Below is a list of opportunities for us to answer His call, to rise to His challenge; Get out and live our faith!

“Our faith calls us to work for justice; to serve those in need; to pursue peace; and to defend the life, dignity, and rights of all our sisters and brothers. This is the call of Jesus, the challenge of the prophets, and the living tradition of our Church.”

CHIPS (Christian Help In Park Slope)
Chipsonline.org
200 Fourth Avenue
718.237.2962
• Clothing Drive
--We accept clothes Monday through Friday from 8 A.M. to 3 P.M. except during the weeks of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Our drop off center is located at: 200 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn. Only bring clothes for the season. (No shorts in winter, please!)
-- We always need the following for Men and Women: jeans, pants, shirts, coats, sweaters, sneakers, boots and practical shoes.
• Soup Kitchen
--The daytime soup kitchen is open Monday through Saturday from 11:30A.M. to 1:30 P.M.
• Women’s Shelter
--Volunteers contact the Director, Sister Mary Maloney 718.237.2962
--Frances Residency Program for women and their children: The goal of the Frances' Residency program is to provide mothers with a safe, healthy and wholesome environment in which to nurture newborns and young toddlers, free from the violence and insecurities of the street. The program empowers mothers to take charge of their lives and the lives of their children.

Fifth Avenue Committee
Fifthave.org
141 Fifth Avenue
Contact: FAC-Activist Organizer Rosemarie Maldonado,
             718-857-2990 ext.48
• Community Organizing Committee
--Informational outreach: writing letters to the editors, tabling, distributing flyers & postcards
--Organizing for rallies and contacting politicians
--Planning next steps and strategies
• Community Economic Development Committee
--FAC is establishing community businesses to create job opportunities and operating skills training programs to enhance the ability of low-income persons to find living-wage jobs. This committee needs volunteers who can offer:
--Time, to help market FAC businesses throughout the community
Ideas, or expertise in finances or marketing, to help plan new enterprises
Interest and expertise in planning new training programs and expanding existing ones
• Affordable Housing Committee
Participate in establishing our affordable housing strategy by:
-- Helping identify priorities for new housing development work
--Conducting outreach and do media work to inform area residents about FAC developments
--Working with tenant/cooperative associations in FAC-managed buildings as needed
• Criminal Justice Reform
--We believe that the criminal justice system must be changed structurally- away from incarceration that provides little or no opportunity for human development, toward an approach that provides support and investment to our community and its people
Darryl P. King, Director (718-857-2990 x56)
Julian Brown, Assistant Director (x34)
Edward-Yemil Rosario, Case Manager (x47)
Kym Clark, Criminal Justice Organizer (x41)
• Other Opportunities
--Be an "Economic Empowerment" volunteer: Can you give one night per month to help people find work, prepare resumes or access job training and/or childcare?
--Help individuals become citizens or register to vote
--Volunteer in the Office and for FAC events! It’s easy, social, fun and extraordinarily helpful!
--Prepare mailings to the community
--Organize the FAC resource library
--Help with spring gardening, decorating our office/FAC-housing, or murals
--Staff the FAC table at the Fifth Avenue Fair!
--Help plan FAC picnics!
Methodist Hospital
Department of Volunteer Resources, 718.780.5397
• Commit to no less than four hours a week

Saint Augustine Catholic Church
116 Sixth Avenue
718.783.3132
• Advocates for the Disabled
Facilitator: Marge Miller
-- The goal of our Advocates for the Disabled is to be especially aware of the needs of people with disabilities within our parish. We help sensitize people to the needs and gifts of the people with disabilities.

• Helping Hands Food Pantry
Coordinators: Erin and Eric Stievater, 718.369.6021
--Volunteers from St. Augustine's Parish began The Helping Hands Food Pantry in 1993. Each Saturday we provide clients with an emergency supply of food that is meant to provide three meals for three days

• H.O.P.E. (Healing Ourselves and People Everywhere)
Coordinator: Kevin Cooper
--Begun in 1993, the H.O.P.E. dinners provide a monthly meal and fellowship for people with HIV/AIDS and their caregivers. The dinners are open to people of all faiths and uncertain faith, and offer a warm atmosphere in which to socialize, have a delicious meal, and find spiritual nourishment through prayer, music and reflection

• Shelter for Homeless Women
Coordinator: Joe Byrnes
--St. Augustine's Church is operating a shelter for homeless women at the Fr. Dempsey Center (Park Place at 6th Avenue) in Park Slope. We would like you to consider spending one night a month at the shelter. A one-to-one approach of Christian love. We offer security, dignity, love and rest. This may be the only time during the day when they are treated like a human being and can be included in our family. It is a faith shelter and not a dormitory.

• Pax Christi
Facilitator: Rosemary Palms, 718.638.7365
--Pax Christi recognizes violence in the world and in ourselves. Our approach is to counter violence through prayer, study, and action. Meeting Time/Place: We meet the second Thursday of each month.

• Golden Age Committee
Facilitator/Coordinator: Evangelista Sanchez
--There was a need to have a parish senior citizens group. Volunteer teachers for crafts are needed for knitting, crocheting, etc. Meeting Time/Place: 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month, from 1:30 - 3:30 PM, at the Fr. Dempsey Center, 61 Park Place

• Habitat for Humanity
Contact person: Marge Miller - Please leave message at rectory
--Habitat for Humanity "seeks to end poverty housing worldwide. An ecumenical Christian housing ministry, Habitat works in partnership with people in need to build simple, decent, healthy houses. A number of parishioners from St. Augustine's share their 'time, talent, and treasure' with the building of the homes for Habitat families here in Brooklyn. There's a lot going on for whenever anyone feels called to join in on the fun.

• Hospice of NY
Director of Volunteers: Angela Purpura (718.472.1999)
-- Keep Hospice clients company; chat with them, read to them, etc.

New York Youth at Risk
Contact number: 212.791.4927
• Youth at Risk Mentoring Programs:
1) Woman to Woman - Teen Moms: program assisting parenting moms ages 14 to 19
2) Martin Luther King High School World Leaders: assisting young men in the 9th and 10th grade
3) Warrior's Way: assisting younger boys in the 6th and 7th grade who are raised in a single parent household, the father being absent

Catholic Charities, Brooklyn & Queens
Robert Commiso, 718.722.6015

If you know of any additions to this list, please send us an e-mail, and place “Volunteer Opportunities” in the subject line.