ABOUT US/HISTORY
The Staten Island Giving Circle is a large community outreach group dedicated to assisting the disadvantaged and/or underserved in our community. Additionally, since 2008 we have donated $60,000+ to a variety of causes and charities. A list of some of the charities receiving these donations are listed below. Occasionally, we can get some of our larger totals "matched" with corporate funding.
A large, on-going focus for us is to support a number of food pantries on Staten Island. We are a population of 460,000 and there are many, many people living on the fringe of hunger and homelessness.
The collections/donations for charities are the nucleus of our mission, but just as important are our “satellite” projects. We have had innumerable satellite initiatives; some are on-going, some are one-time projects.
On a bi-monthly on-going basis, our group has a team who goes to the children’s homeless shelter on Staten Island (Project Hospitality) and hosts birthday parties for the children celebrating birthdays in that two-month span. We have a generous donor who funds this initiative. We take a large sheet cake, beverages, snacks, games, and bags of gifts for the birthday boys and girls. Our leaders also take photographs to give to the mothers (which has proven to be a highlight of the parties). Many times these photographs are the only pictures the mothers have of their children.
Also, ongoing is our collection of used cell phones and eyeglasses. The cell phones are refurbished to dial “911”. Women living on the streets can use these phones in cases of emergencies. The eyeglasses are distributed by a large corporate group to people throughout the world.
We recently completed a "Lending Library" for the seniors at Canterbury House, a large senior citizen residence. We provided four large bookshelf units and they are full of books collected from our group.
In September 2012, we distributed over 300 filled back packs to children returning to school in the Stapleton neighborhood and Mt. Loretta neighborhood.
This will be our fourth year (2013) participating in an Operation Fairydust and/or Project Glam-type initiatives. We collect gently-used prom attire, have all the dresses/tuxes cleaned and the dry cleaner even alters the clothing to fit individual students looking to secure an outfit for his/her prom. Prom attire is very expensive and many students have to opt out of the prom activities if they can't afford the clothing. We collected 497 dresses in 2012. We are hoping to keep at least a major portion of the dresses on Staten Island for 2013 (to date they have been distributed in Manhattan for the other boroughs). We'd like to serve our children first.
In 2010, we had a local merchant donate 500 pairs of new shoes for children which we distributed among four worthy group recipients, and just recently the same merchant donated another 150 pairs of new shoes which we donated to the Stapleton community children.We also sent boxes with 200 pairs of new and used shoes and sandals to children living on the streets in the Philippines. Shoes also went to children in Iraq (delivered by our military) so those children could attend school.
We’ve sent Slippers to Sri Lanka, Denim to Detroit, baby supplies to Haiti, and clothing and shoes to underserved communities in Delaware County (NY) and Mississippi. We’ve provided handheld calculators and book bags to schools in New Jersey where they were desperately needed. We put together shoebox collections to be sent overseas for Christmas 2010 (Samaritan’s Purse). We make a concerted effort to keep our circle projects local, but some of these other needs are just too desperate to ignore.
We collected over 300 pairs of new socks for distribution Christmas 2009. We’ve collected mounds of food for our local food pantries (i.e., collected 160 jars of peanut butter for one month’s meeting). We recently collected snacks for children being mentored after school hours by Salvation Army volunteers.
We collaborate with Project Hospitality, our community’s largest and diverse outreach organization, on a number of projects. In April of each year, we support Project Hospitality’s “Dining Out Against Hunger” evening. We go as a group to a participating restaurant and 20% of the monies spent go to Project Hospitality (homeless shelters, food pantry, mental health facilities). Each winter we collect gently-used coats which we turn over to Project Hospitality (a modest estimate would be at least 500 coats). The Staten Island Giving Circle was honored to receive the 2010 Project Hospitality Distinguished Community Service Award. We were also nominated by the “New York Post” for its Liberty Medal Award. And as founder of the Staten Island Giving Circle, in 2011 Evelyn Kormanik was awarded a free cruise to Mexico and Honduras, sponsored by Cabot Creameries, commonkindness.com, and "Ladies Home Journal" for her volunteerism. The cruise was adorned with nearly 60 community service winners. The trip generated new ideas, new connections, new friendships....and in the name of "good works." And most recently (September 2012), Evelyn (and her husband) boarded another cruise to Alaska as a "returning Celebrity Community Awards winner) and again represented the Giving Circle's volunteerism.
We made a contribution in 2010 to Women’s Victims services when they made a special plea in a newspaper article.
Each summer we host a huge outdoor Ice Cream Social as a fundraiser. The collection pot brims with nearly $1,000 each summer. The winners have donated to Cystic Fibrosis, The Salvation Army, the Avon Breast Walk, Coalition of Children in Need (Haiti), and a local scholarship foundation.
We have collaborated with the New York Blood Bank several times to boost the collection of blood in our community.
We welcome you to be a part of our Giving Circle and our Mission.
