I am officially a City Harvest Volunteer. City Harvest is a non profit organization which helps to combat hunger in New York City. They have been around since 1982. There mission is to help feed the city’s poor and hungry residents through distributing food and providing nutritional and financial education.

I was very attracted to City Harvest because they reach out and interact directly with the community. I participated in their Mobile Market on Saturday. This is a market that comes to the Bronx and Staten Island twice a month to provide food to it’s residents who reside in public housing. Volunteers help to distribute the food to those in the program. I must say that I was very ignorant of the amount of people who suffer from hunger in my own neighborhood. The market starts at around 9am and ends at 12pm. The line which streched around a city block begins way before the market opens. Many of the people that I served were elderly or disabled. There were many families also with small children. There were also quite a few working women as well. Honestly I expected to serve homeless individuals. Surprisenly to many people from all walks of life are suffering from hunger.

It reminded me of when I was a little girl growing up with a single struggling mother. There were quite a few summers when I had to take advantage of the free breakfast and lunch programs in the city.  I used to feel embarassed. I hated going to the supermarket and having to purchase groceries with food stamps.  Although I never went to bed hungry, I still felt ashamed that a meal made with goverment rice, cheese and meat filled my belly.  Even as an adult I still did not realize that so many people were and continue to struggle with where their next meal is coming from.

When I distributed the food I made sure that I did so with a smile and a warm greeting. Whether you are rich or poor everyone wants and deserves to be treated with kindness, dignity and respect. Many of them smiled back and said things like “God bless you, take care, and thank you so much”. It felt great to give back to the city that had many times given to me.

If any New Yorker is interested volunteering a little of their time to help hunger in your own neighborhoods, City Harvest is a great place to do so. Please visit www.cityharvest.org for details.  If you are interested in other places and causes to volunteer for please visit www.volunteernyc.org.

Six tips on how to help your mate help out.

Before I begin this blog let me start by saying that my boyfriend is a great guy and an excellent father with good intentions.  However some days it boggles my mind at the things that I see a very intelligent man do that borders on being clueless to a slight lack of common sense. Sometimes I do think that men and women are from different planets……Anyway, one evening last week I had a taste for Boston Market (mainly because I was in no mood to touch the stove or even glance at the kitchen). I asked my boyfriend to drive the kids and me to the restaurant to get a bite to eat. Like the sweet guy that he is he said “yes” without hesitation.  As I started to get the baby ready I asked my boyfriend if he could dress my six year old. “No problem” he said. Again, he is such a sweet heart, just about anything I ask he’ll do for me.  The baby is dressed. I take one quick glance in the mirror and grab my purse and my keys. We are just about to leave the apartment when all of sudden my six year old burst in the room. “I’m ready to go mommy” he says.  My first thought was WTH? I took another look at my son and broke into an uncontrollable laughter. Check out the picture below and you’ll laugh too.

Someone please tell me why my boyfriend thought it was appropriate to dress his son like he was auditioning for “Revenge of The Nerds”. First let’s look at the pants. Is this not a throw back to the sitcom “Family Matters”? Slap on a pair of on him and you’ll have Steve Urkel’s little brother. The only thing my little boy needed to say in that moment was “Did I do that”? I think I would have died laughing. What made it worse was that he even took the time to iron it. I just looked at my son again then looked at my boyfriend. After I regained my composure I said to my boyfriend “You are officially no longer in charge of dressing the children”. “What are you talking about”? He said with a confused look. “You didn’t notice that the boy’s pants are way too high and his shirt is really tight”? I responded. His explanation was “You should take the clothes that don’t fit out of the drawers”. Now I must admit that spring cleaning got put on the back burner this year, however that is no excuse. Common sense will tell anyone that that outfit was a big fashion mistake. However, as I said before sometimes my boyfriend lacks common sense (at least concerning fashion).

From that day forward I decided to help my boyfriend help me better by doing a few extras. Maybe these tips can help you too:

1.       Organize closets or drawers with coordinating outfits. If your significant other is fashionable handicapped like mine having outfits put together already makes it easier. This way you don’t have to worry about your kids looking a mess with colors that clash, or pieces that just don’t go together.

2.       Remove all clothing that no longer fit or is out of season. I can’t even count how many times my boyfriend has mixed winter and spring clothes together on my boys in 90 degree heat(yeah he’s that bad).

3.       Groom children’s hair the night before. This advice is mainly for people with girls. I don’t have a daughter, but I remember being sent to school with rollers in my hair and my ponytail sticking straight in the air on days when my Dad had got me ready.

4.       Prepare good healthy meals and store them in microwave bowls in the fridge. When in doubt a man will order pizza. So if you don’t want to have the kids eating junk on days that you’re away plan the meals in advance. (he will probably order pizza anyway, but at least you tried)

5.       Leave a list in the baby bag. Now my boyfriend is pretty good with this one but some guys are not. In many cases women probably spend more time with their babies. So when it comes to packing a baby bag some guys don’t have a clue. A list of essentials will ensure that when Daddy’s has to take the baby with him your little bundle of joy has everything he needs.

6.       Encourage, don’t discourage. I’ve been joking on my boyfriend in this blog, but he actually is a huge help with the kids. He may not do everything perfectly and I may tease him a bit, but I am never mean spirited or controlling. Sometimes we can get caught in our way of doing things and condemn our mate when they don’t do things our way. Men have feelings too. When you criticize his methods with his children too harshly he will be discouraged to help. Always encourage your mate to help with the kids and the household. At the end of the day everyone benefits.