After Black Friday and Cyber Monday, comes #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving. Spearheaded by New York’s 92 Y in partnership with the United Nations Foundation, #GivingTuesday encourages global charities, families, businesses, community centers, students, and others to take collective action to improve their communities, give back in better, smarter ways to the charities and causes they believe in, and help create a better world.
To celebrate #GivingTuesday, RAND would like to highlight The Floating Hospital's Candy Cane Lane, a unique toy drive event for New York City's homeless families. Each December, The Floating Hospital, New York City's largest provider of primary healthcare services to families living in shelters and domestic violence safe houses, transforms their health center in Long Island City into a winter wonderland full of new toys, books, and warm clothing that the children can pick from.
As a part of our RAND Gives Back initiative of charitable giving, RAND is proud to participate in this special holiday event and we invite anyone interested to join us in one or more of several ways:
Toy Drive
RAND is helping The Floating Hospital collect new toys, books, and clothing to fill Candy Cane Lane. We are accepting unwrapped donations at our office in Chelsea at 159 West 25th Street, Floor 12, which will be delivered to The Floating Hospital on December 4th.
Not near Long Island City or Chelsea? To make things easy, The Floating Hospital has created an Amazon Wish List. Gifts purchased through the list will be sent directly to The Floating Hospital. In addition, if you purchase the gifts through AmazonSmile, a percentage of your purchase goes to the Floating Hospital. Just select The Floating Hospital as your charitable organization and make sure you are logged in through smile.amazon.com.
Made With Love
A number of crafty knitters at RAND have been gathering together during lunch over the last couple of weeks to knit and crochet new scarves and hats for the children at Candy Cane Lane to pick from. We've collected donated yarn and needles, and our knitters have been teaching anyone interested in learning. To date we have nearly 35 scarves completed! New and newly knitted scarf and hat donations will also be accepted at our office until December 4.
Volunteer
This year, Candy Cane Lane runs from December 11 to December 20. RAND will be there to help out as the featured Spotlight Volunteer of the Day on December 18. The Floating Hospital is looking for additional volunteers to help direct families, unpack and restock donations, teach arts and crafts classes, and help find sizes for the children or help them pick out the perfect toy. If you'd like to help out and make the holidays extra special for these families, please contact Cynthia Davis, Director of Community Outreach, at 718-784-2240 ext. 273 or by email.
Donate
There are many ways to make a difference and support The Floating Hospital this holiday season and throughout the year. For more information or to make a donation, visit their website.
Isabelle Walsh is RAND's Office Manager and Human Resources Coordinator.
