| January | February | March | April | May | June |
| July | August | September | October | November | December |
| January | ||
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February
Our 12th Annual Sleeping Bag-a-Thon was held on February 6, 2010 : Come volunteer at our Annual Sleeping Bag-A-Thon! FYI's Sleeping Bag-A-Thon is an annual event where we invite members of the community of Washington Heights and other organizations to spend the day working on one of our staple projects: making sleeping bags from scratch for the homeless. It is very important for FYI to host this type of event along side young people as it brings the community together, serves as a youth development tool by offering FYI veterans an opportunity to play a leadership role, and helps keep the FYI spirit alive. Our 11th Annual Sleeping Bag-a-Thon was held on Saturday, February 7, 2009 |
Look at our 2010 Flyer (.pdf)
View the pictures from Sleeping Bag-A-Thon 2009 View the pictures from Sleeping Bag-a-Thon 2010 |
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Important Date: February 6, 2010
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March
Read Across America Read Across America is a project of the National Education Association. Every year, on March 2nd (the birthday of the late great Dr. Seuss) children and adults all over the nation celebrate the importance and fun of reading. For the past five years, FYI has hosted an afternoon of literacy reach activities. Activities include reading to elementary school aged children, distributing books to children and adults in our community and creating writing activities that are then shared with our neighbors. Get involved by donating new or in excellent condition books |
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Important Date: March 2, 2010
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April
Youth Leader Gettaway Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day In addition to promoting community involvement, one of our goals is to provide a range of growth experiences for these enthusiastic youth, both inside and outside the neighborhood. One such experience is the annual Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day, organized by the Ms. Foundation for Women. On this day, thousands of young men and women explore future career possibilities by attending the worksite of a parent or other adult mentor. If you are a professional man or woman and would like to consider becoming a host for Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day 2010, please contact us: (212) 781-1113 Hosting involves introducing a young man or woman to your job, having him/her shadow you for the day, providing lunch, and inviting him/her to help you with your work. Because arranging transportation for just one youth may be difficult, it would be helpful if you could ask a co-worker to see if they could join you in hosting two or more FYI participants. Check to see if your company has something already planned, many companies plan special group activities on Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. |
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Important Date: April 22, 2010 |
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May
Annual Spring Clean Up - Service Saturday For the past five years, during the first part of May, FYI has held a Spring Clean Up. This event, open to participants of our organization, concentrates on activities that benefit our immediate neighborhood. Clean ups of our local parks, removing graffiti from our mailboxes and working in our community garden are examples of the kinds of projects we do on this day. After a morning of volunteering, we have a picnic lunch complete with a three-legged race and ants. Get involved by donating supplies. Community Action Heroes Award Ceremony Our Community Action Heroes Award Ceremony was held on May 10, 2007. 2007 honorees were: Fern Hertzberg, Arc Ft. Washington Senior Center; Carol Strauss, Travel Four; and FYI's Graduating Seniors : Angela Abreu, Gena Heyward, Joffre Peralta, Rachel Alvarado, Ruben Perez, & Ziandry Peralta. Thank you for your support. Our Community Action Heroes Award Ceremony # 2 was held on May 29, 2008. 2008 honorees were Sarah Margridge, Tony Lopez, Sandra, and FYI's Graduating Seniors: Alexis Canela and Yampiero Polanco. Thank you for your support. Camp Scatico- 3-Day Short Stay Around May to June, participants during the winter-spring year are eligible to take a break for three days and two nights at Camp Scatico. This year the trip date is TBA. Participants must make up enough hours to be invited along for the retreat. www.scatico.com |
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Important Date: Scatico 2010 TBA
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June
Community Presentations After a long and busy program year, we take the time to recognize those young people and adults who make our work possible. Community Presentations is an awards ceremony, where we give out plaques, certificates, gear, etc. to those who, "take responsibility for things that matter." |
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July to August
Summer of Service Daycamp Scatico Summer Retreat Summer Youth Employment During the summer months, FYI takes a break from events to run its community service summer day camp and to prepare for our fall events. Scatico Summer Retreat, FYI's end-of-summer retreat to Camp Scatico will celebrate another summer of serious fun. Twenty-nine participants and seven staff will spend three nights having fun, reflecting on the summer's achievements, and preparing for the upcoming program year. As always, FYI is so lucky to have friends like David Fleishner & Diana Wallerstein who have hosted FYI retreats for many years. |
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September
The 14th Annual Serve-A-Thon was held on Saturday, October 4, 2008 The biggest community service event ever to take place in Washington Heights: Fresh Youth Initiatives' Serve-A-Thon is a celebration of volunteerism held every year in September to kick off our program year. The whole FYI family, including members of the Washington Heights/Inwood community and friends of the organization spend the morning doing various community service projects. In the afternoon, the celebration continues with music, games, food, raffles and more community building. Past Serve-a-Thons have included mural painting, gardening, park clean-ups, making sleeping bags for the homeless, painting the gym of a church, and packing and sending boxes of clothes and food to shelters. |
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October
Halloween At FYI - October 30th, 2010 |
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Important Date: October 30, 2010
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November
Turkey Drive Thanks to you and your generosity, the FYI Helping Hands Food Pantry was able to gather & distribute over 200 Turkeys in 2007. Join the Helping Hands Food Pantry, NYC's only youth run food pantry, in partnership with Inwood Community Services November 2008 "Round-Up" Thanksgiving turkeys for needy families and senior citizens in OUR community. $15 will provide one family with a Thanksgiving turkey. Canned Food Drive During the month of November, FYI participants focused their time and energy towards hunger relief. Throughout the month we were doing a lot of outreach to our local schools so that they could assist us in a month long can drive. Aside from the schools, we also received various can donations from the Hebrew Tabernacle School. We capped of the month long can drive with a Saturday food drive that took place on November 17th, 2007. Gristedeis Supermarket, Fine Fare Supermarket, and Bravo Supermarket were gracious enough to allow us to hold food drives in front of their establishments. We collected over 500 cans of canned goods and over $100 in donations, which was used to purchase canned goods. All of the cans collected were sent over to our Helping Hands Food Pantry to be distributed to our clients. Many thanks for all the FYI participants who were a part of the food drive and to all those who helped by making can donations to us. |
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December
Festival of Lights December is a month in which many of us celebrate or meditate about life in many different ways. The light of a candle appears to be present as a symbol in whatever way a tradition is kept in different parts of the world. In some cases for religious reasons, in other cases not. In every culture throughout history the light represents Strength and Faith. |
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Other Programs
Mentoring Program Mentor Calendar |
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