It’s the season of giving. Donate to any of these 21 Long Island nonprofit organizations to make a difference in the lives of Long Island’s most vulnerable residents.
Angels on Call
Mission: For more than two decades, Ginger Hoernig has been running Angels on Call every holiday season out of her Huntington Station home. She buys and takes donations of new children’s toys, and then has volunteers help wrap and deliver them to local children in need.
Need: New toys, volunteers to wrap Christmas gifts for children in need.
Contact Ginger at happyginge@aol.com.
Bethany House
Mission: Bethany House started as a small homeless shelter in Roosevelt responding to a growing homeless population in the late 1970s. It now operates five homes on Long Island and serves 85 people on a nightly basis. The organization provides women and children with the services they need to transition to permanent housing when they leave.
Need: Sheet sets, blankets, pillows, mattress protectors, comforter sets or bedspreads, cleaning supplies, paper products, instant oatmeal, cereal, juice boxes, fruit snacks, cookies, cake and brownie mixes, condiments, salad dressings, pasta, spaghetti sauce, Metro cards for bus transportation.
The Book Fairies
Mission: The Book Fairies is a Freeport-based nonprofit organization that collects and donates books and other reading materials to people in need throughout Long Island and New York City. Books are donated to children living in poverty.
Need: Books for all age groups, volunteers in several aspects of the organization, monetary donations
Center for Family Support
Mission: The Center for Family Support helps people who have developmental disabilities and their families with care coordination and support services. The organization serves Long Island, New York City, Westchester and New Jersey.
Need: Monetary donations
CARECEN Long Island
Mission: CARECEN protects Long Island’s immigrant population by providing families with the legal services they need to affirm their status in the country. The organization also offers a pathway to citizenship program and a child refugee unit for unaccompanied children resettling on Long Island.
Need: Monetary donations, volunteers, interns
Community Solidarity
Mission: Community Solidarity runs five weekly food distribution events for individuals and families struggling with food insecurity. The food share is strictly vegetarian. Locations are in Farmingville, Wyandanch, Hempstead, Huntington and Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Need: Vegetarian groceries, clothing, books, toys, school supplies, volunteers to sort and distribute food each week
Family & Children’s Association
Mission: FCA serves vulnerable communities on Long Island. Some of the organization’s focuses include drug addiction prevention, treatment and recovery services, mental health for children, family support, residential care and senior services.
Need: Monetary donations, volunteers
Helping Hands Rescue Mission
Mission: Helping Hand Rescue Mission, located on Broadway in Huntington Station, holds a year-round food pantry. Families in need can visit at certain times from Monday through Friday to pick up groceries. The group also holds special clothing, food and toy drives around the holiday season.
Need: (For toy drive) Unwrapped toys for kids ages 0-13, gift cards for kids ages 14 and up, volunteers to wrap toys. (For food pantry) Peanut butter and jelly, snack items, tomato products, canned soup, canned fruits and vegetables, cereal, juice boxes, water bottles, soaps and shower gels, cleaning supplies, diapers sizes 4-6, baby wipes
Hispanic Counseling Center
Mission: Hispanic Counseling Center works to provide mental health, family support, domestic violence and addiction recovery services to Long Island’s Latino residents. Their staff offers services for Hispanic individuals of all ages, including seniors.
Need: Monetary donations
Island Harvest
Mission: Linda Breitstone founded Island Harvest in 1992 to “end hunger and reduce food waste on Long Island.” Today, staff and volunteers collect food that would otherwise go to waste and deliver it to a network of Island Harvest pantries across Long Island.
Need: Food items, monetary donations, volunteers
Life’s WORC
Mission: Life’s WORC serves people who have autism and other disabilities through its Family Center for Autism and Trust Services, which assists with financial planning for adults with disabilities. Based in Garden City, the organization provides a variety of services for Long Islanders as well as residents of Queens and Manhattan.
Need: Monetary donations, volunteers
Long Island Against Domestic Violence
Mission: Long Island Against Domestic Violence has been a leader in assisting women in need of safe shelter since it started as the Long Island Women’s Coalition in 1976. Over the years, the organization has expanded its services to help people of all genders facing domestic violence find the support they need.
Need: Food and household items, monetary donations. Check the website for a shelter wish list.
Long Island Cares
Mission: Musician and social activist Harry Chapin founded LI Cares, the first Long Island-wide food bank, in 1980. The organization takes a comprehensive approach to hunger aid and partners with hundreds of community-based member affiliates to provide an array of services, from children’s nutrition to emergency recovery.
Need: Food items, monetary donations, car donations
Long Island Coalition for the Homeless
Mission: Tackling homelessness head-on is no easy task, and Long Island Coalition for the Homeless has been doing it since 1985. The organization coordinates services for homeless Long Islanders, all the while advocating for them and educating the public about homelessness.
Need: Blankets, backpacks, school supplies, winter coats, job interview clothing, monetary donations
Long Island Crisis Center
Mission: A member of the Suicide Prevention Coalition of Long Island, the Long Island Crisis Center runs a 24/7 crisis hotline. Volunteer counselors are always there to speak with anyone who is in crisis or feeling suicidal. It also offers educational and empowering programs and initiatives to engage people about mental health issues.
Need: Monetary donations, volunteers for 2021
Long Island State Veterans Home
Mission: Long Island State Veterans Home is a 350-bed nursing facility for veterans in need of rehabilitation, nursing care or adult day care services. It is located on the Stony Brook University campus.
Need: Monetary donations. Check the website for a wish list.
Veteranshome.stonybrookmedicine.edu
Mary Brennan INN
Mission: The Mary Brennan INN is a soup kitchen in Hempstead that has other INN locations in Long Beach, Freeport and Central Islip. It offers hot meals and additional support services for those facing food insecurity and/or homelessness.
Need: Meals for soup kitchen, food items, new clothing, holiday gifts for children, gift cards to local stores, kitchen and cleaning supplies, monetary donations
Maureen’s Haven
Mission: Maureen’s Haven is a homeless shelter in Riverhead that provides homeless outreach services to those in need on the East End of Long Island. Its programs also include an emergency winter shelter, a kids daycare center and summer weekend lunch program.
Need: Food items, personal hygiene items, clothing, monetary donations, volunteers
Smile Farms
Mission: Developmentally disabled adults find employment through Smile Farms, a nonprofit that started in 2015. The organization employs hundreds of people to garden and grow flowers and produce at its seven campuses on Long Island. Those products are sold in the local community, plus, having a job provides adults with special needs financial security, socialization, and fulfillment.
Need: Monetary donations
STRONG Youth
Mission: STRONG Youth works with at-risk youth and their families to prevent gang violence and other youth violence in the communities they serve. Based in Uniondale, staff and volunteers provide counseling and community programming.
Need: Monetary donations
United Way of Long Island
Mission: United Way of Long Island helps Long Islanders on their path to financial stability. The organization offers various income, education, health and workforce readiness programs.
Need: Monetary donations
Editor’s note: Life’s WORC was founded by Victoria Schneps-Yunis, founder of Schneps Media, the parent company of the Long Island Press.
-Compiled by Briana Bonfiglio
