Date Archives → November 8, 2012

Introducing Catapult. Crowdfunding and Microfinance Combined

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What if you took the best of the web, combined it, and put the focus on helping women and girls? That is the challenge taken by Catapult, a new website that brings together crowdfunding and microfinance to help women and girls around the world. Launched (with exciting buzz) at the Clinton Global Initiative, Catapult is gaining momentum with both its early partners, supporters, press and new members.

Catapult was born from Women Deliver, a global advocacy organization that brings together voices from around the world to call for action to improve the health and well-being of girls and women. Women Deliver focuses on solutions by nonprofits, NGOs and voices from around the world. Catapult can do this through each and every one of us taking an action.

There are other platforms out there that speak just to microfinance or to crowdfunding. I know for me, when I am making a loan on Kiva, I specify that I want a project that supports women. However there wasn’t one place that only supported women and that went beyond microfinance for traditional businesses, home loans and educational loans but that also supported all of the ways women and girls in the developing world need our help. Also I would be willing to make my loan a donation, if only I was given the opportunity to do so.

Catapult also speaks to the growing need in nonprofits to showcase where our donation is going. Instead of making an unrestricted donation to an organization, donors want to know where their money is going and be able to track the progress of that initiative/campaign. Through Catapult they can.

Like Kiva and many other platforms, Catapult does not take a percentage of the donation. You can support them through an additional donation in check-out but 100% of your donation goes to the project you’re funding.

Here is their missions statement:

We all believe in a gender equal world.

Obviously.

But more than 500 million girls and women will be denied the opportunity to take part in the next generation’s development.

This doesn’t have to be the reality. Organizations working for girls and women currently raise less than half the average amount raised by other nonprofits and charities.

Catapult can change that.

We’re combining the financial power and actions of people like you to help tackle gender inequality around the world.

Join me, create an account, find a project you believe in, and help fund it. Spread the word. Help get these projects out into the world.

**Disclosure: Engender Health is a client and is one of the first organizations to launch projects on Catapult’s platform. But in all fairness, I knew about Catapult way before Engender Health was a client and that is just a happy by-product of being so involved and passionate in the women & girls network.

Our Honeymoon at a Dude Ranch in Colorado

What a hard decision! Taylor and I looked at a map of the whole world…THE WHOLE WORLD…and were faced with making a huge decision.

Where to go on our honeymoon.

Now of course, as two very experienced travelers, we had a few prerequisites that surfaced as we talked through every nook, cranny and crevice, or in this case every city, state and country. Our final decision? Black Mountain Ranch, a working dude and cattle ranch in the heart of Colorado. How in the world did we narrow down the whole world to one of most amazing places in the world? Keep reading!

1) We wanted a location in the United States. There are so many amazing things to see in the US and we both felt like while we had been all of the globe, there was more to see within our own country. We had just under a week after our wedding and we wanted to plan a bigger honeymoon for around the holidays so from a geographic perspective is also made sense not to go too far. Some might argue Pittsburgh to Colorado is far, but play along with me here. For us, it was just a quick plane ride away…plus a four hour drive from the Denver airport.

2) We wanted minimal decisions. Sometimes you go somewhere, like Paris, and you want to do a lot of research in advance, make reservations, wander around and get lost and have a map handy in case you need it. Those trip are great! I love to travel like that. But I also like to go someplace and have a “Club Med” version of a vacation, except for the Club Med part, I don’t like anything that feels “canned” or “stripped of cultural relevance.” If we’re in Colorado, we want to feel like we’re in Colorado! Back to minimal decisions. This is bliss to me: wake up, meals are pretty much pre-determined and the main thing you have to decide is which activity you are going to do that day. Given that we were planning a wedding, plus working, plus just having so much on our plates, we knew we wouldn’t have time to properly research anywhere and wanted to be able to pack, go somewhere, unpack and figure out the rest when we got there.

