the Student Council of Washington Irving School: We were so very, very touched to hear of the placemat project you children planned and completed for the residents of Tarrytown Hall for Thanksgiving!  Read More..."

Operation Holiday Joy 

Bring cheer to MHA's neediest children, families, and individuals. Fulfill a wish list today! Contact the Mental Health Association of Westchester to find out how.

Open Door's Holiday Toy Drive

The Family Medical Center writes, "Bring joy to a child this holiday season, donate a new toy! Open Door Foundation collects gifts for the neediest of our young patients. Each year we are able to make the holidays brighter for children and their families with community support. For most, this is the only gift they may receive during the holidays." For a wishlist of items and the addresses of Open Door centers in Sleepy Hollow, Ossining and beyond, click here.

Sleepy Hollow PBA Toy Drive 

Sleepy Hollow PBA will be hosting a toy drive from now until the week of Christmas. Drop off site will be at police headquarters at 28 Beekman and will be available 24/7. Writes officer Craig Kelly: "We are looking for new toys in their packaging, but gently used toys will also be accepted. We will also be accepting monetary donations that will be put toward purchasing toys to distribute to the less fortunate children in our community. If you have any questions or need something to be officially written up you can email me at ckelly@sleepyhollowny.org. Thank you."

Soup Kitchens, Food Banks

Click here for a short list of Westchester County Soup Kitchens and food banks you can volunteer at.

Five Community Campaigns

Local efforts that could use your help now, including Tarrytown’s Coffee Labs very pink (and flashy) effort to support Breast Cancer Awareness.

Drive for Military Men and Women

A new local group hasn't gotten a name yet but is working with Operation Homefront to help families back at home while loved ones are deployed. Their efforts for the moment are focused the men and women overseas who may not have that family support at home. Writes Brenda Bauman DiBello, "This group is being started by Erin Hart, a 23-year-old young lady from Sleepy Hollow who is engaged to Lance Corporal John M. Gallagher USMC. There are so many young man and woman who are deployed who have no one to send them anything." 

There's a drop box in the Tarrytown YMCA on Main Street collecting these wish-list items: 

• Puzzle books, travel games, small Nerf balls, hacky sacks, paperback books, pocket size bibles, coffee, hot cocoa mix, tea bags individually wrapped, on the go drink mix for water bottles ie. Crystal light, Propel, Gatorade, hard trail mix, sunflower seeds, snacks bars, slim Jim's, lens cleansing wipes, nasal saline spray, tissues (pocket size), travel baby wipes, eye drops, foot powder, Vaseline, tape (electrical, and duct) boot soles.

RSHM Life Center Holiday Drive 

Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow Community Food Pantry Donations 

Asociacion de Familias Hispanas de Tarrytown Needs Potluck Chickens

Family YMCA of Tarrytown Pajama and Books Program

Pajama Program needs new pajamas and new books – for all aged children. Now through December 20. Contact Nicole Bernardone, nicoleb@ymcatarrytown.org. YMCA, 62 Main Street, Tarrytown

Want more? 

The Volunteer Center is Here to Guide You...

A huge list of ways to help and contribute in the region is compiled, and coordinated, by Tarrytown-based The Volunteer Center of United Way. Check it out here.