The 25 year old program was started by New York magazine restaurant critic Gael Greene, who also got James Beard involved, and Citymeals on Wheels supports agencies that provide "weekend, holiday, emergency and weekday meals to homebound elderly New Yorkers who can no longer shop or cook for themselves." Greene told NY1, "How can I as a restaurant critic, eating the way I eat, living the life I live, accept that there are people on my block who don't have enough to eat?"
You can donate to Citymeals on Wheels. (Earlier this week, the NY Times had a feature about Citymeals on Wheels.) NY1 also noted that 400 volunteers from God's Love We Deliver were working to bring holiday meals to men, women and children with HIV, AIDS, cancer and other illnesses - here's more information about GLWD.
And if you haven't gotten around to donating in some way, big or small, this season, don't worry, there are always opportunities. For instance, you can still donate a coat through NY Cares Coat Drive until December 31. City Harvest's canned food drive ends in mid-January. And here are some more ways to volunteer, via the city's volunteer website, Volunteer NYC.
Giving on Christmas Day
Volunteering in the City
Oh, MUG, you remind us of a good point. We're smack in the middle of the holiday season. A time for diners and delis to play constant Christmas jingles (if we never hear about a reindeer again it will be too soon), a time to feel guilty about not being able to get friends/family the Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/Winter Solstice gift you know they would want (or worse, not having the slightest idea what they'd want). But that's just the tip of the iceberg. It is also as good a time as any to do some good for your community.
On the Plate: Upcoming Food and Wine Events
May 10: A Taste of the Good Life, Une Soirée en Provence
Mayor Bloomberg At Thanksgiving? NYers Say No
Hee hee. The latest Quinnipiac poll shows that 58% of NYers wouldn't want to have Thanksgiving with the Mayor. More numbers: Only 48% of white voters, 28% of black voters, and 32% of Hispanic voters would consider passing the cranberry sauce to Mayor Bloomberg. For our money, Gothamist would love to have Mayor Bloomberg over for dinner. We're sure he'd bring a very nice host/hostess gift, and what better what to deflect your family's questions about your personal life than having a billionaire mayor at the table?
Today's Food: Dine Around Downtown and Taste Of NY
Trying To Get NYC To Be Down With the RNC
Hmm. Gothamist certainly supports a notion of community, being a part of a New York we can be proud of, and volunteer work. But no way are we volunteering for the convention - we still have beef with the GOP for the whole cruise ship thing. Full page ads for NYC2004 are running in the city's newspapers (click the image above to see the full ad), and there will be outdoor ads as well. Gothamist does think this picture of an elephant trying to eat Ed Koch is pretty sweet. [Slightly related: Gothamist on Ed Koch's movie reviews.] The NY Times's Michael Slackman writes about the effort, "Mr. Bloomberg, a Republican who has been cautious about appearing too close to President Bush, and Mr. Koch, a Democrat who has endorsed Mr. Bush for re-election, sounded as if they were trying to persuade New Yorkers to behave when the Republicans come to town."
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