3) We wanted lot of outdoor activities. Yes, often vacations are about laying in the sun, doing a whole lot of nothing and eating lots of good food. I love doing that! For about 2 days. After that, I get a little restless. So does Taylor. Also I knew after the wedding weekend we would be mentally pretty tired and physically worn out, but we are really active people. If we were going somewhere for 6 days, we wanted it to be somewhere with lots of outdoor activities. Let the record show, the good part is non-negotiable.

4) We wanted to do something we’d never done before. We could have gone someplace tropical and gone snorkeling. Sure. That would have been really sweet. But we wanted an adventure! Something out of the box that would be way different. A dude ranch fits that criterion to a T. Horses, fishing, rafting, canoeing, shooting guns, playing pool, horseshoes, sleeping out under the stars, line dancing, learning to rope cattle, drinking beer from the bottle at 3pm…I mean if that all doesn’t sound like heaven, I don’t know what does. Best of all, I’d only done about 4 of those things ever before and of those 4, one of them I hadn’t tried in 10+ years. I mean it’s not every day you can have your OWN HORSE for a week and do pretty much whatever you want that includes cowboy boots. There isn’t one “coolest part” but if I had to pick, I would definitely say living as a cowgirl (outfit and all) for the week is up there.

Bonus Points: Referral from a friend. Let’s face it. A good friend telling you someplace or something or somewhere is amazing carries much more weight than not having any social context at all. That is why we all read reviews but it’s also why so much happens via word of mouth marketing. Our good friend Andrew Hyde had lived at Black Mountain Ranch last summer. He blogged about it and he included it in a chapter in his book, This Book Is About Travel.

With all of these things in mind, where in the world would you go?

I’m re-posting my review on Trip Advisor and Yelp below. If you’re interested in going to Black Mountain Ranch next summer, just let them know (honeymoon or otherwise). I’m happy to make an intro too and/or give you more information, hit me up! You can also email the Ranch directly at howdy@blackmtnranch.com.

What an amazing vacation! My (new) husband and I chose Black Mountain Ranch for our honeymoon. It might seem a bit crazy to spend your honeymoon on a Dude Ranch but it was exactly what we were looking for and I can’t recommend it enough!

During our week on the Ranch we met families and independent travelers – the Ranch can handle any group of travelers, all you have to do is bring your adventurous spirit.

The staff are so warm and truly lovely. They are great with kids, great with adults who are kids at heart and great with adjusting city folks to life on a working cattle ranch.

The setting could not be more stunning. Every day you’re surrounded by horses and landscapes as far as the eye can see. Your daily schedule is really up to you! Trail riding, arena riding, a trip to the shooting range, learning to rope, playing horseshoes, shooting pool, take a swim in the pool, go rafting, fishing, canoeing…see what I mean!

One night dinner is served at the lake, you ride there and back. One night everyone sleeps out at Pack Camp, and you ride back the next day. You pick the difficulty of your ride (easy, medium, hard) and once you arrive at Pack Camp your tent is set up and hot food is waiting for you. Plus campfire songs and the most beautiful night sky and stars you could ever imagine.

The food is so delicious with lots of options for your whole family. Breakfast and lunch are buffet-style and most days you order breakfast at dinner from a few options. Plus endless cookies on hand fresh-baked daily.

I love vacations like this – limited decisions! All you have to do is pick a few things every day and the rest is taken care of.

Your wrangler is your guide for the week but anyone on the property will help you with questions and everyone has skills they’re really great at and willing to share their tips and tricks from practicing roping to learning to Texas 2-step in the saloon in the evenings. Kids included!

Your horse is your best friend for the week. You’ll be shocked at how much more comfortable you feel on a hose by the end of the week. This goes for both experienced and non-experienced riders.

Not having a cell phone was a blessing and we didn’t miss it one bit. What a treat to really be on vacation and not be attached to your phone. There is limited wifi, but we didn’t use it and didn’t miss that either. There are of course phones on the property and ways to check back in with work/family if you have to.

Towards the end of the week, I mentioned to some of the families that I was surprised not to see one single kid meltdown or anyone not smiling all the time – the parents all agreed that since there were endless options and activities the kids were always occupied and that left everyone happy and tired at the end of the day. Same goes for adults!

