The Notre Dame Club Of New York

Coalition for the Homeless is the nation's oldest advocacy and direct service organization helping homeless men, women, and children. They are dedicated to the principle that decent shelter, sufficient food, affordable housing, and the chance to work for a living wage are fundamental rights in a civilized society. Since their inception in 1981, the Coalition has worked through litigation, public education, and direct services to ensure that these goals are realized.

Mary Brosnahan Sullivan, Executive Director at the Coalition for the Homeless, is a Notre Dame graduate (1983), and the 2002 winner of the prestigious Dr. Thomas A. Dooley Award, which is conferred annually on an alumnus/alumna (living or deceased) who has exhibited outstanding service to humankind. Ms. Brosnahan Sullivan has led the Coalition for the Homeless since 1990, increasing the organization's budget by $7 million and adding 72 members to its staff. The coalition serves more than 3,000 New Yorkers every day through food programs, a summer camp for homeless children, rental assistance and job readiness training.

More information can be found about the Coalition for the Homeless at its web site.

We currently participate in a mobile soup kitchen ride-along once per month throughout Manhattan, distributing soup, fruit, and bread to the homeless and hungry.

Habitat for Humanity International is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry.

Habitat seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world, and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. Habitat invites people of all backgrounds, races and religions to build houses together. Habitat has built more than 150,000 houses around the world, providing more than 750,000 people in more than 3,000 communities with safe, decent, affordable shelter. More information about Habitat can be found at its web site.

Our club participates in a local Habitat build about once per month, in which club volunteers construct houses in partnership with families in need. Additionally, we participate from time to time in fundraising activities for the local Habitat affiliate.

Volunteers at the University Soup Kitchen, Street Project's longest running activity, serve meals to men and women of all ages in a respectful "restaurant-style" environment.

Soup Kitchen is a great, fun way for busy people to lend a hand to the community while meeting other young professionals in the city. Lunch is served to between 300-400 individuals every Saturday at the Church of the Nativity on the Lower East Side.

The Lower East Side Girls Club is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing a place where girls ages 8 to 18 can grow, learn, have fun, and develop confidence in themselves and their ability to make a difference in the world.

We occasionally do work with the Girls Club by helping bake for their "Sweet Things" bakery, which is a mother-daughter baking company familiarizing girls and their mothers with the essentials of owning and operating a small business-and which is a lot of fun to participate in!

You can learn more about the Girls Club at its web site.

New York Cares is a local service organization which moblizes 3,000 volunteers each month to take part in a wide variety of flexibly scheduled, team-based projects that have a dramatic impact on the lives of New Yorkers in need.

We participate in some of New York Care's major events, such as their Spring Clean-Up Day, New York Cares Day, the Secret Santa Program, and the New York Cares Coat Drive.

More information on New York Cares can be found at its web site.

ND Alumni have partnered up with the "Central Park Green Team" to work with the manager of field programs and a group of volunteers to complete large-scale horticultural and maintenance projects throughout the Park.

The events take place on Saturdays (every other week) from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm

The ICSF provides funding to 87 elementary and 21 secondary schools in some of the poorest neighborhoods in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island. Support has helped ICSF schools increase the number of enrichment programs available to students, expand the accessibility to new technology in their classrooms, complete vital capital repairs in aging buildings, and most importantly, keep tuition low so that more deserving boys and girls can attend our schools. Below are some of our most popular programs:

Be A Student's Friend - Every year there are hundreds of children in our schools who are in danger of dropping out because tuition expenses have become unmanageable, often due to a family crisis such as death, disability or loss of employment. BASF sponsors are asked to contribute $2,200 per year for an elementary school student or $2,700 for a high school student. Through periodic updates, letters, report cards, and optional group events, sponsors can come to know the students and families personally or, if they prefer, remain anonymous.

Job Opportunities Program - Volunteers from a broad range of professions staff a series of Saturday workshops for high school juniors and seniors. These workshops educate students on various aspects of the work world - preparing them for job interviews and stressing the importance of first impressions, dress, speech, interview techniques, and resume writing. We do them once a month throughout the year (excluding the summer).

Student Sponsor Partners' mission is to provide as many of New York City's at-risk high school youth as possible with an opportunity to receive a quality non-public high school education, through the financial support and one-to-one guidance of a 4-year Sponsor.

In doing so, Student Sponsor Partners strives to help disadvantaged youths earn their high school diplomas, and thus makes a direct and meaningful impact on their lives.

Operation Fairy Dust was created in 2002 to provide NYC high school girls in need, with formal prom dresses. This gives them the ability to attend their prom with confidence, and an increased level of self-esteem. The prom is one of the largest social events of a teenager's high school years.

This rite of passage is expensive, and although most teens hope to attend the event, they are often unable to meet the costs to participate.

The ND Club has an annual team to walk/run the Race for the Cure to raise money to help this amazing organization who is dedicated to curing breast cancer at every stage - from the causes to the cures, to the pain and anxiety of every moment in between.