Volunteer Center To Launch 9/11 Food Drive, Acts of Kindness

The Volunteer Center of Bergen County is sponsoring a county-wide food drive on Sep. 11 to benefit the Center for Food Action.

Donations of canned and packaged goods can be brought to the Center’s offices at 64 Passaic Street in Hackensack from 7am-7pm. The items needed most are: hearty soups, Parmalat milk, canned tuna and peanut butter.

The food drive is being organized in light of the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance, a coast-to-coast initiative that seeks to observe September 11th as a national day of service, charity and compassion.

“We encourage residents of all ages and abilities to mark this day of remembrance with acts of service, helping the less fortunate or a cause in which they are interested,” says Janet Sharma, Executive Director of the Volunteer Center.

“Monetary donations to  worthy causes are also needed," Sharma added. "It’s all about recreating the spirit of unity and compassion that arose from the 9/11 tragedy."

The 9/11 Day of Service encourages individuals, businesses, schools and other groups to perform acts of kindness for the community to honor the victims, family members, and survivors of the 9/11 attacks. Others to be honored include rescue and recovery workers and the thousands of volunteers who gave so much on and following that fateful day.  

The Volunteer Center of Bergen County is also asking Paramus and other Bergen County residents to use this day to commit to doing something good for someone else.

They are also encouraging local residents to organize their own projects. Here are some ideas for projects:

• Give blood
• Donate children’s books to a Head Start center or library
• Begin collecting money or toys for holiday giving programs
• Get five names from your church, synagogue or town welfare director, and send cards or letters to people who are isolated or elderly
• Pick up litter in a park or along a sidewalk or roadway
• Pull weeds in a park or along a sidewalk
• Paint over graffiti (ask the building owner first!)
• Offer to run errands for someone who is frail or who is not feeling well
• Join the Volunteer Center’s Chore program and perform minor home repairs to keep  elderly and disabled people safe in their homes
• Welcome a new neighbor with cookies or flowers.

Other project ideas:

• Write letters of support to our men and women in the military
• Plant bulbs in a park
• Donate pet food to a pet shelter
• Become a mentor to a child, teen or adult through the Volunteer Center’s Mentoring Programs
• Arrange to read to children at a daycare center
• Make and deliver a floral or craft decoration to a senior center
• Make tray favors to be distributed to those who receive meals on wheels
• Offer to sweep a sidewalk or do some gardening for someone who is infirm
• Donate socks, underwear, and other new items of clothing to a shelter

For more information about the above activities, contact the Volunteer Center of Bergen County at (201) 489-9454.

The Volunteer Center publishes a Guide to Volunteering, which lists more than 100 nonprofit agencies and 400 volunteer positions for people of all ages.

Copies may downloaded free of charge at www.bergenvolunteers.org  or a hard copy can be ordered online with a $5.00 shipping and handling charge.

Those interested in posting their good deed to share with others on a national website can visit www.serve.gov or www.nationalservice.gov.

Founded by the Junior League in 1966, the Volunteer Center of Bergen County strengthens the community by connecting people with opportunities to serve, operating model direct service volunteer programs, building capacity for effective volunteering, and participating in strategic partnerships that meet community needs.