As for us, it was a really romantic trip. We had tons of time to spend alone in the wilderness but also time to get to know some really cool families and some amazing staff, cowboys, cowgirls and wranglers.

Thank you to the May Family at Black Mountain Ranch for over 20 years of service. It was absolutely a vacation we’ll never forget and will be telling friends about for years and years to come.

Our Destination Wedding In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Recently, as many of you know, Taylor and I got married. We chose to get married in Pittsburgh, where my family is from and where most of them still live. Taylor also went to business school there so he spent a good two years in Pittsburgh and has many good memories there. So we picked Pittsburgh. A lot of people stop there when they think about the city they are getting married in. And then they turn their focus on the wedding itself and any other events around their wedding.

That’s totally ok! There are a lot of moving pieces around a wedding. I get it. But for Taylor and I, we really wanted to treat Pittsburgh as a destination. As a destination wedding.

Partially this was a nod to my upbringing but it was more than that. I have talked my whole life about how great Pittsburgh is but many of my friends had never been. Or, they had a misconception about Pittsburgh. We wanted to show them how diverse Pittsburgh is and how much it has to offer. We wanted to show the cultural history, the green spaces, the food. We wanted to use this as an opportunity to do our part to infuse money into the economy. We wanted to be good cultural ambassadors. So you might ask…

Pittsburgh as a destination? What? How?

You heard me! And let me fast forward to the end of this story.  It worked. We pulled it off. How? Let me tell you.

First, we wanted to focus on the part of Pittsburgh where my family is from, the East End. So we chose a hotel near that area and most of the weekend activities were centered around that. We had a “welcome reception” Friday night and invited all guests to attend. That way people could meet up and find buddies to do things with on Saturday before the wedding.

Second, we leveraged technology. Not everyone has to do it to the extent we did, scale it to what works for you. For us we built a list on foursquare of our favorite places and told our guests to follow it. We built Pittsburgh into all of our pre-wedding communication (weekly MailChimp enewsletters for us but you could use anything). We customized our wedding website. We created a hashtag for our wedding that guests could follow on Twitter and that way they could also meet up with each other and find out what each other was up to. (Our was #STWedding).

Note: We changed the website after the wedding to show photos and took out event information so if you click through, it’s different than it was but the Pittsburgh parts are the same.

Third, we built a Pittsburgh page on our wedding website. It reads like a NYTimes “36 Hours In Pittsburgh” but has our voice, our favorites and is written for different audiences (athletic, culture, foodies, etc). We also talked about transportation and provided information on public transportation and taxi numbers so guests could figure out how to get from point A to point B and didn’t feel like they had to rent a car (even though a few did and that worked out great too)!

Note: This was also a nod to our NOLAlicious roots, so the format is one that matches our New Orleans newsletter of 2010 and is a big part of how we first became friends.

Fourth, and maybe the most important, we encouraged our guests (many of whom didn’t know each other and were in Pittsburgh for the first time) to meet up and do things together. So the wedding became a chance to explore a city we love and a place we really wanted everyone to see. The wedding was the culmination of the weekend and the lynchpin, but Pittsburgh was the backdrop and we wanted everyone to be able to experience it and love it as we do.

Fifth, we got out of the way! I knew once the weekend kicked into gear that we would be out of pocket. All of this information was communicated well in advance. I actually was jealous when I heard about how all of our friends did just about EVERYTHING Pittsburgh had to offer and I didn’t get to do it with them. But I knew I couldn’t play along, I had to get ready for the big day! So I let everyone else go and do their thing.

If you’re planning a wedding, in Pittsburgh or anywhere else, I encourage you to think about ways to build the backdrop into your wedding. Create the space for your guests to really enjoy the location. Many of them have traveled a good distance for you and your significant other, so let them enjoy the place you choose and enjoy getting to know each other. It makes the wedding all the more special when people leave at the end of the weekend with new friends, strengthened connections and good memories of where they’ve been.