A large, on-going focus for us is to support a number of food pantries on Staten Island. We are a population of 460,000 and there are many, many people living on the fringe of hunger and homelessness.
The collections/donations for charities are the nucleus of our mission, but just as important are our “satellite” projects. We have had innumerable satellite initiatives; some are on-going, some are one-time projects.
On a bi-monthly on-going basis, our group has a team who goes to the children’s homeless shelter on Staten Island (Project Hospitality) and hosts birthday parties for the children celebrating birthdays in that two-month span. We have a generous donor who funds this initiative. We take a large sheet cake, beverages, snacks, games, and bags of gifts for the birthday boys and girls. Our leaders also take photographs to give to the mothers (which has proven to be a highlight of the parties). Many times these photographs are the only pictures the mothers have of their children.
Also, ongoing is our collection of used cell phones and eyeglasses. The cell phones are refurbished to dial “911”. Women living on the streets can use these phones in cases of emergencies. The eyeglasses are distributed by a large corporate group to people throughout the world.
We recently completed a "Lending Library" for the seniors at Canterbury House, a large senior citizen residence. We provided four large bookshelf units and they are full of books collected from our group.
In September 2012, we distributed over 300 filled back packs to children returning to school in the Stapleton neighborhood and Mt. Loretta neighborhood.
This will be our fourth year (2013) participating in an Operation Fairydust and/or Project Glam-type initiatives. We collect gently-used prom attire, have all the dresses/tuxes cleaned and the dry cleaner even alters the clothing to fit individual students looking to secure an outfit for his/her prom. Prom attire is very expensive and many students have to opt out of the prom activities if they can't afford the clothing. We collected 497 dresses in 2012. We are hoping to keep at least a major portion of the dresses on Staten Island for 2013 (to date they have been distributed in Manhattan for the other boroughs). We'd like to serve our children first.
In 2010, we had a local merchant donate 500 pairs of new shoes for children which we distributed among four worthy group recipients, and just recently the same merchant donated another 150 pairs of new shoes which we donated to the Stapleton community children.We also sent boxes with 200 pairs of new and used shoes and sandals to children living on the streets in the Philippines. Shoes also went to children in Iraq (delivered by our military) so those children could attend school.
We’ve sent Slippers to Sri Lanka, Denim to Detroit, baby supplies to Haiti, and clothing and shoes to underserved communities in Delaware County (NY) and Mississippi. We’ve provided handheld calculators and book bags to schools in New Jersey where they were desperately needed. We put together shoebox collections to be sent overseas for Christmas 2010 (Samaritan’s Purse). We make a concerted effort to keep our circle projects local, but some of these other needs are just too desperate to ignore.
We collected over 300 pairs of new socks for distribution Christmas 2009. We’ve collected mounds of food for our local food pantries (i.e., collected 160 jars of peanut butter for one month’s meeting). We recently collected snacks for children being mentored after school hours by Salvation Army volunteers.
We collaborate with Project Hospitality, our community’s largest and diverse outreach organization, on a number of projects. In April of each year, we support Project Hospitality’s “Dining Out Against Hunger” evening. We go as a group to a participating restaurant and 20% of the monies spent go to Project Hospitality (homeless shelters, food pantry, mental health facilities). Each winter we collect gently-used coats which we turn over to Project Hospitality (a modest estimate would be at least 500 coats). The Staten Island Giving Circle was honored to receive the 2010 Project Hospitality Distinguished Community Service Award. We were also nominated by the “New York Post” for its Liberty Medal Award. And as founder of the Staten Island Giving Circle, in 2011 Evelyn Kormanik was awarded a free cruise to Mexico and Honduras, sponsored by Cabot Creameries, commonkindness.com, and "Ladies Home Journal" for her volunteerism. The cruise was adorned with nearly 60 community service winners. The trip generated new ideas, new connections, new friendships....and in the name of "good works." And most recently (September 2012), Evelyn (and her husband) boarded another cruise to Alaska as a "returning Celebrity Community Awards winner) and again represented the Giving Circle's volunteerism.
We made a contribution in 2010 to Women’s Victims services when they made a special plea in a newspaper article.
Each summer we host a huge outdoor Ice Cream Social as a fundraiser. The collection pot brims with nearly $1,000 each summer. The winners have donated to Cystic Fibrosis, The Salvation Army, the Avon Breast Walk, Coalition of Children in Need (Haiti), and a local scholarship foundation.
We have collaborated with the New York Blood Bank several times to boost the collection of blood in our community.
We welcome you to be a part of our Giving Circle and our Mission.
|
|
*The Staten Island Giving Circle is now accepting donations through our website. Please be advised that we are not a 501(3)(c) organization simply because the paperwork would be voluminous trying to track $10 and $20 donations individually. You can, if you choose, earmark your donations for your charity of choice (for a raffle pull) or tell us simply to “add to general fund” for community outreach activities.