Met Council on Jewish Poverty, hosted a family friendly day of service learning on Monday, January 15th, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday in partnership with Repair the World, Union Temple and UJA-Federation.

“We at Met Council were thrilled to bring together our neighbors on Martin Luther King Day to help New Yorkers in need,” said David G. Greenfield, Met Council’s CEO. “At Met Council we support hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers in need each year. Our Food Warehouse will ship these newly-made 1200 packages to our network of 30 kosher food pantries that service 50,000 needy people each month.”

Participants at the event learned about poverty and food insecurity in New York City, and how they can make a difference and support their neighbors in need. The MLK Day program consisted of three shifts with over 300 volunteers participating throughout the day. Volunteers assembled more than 1,200 winter accessory packages, kosher food packages, and children’s winter activity kits that will distributed throughout Met Council’s network of 30 food pantries.

Several prominent African-American leaders volunteered at the Met Council event including New York State Senator Jesse Hamilton, New York State Assemblyman Walter T. Mosley, and New York City Councilman Robert E. Cornegy, Jr.

“Regardless of the blessings you have or don’t have” said Assemblyman Walter T. Mosley “We want to make sure that those that do have, are here to extend their hand out to those that don’t.”

“I want to thank all the important organizations involved and the volunteers honoring Dr. King’s legacy by doing what was most important to him,” said Councilman Robert E. Cornegy Jr. “Most important for Dr. King was action! Today, this action is demonstrative of a collective spirit of doing what’s in the best interest of those who don’t have the ability to get those things done.”

“The spirit here today and the diversity of the people in this room shows that we live in a great borough in a great state and a great country,” said Senator Jesse Hamilton, thanking the volunteers and organizers.

“It is amazing to work with people using their time off to help support their neighbors in need,” recounted Shaina Goldberg, Met Council’s Director of Volunteer Services. “We are so grateful to our partners, Repair the World and Union Temple, and to UJA-Federation’s Time For Good for making this day a success.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)