For Pittsburgh, here are our recommendations…go out and explore! Let me know how it goes!

Go

Expand your mind… at the Andy Warhol Museum and the Mattress Factory. The Andy Warhol Museum is a great place to explore Warhol’s work in the town of his birth, and the Mattress Factory currently has a Yayoi Kusama exhibit, a can’t miss.

Get educated… by walking around the University of Pittsburgh (you’ll see the Cathedral of Learning, the second tallest university building in the world, from various spots around town) and Carnegie Mellon University. Taylor went to school at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, if you’re interested in seeing where Taylor spent 2 years!

Wander… The Strip District, the original economic center of Pittsburgh, now a historic market district that is especially alive on weekend days.

Explore… the Southside Slopes, home to over 700 sets of staircases, more than San Francisco.

Do

Shop… on Walnut Street in Shadyside, home to boutiques, bars, and a mix of long-time Pittsburgh shops and new chains, all tucked into one of Pittsburgh’s best neighborhoods.

Shop, eat and drink at The Waterfront and Southside Works, former homes of the steel mills that gave Pittsburgh it’s name, heritage, and soul. Go for a drink, a movie, dinner, or shopping.

Yoga… at Amazing Yoga in Shadyside.

Run… in Schenley Park or Frick Park. Frick Park has a couple great playground for kids and plenty of green space and woods for playing, walking, and running.

Eat

Breakfast… at Pamela’s Diner in Shadyside. Known for their chocolate chip and banana pancakes, but everything is good.

Indulge… at Primanti Brothers, a Pittsburgh institution, known for hearty sandwiches with fries and coleslaw on the sandwich. Bring your appetite, and prepare to walk off the impending food coma.

Return to your university days… at The “O” near University of Pittsburgh (properly known at Essie’s Original Hot Dog Shop) for a hot dog and fries.

A slice of pizza… from Aiello’s Pizza in Squirrel Hill. Best pizza in Pittsburgh, according to Sloane.

Get a drink… at William Penn Tavern in the heart of Shadyside.

See

The view and the sunset… from Mount Washington. The view from Grandview Promenade and Mount Washington Lookoutis one of the best of the city. Take a ride up the Duquesne Incline ($4.50 round-trip, exact change) and enjoy the views from one of the most scenic commutes you’ll ever see.

A football game… at Heinz Field, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Pittsburgh Panthers (college football). The Steelers are playing an exhibition game on Sunday, Aug 19th (click here for tickets), stay for a game!

Lagniappe

A day trip outside Pittsburgh… to Fallingwater. 50 miles outside Pittsburgh, Fallingwater was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and is a national architectual landmark for its style, design, and construction.

Note: Tickets for Fallingwater must be bought in advance for a specific day and time. Time fill up, so definitely plan in advance. Check for tickets here, and all details are at Fallingwater.org. If you’re thinking of going on Saturday, make sure to plan for the 1.5 hours drive each way.

Introducing Resolve Network

“There is a saying, ‘together people are strong.’ We could not have achieved this success alone, because working in isolation, it weakens you. What one woman alone could not do, we can achieve together”   – Mapendo

I first met the Founder of the Resolve Network, Vijaya Thakur, at a Kiva event two years ago. It was just one of those things. We clicked instantly. I was so inspired by her story, her energy, frankly her resolve. We talked about microfinance and women’s issues and how those issues changed in different parts of the world.

We stayed in touch and our relationship took a turn towards true friendship when we took a 8-week OpEd Project workshop together in 2011. I continued to look at the work Vijaya was doing at Resolve and looked to get more involved in her growing organization by offering tips, advice and counsel.

It is with great joy and truly an honor that I can share with everyone that I have officially joined Resolve Network’s Board of Advisors. I will act as an advisor on a range of topics but will focus my attention on social media, online fundraising, increasing donor engagement and expanding Resolve’s digital toolbox. It’s now my turn to reach out to some friends for advice and counsel as I join the amazing team, Board of Directors and other Advisors to help grow and scale Resolve’s work in the Congo and soon in other countries as well.

