Serving communities with our volunteer partners in uncertain times
Moquette Row in Yonkers, NY was a street originally built as factory housing in the 1880s. Residents would wake up, walk across the street to work, and then come home. The steam generated from the factories would even help heat the 60 homes.
These days, the Fuller Center has been working on demolishing and reconstructing the properties for low-income housing for families in need. For our annual Community Day on January 18, 2021, we provided our modest support for this massive project. One of the houses we focused on rehabbing this year was for a veteran’s family who was chosen at the start of this beautifying initiative.
Community Day with the Fuller Center for Housing
Every year for the past three years, GeNEUROsity and our partner Neuro Alert have collaborated with the Fuller Center for Housing on Community Day—a day where we put donations, volunteer work, and action to good use. Always on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Neuro Alert and GeNEUROsity help provide funding and volunteers to work on construction projects with the Fuller Center contractors.
This time, as with all events over the past year, we had to take a slightly different approach, but it is important to highlight how we can still be of service to fulfill a community’s needs—even during trying times… like a pandemic. Despite the uncertainty and risk associated with COVID-19, volunteers taking the right precautions can still care for others.
In order to facilitate adequate social distancing, our team had to be pared down. But in order to make sure we still serve our communities, we encouraged the team at our operating partner, Neuro Alert, to seek out volunteer opportunities, virtual or otherwise, between January and February.
Community Day in Yonkers, NY
This year, we donated $4,000 to the Fuller Center’s general fund, which went toward the supplies and labor for our Community Day as well as other services the Fuller Center provides.
Our Community Day team, including the executive team of Neuro Alert and a few additional volunteers, participated in demolition and reconstruction work as well as community beautification projects—building planters, community gardens, and pocket parks while providing community cleanup. All of these efforts fell under the “No More Ugly” (NMU) revitalization projects, as coined by Jim Killoran, the Executive Director of the Fuller Center for Housing, which engage thousands of volunteers to help beautify, change, and enhance the quality of neighborhoods in need.
This year we were excited to be able to gather together—as safely as possible—to help restore a community block and provide service to these families, and we look forward to continuing help with the initiative in the future.
The Past and Future of the Fuller Center Communities
Last year on Community Day, we helped to rehab a home for a service-disabled Iraqi War veteran and his family. We’re thrilled to help this year in ways that echo last year’s service while also showing how our collaboration with the Fuller Center is gaining momentum.
Helping others meet a basic need like adequate shelter assists people at the most fundamental level. When a community struggles, it doesn’t really have the wherewithal to consider the future. However, when basic needs are met compassionately—when people know they have a comfortable home to which they return each day—that’s when we can make the most meaningful progress toward a brighter, more rewarding future together.
Our work during Community Day 2021 is encouraging, and it inspires us to know that each year will be even better.
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