And because “there is no substitute for personal coat rides,” said Ms. Amodio, her charity has found creative ways to stage it. Last month, an Atlanta school hosted a coat ride during the morning drop off. Masked volunteers collected more than 400 coats through folded windows.
There is more demand to feed the hungry.
The demand for food banks is also increasing. “Food insecurity in the US is at a level we have probably not seen since the Great Depression,” said Katie Fitzgerald, chief operating officer of Feeding America, a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks.
City Harvest, which distributes excess groceries in New York City, said that since March it has distributed more than 3.4 million pounds of food to more than 80,000 families in the nine cellular markets it operates in the five boroughs. That is compared to two million pounds of food for 46,000 families in the same period last year. The markets operate every two weeks at each location.
City Harvest stopped its own way of distributing food in the markets during the pandemic and instead packed and packaged food in its warehouse. And volunteers can still help while staying socially aloof.
“We literally slide the box or bag across the table and the person is on their way,” said Ryan VanMeter, assistant director of major gifts at City Harvest. “I tell people who volunteer in our cellular markets that you will feel all the blessings. But yes, we try to minimize the interaction. “
But the most important thing at the moment, said Mr VanMeter, are financial donations.
Volunteer if you can.
A recent study by a Fidelity Charitable, the country’s largest grantee, found that two out of three volunteers gave less or less time due to the pandemic. In its own survey, VolunteerMatch found that more people currently view Covid-19 as an obstacle to volunteering than at the beginning of the pandemic, although “we expected the opposite,” said Ms. Plato.
One reason for the shortage of volunteers is that many volunteers are elderly – the population most at risk from the coronavirus. However, there are ways to donate your time and stay safe.