If you’d like to learn more, read below! You can also make a donation HERE.

More about Resolve:

Resolve Network builds peace from the ground up, empowering those most affected by chronic and systematic conflict: women. Through our work with women in Eastern Congo, Resolve reconstructs how peace is achieved and fosters creative and self-sustaining solutions. Our programs focus on developing comprehensive and dynamic networks of support for women peace makers, affirming their agency to enact their own visions of peace.

In the last year, we: 

› Launched 10 village microfinance cooperatives.

› Empowered 500 people to rise out of extreme global poverty.

We multiply our impact when we unite. The women of our program matched you step-by-step. As their businesses became profitable, they joined together to organize community building projects so: 

› 1,500 farmers grew more food and better fed 15,000 people thanks to a sustainable irrigation program.

› 20,000 people gained safe access to clean drinking water

› 30,000 at-risk people gained access to safe latrines, cutting their risk for cholera by 80%.

I personally believe it’s so important to support these small organizations that are nimble, cost-conscious and dedicated to helping people directly on the ground – minus the red tape. I am really looking forward to being part of this movement in a more dedicated way moving into 2013.

Hurricane Sandy Volunteer Opportunities

It’s Friday which means it’s been over four days since lower Manhattan had power. At last count 730,000 New Yorkers were without power and that’s just around New York but doesn’t include New Jersey, Rhode Island or the other states that were affected by Hurricane Sandy.

I have been looking for volunteer opportunities and found quite a few across the web but not everything one place. So I have pulled below lots of different ways to help. If you know of more leave them in the comments or I’ll keep adding to this as recovery goes on.

From the office of the Public Advocate. Sign up for updates HERE.

Brooklyn

  • Friday, November 2, 12pm-4pm: Help us go door to door and distribute information to small business owners about filing for federal disaster aid in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. Space is limited, please RSVP to esharp@pubadvocate.nyc.gov
  • Friday, November 2, 12 pm-4 pm: Help us go door to door to distribute information to homeowners about filing for federal disaster aid in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn. Space is limited, please RSVP to esharp@pubadvocate.nyc.gov

Queens

  • Friday, November 2 through Sunday, November 4, 10am-8pm: Drop off canned foods, clothes, and cleanup supplies at 8000 Cooper Avenue (the former Borders Bookstore site). For questions about the donation drive, please call Council Member Elizabeth Crowley’s office at 718-366-3900.
  • Friday, November 2 through Sunday, November 4, 10am-8pm: Drop off canned foods, and men’s, women’s and children’s coats, and blankets at 83-91 Woodhaven Boulevard, Woodhaven, NY 11421. For questions about the donation drive, please call Assemblyman Mike Miller’s office at 718-805-0950.
  • Friday, November 2 through Saturday, November 3, 10am-1pm: Click here to volunteer in Brookville Park or Baisley Pond Park with clean-up efforts.
  • Friday, November 2, 12pm-4pm: Help us go door to door and distribute information to small business owners about filing for federal disaster aid in Jamaica, Queens. Meet at the office of Councilman Ruben Wills, 95-26 Sutphin Boulevard in Jamaica. Space is limited, please RSVP towgardiner@pubadvocate.nyc.gov

Manhattan

  • Friday, November 2 through Sunday, November 4, 10am-1pm: Click here to sign up to volunteer with clean-up efforts in Happy Warrior Playground, Annunciation Park, Carl Schurz Park, Anne Loftus Playground (at Fort Tryon Park), Randall’s Island (Friday and Saturday only) or Hudson River Park (Friday only).
  • Friday, November 2, shifts starting at 10am, 12pm and 2pm: Operation Water Bottle, initiated by Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, is helping deliver water to Chinatown using Dance New Amsterdam (280 Broadway, entrance at 53 Chambers Street) as a staging area to fill up empty water bottles. While the Department of Environmental Protection has opened the fire hydrants for water use there are many who don’t have access to refillable bottles or don’t have easy access to the hydrants. De Blasio’s team has thousands of empty water bottles they are filling up at DNA and delivering to residents. Space is limited, please RSVP to jmerritt@pubadvocate.nyc.gov

Bronx

  • Friday, November 2, 9 am-3 pm: New York Blood Center Emergency Blood Drive at the Bronx County Building, 851 Grand Concourse-Veterans Memorial Hall, 1st Floor Rotunda
  • Friday, November 2 – Sunday, November 4, 10 am-1 pm: Click here to volunteer with clean-up efforts in Van Cortlandt Park or Orchard Beach.

Here is a summary of where you are needed on the Lower East Side today:

  • GOLES, 171 Ave B between 10th & 11th St Friday & Saturday between 12-6 pm Knocking on doors to distribute supplies, calling members to make sure they’re ok, posting information, coordinating, etc.
  • CAAAV, 46 Hester St Friday 10 am-5 pm Knocking on doors to distribute supplies and information.
  • Help the Smith Apartments, 46 Madison St Friday 10 am- 5 pm Bringing water, food and information to elderly residents stuck in their apartments.
  • Henry Street Settlement, 265 Henry St Friday, 10:45 Distributing food to the elderly population
These are all drop-off centers if you have food, water, generators, etc.

Astoria (items dropped in Astoria will be delivered to the Rockaways)

Location 1: 23-74 38th Street (closed for the night, MIGHT reopen tomorrow, please check back here for updates) Contact Leni: (347) 762-1648

Location 2: 33-33 87th St btw Northern Blvd and 34th Ave (closes 9pm) Contact Neha: (917) 392-9708

Chinatown (open Nov 1, 10am-5pm) CAAAV 46 Hester St Frnt A (212) 473-6485 justice@caaav.org - email provided, but best to just show up to help or bring supplies!

Specific Requests in Chinatown: Water bottles C, D, AA, AAA batteries (and one 9 volt battery) Food (hot at lunch, non-perishable/bread/cookies) Some bottles of Ensure (Glucerna shake) for the elderly, vitamins for the elderly Generator (for shelter at 350 Grand St, Seward Park High School)

Rockaway and Far Rockaway Location 1: Firehouse on 59th street across from the train station. contact person: Jean Dupont9179755623

Location 2: Veggie Island 96th Street and Rockaway Beach Blvd.

Location 3: Store Front Community Center B113 and Rockaway Blvd

Specific Requests in Rockaway and Far Rockaway (starred ones are most urgent): * Propane grille or camping style oven * Plates, cups, forks, bowls, spoons, etc * blankets, jackets, gloves, hats, anything to keep folks warm * cleaning supplies – buckets, squeegies, mops, bleach * masks, gloves for cleaning * socks * water * tarps * garbage bags boots electric stove gas stove satellite phones big paper, tape, markers pens, paper, notepads generators pumps camping tables gasoline gasoline containers percolator fire extinguishers walkie talkies i9 tablets projector/illuminator

Fort Green/Clinton Hill 45 Waverly Avenue just off of Park Ave in Fort Green/Clinton Hill (Hours for Nov 1: 10am-6pm)

Park Slope New Hope Church 120/122 16th St btw 4th and 5th ave Contact: Pastor Craig: (718) 768-5275

Red Hook The Red Hook Initiative 767 Hicks Street Contact: Mariya (347) 770-1528 (but please just show up!)

Specific Requests in Redhook: (Will be updated at redhook.recovers.org prepared food (including food for children) batteries flashlights power strips toiletries (including toilet paper and paper towels) utensils such as spoons and bowls jugs of water

Bay Ridge Residence 9108 Colonial Rd. Brooklyn 11209 #E9

Sunset Park St. Jacobi Church 5406 4th Ave Contact: Ronnie 646-353-5194

Specific Requests in Sunset Park: steamtable foil pans full or half size w lids blankets cleaning supplies tin foil saran wrap

Williamsburg (starting Nov 1, 10am) Residence 306 Leonard St, apt J1 (btwn Conselyea and Metropolitan) Contact: Jennifer (917) 586-4153

Bed-stuy Residence 136 Jefferson Ave, apt 2 11216

East Billyburg (Beginning Thursday Nov 1 at 12 noon) House of Yes 342 Maujer st Contact: Kae Burke (525)217-7209

Downtown Brooklyn NYCC 2-4 Nevins Street, 2nd Floor

Harlem Location 1: Residence 47 saint nicholas avenue #4d btw 112 and 113

Location 2: Residence 938 st Nicholas ave # 25 at corner of 157th and st Nicholas ave.

Lower East Side

Location 1 The Bowery Mission 45-51 Ave D 212-777-3424 contact: Claude Nelson or any “operations manager” on duty. they’re open 24/7 and in need of prepared foods, a generator and anything else you can offer.

Location 2 (open 11/1 3pm-6pm and 11/2 12pm-6pm) Goles 169 Ave. B btwn 10th and 11th

Specific Requests at Lower East Side: Generator (Requested at Bowery) Prepared Foods (Requested at Bowery) flashlights (Requested at GOLES) batteries (AA, AAA, D) (Requested at GOLES) non perishable food (Requested at GOLES) candles (Requested at GOLES) first aid kits (Requested at GOLES) vehicles or bikes with trailers (to bring supplies around) (Requested at GOLES)

Upper East Side (drop off center for Rockaway/Breezy Point/Broad Channel donations) Saloon York Ave between 83rd and 84th.

From Stephanie Diamond’s Listing Project:

From New York Tech MeetUp and Gary’s Guide:

Here are a few ways you can get involved in the recovery process …… 

https://lowereastside.recovers.org/

https://redhook.recovers.org/

https://astoria.recovers.org/

Hurrican Hacker is also doing a great job of connecting people online: http://www.hurricanehackers.com/

The Red Cross expects this to be a large and costly relief response across several states, one that continues for several days, and they need your help now as they work on opening up and maintaining many shelters for those who were forced to evacuate their homes. So donate to or volunteer for the Red Cross.

There are a few recovery organizing sites that allow people to offer/request assistance, and are coordinated by the folks at Occupy NYC and community organizations on the ground including Lower East Side Recovers and Astoria Recovers, Red Hook Recovers and Staten Island Recovers.

You can sign up to volunteer at the NYC Public Advocate’s Office.

Craig Newmark of Craigslist and CraigConnects is matching the next $25K in donations to help Hurricane Sandy relief efforts and United Airlines Foundation will contribute upto $50,000 to match donations to the American Red Cross, Feeding America or AmeriCares.

You can also donate blood via the NY Blood Center.

And the NY Tech Meetup and New Work City are organizing volunteers with technology skills to help with relief efforts and help New York-area businesses and organizations get their technology back up and running after Hurricane Sandy. Here is the signup form.

Us New Yorkers are a resilient lot and together we’ll get through this!

Update (1:23pm)

Thanks Jessica Kirkwood for these additions from NYC Serve:

Do you want to Donate?

Those who wish to give cash donations to assist New Yorkers suffered damage from Hurricane Sandy visit the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City.

Those who wish to donate goods and services should visit Aidmatrix.

Do you want to Volunteer?

Those who wish to volunteer in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy click here. As opportunities arise we will contact you.

New York needs your BLANK

Many of New York City’s parks and playgrounds were impacted by Hurricane Sandy. If you would like to volunteer with the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation to aid in clean up and recovery, please review the list of parks and playgrounds below that are in need of assistance this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Click the links below to sign up in your borough and be sure to check back for updates on other parks in need of volunteers!

Bronx
Pelham Bay Nature Center
Van Cortlandt Park
Click here to volunteer in the Bronx

Queens
Brookville Park
Baisley Pond Park
Click here to volunteer in Queens

Manhattan
Annunciation Park
Anne Loftus Playground
Click here to volunteer in Manhattan

From Reena De Asis

@FoodBank4NYC Community Kitchen & Pantry, 252 W. 116th St., open now w/ emergency pantry bags & will serve meals 2-4pm #sandy