Getting Involved with New York Cares

I'm very involved on campus. Like... ridiculously involved. There are just so many groups on campus that I want to be involved in and I'm really not very good at saying no. Even on the two days during the week that I don't have class, I generally give tours and attend meetings. Extracurricular involvement is a fantastic way to meet people that share your interests and network with other student leaders.

As much as I love all of my groups and clubs and committees, there came a point at the end of last semester when I couldn't take it anymore. Every day, I felt like I saw the same faces, worked through the same problems, and beat myself over the head as a result of the same frustrations. I very desperately needed a change of scenery.

I do love my groups, so naturally I began thinking about groups to join outside of school. Would I join a gym? I didn't really want to pay for something I probably wouldn't use. Would I join a sports team? It was the middle of December in New York and the only sport I'm really good at is soccer. I needed something that would keep me engaged and connect me with other people. I also needed something that I could fit into my packed schedule. I was walking in McMahon Hall one day when I passed by a bulletin board titled something like "Top Ten Ways to Get Involved in the City". It was then that I discovered New York Cares.

New York Cares is an incredible volunteer organization that connects New Yorkers to all kinds of service opportunities in each of the five boroughs. Once you've completed a brief orientation session, you are able to sign up for around 1,000 projects each month. Every project is done as part of a group and project partners go through a screening process, so I felt completely comfortable going wherever my projects took me. The best part about it for me is that you can pick and choose when you volunteer. You don't have to commit beyond a single project if you don't want to. If I have some free time and decide I want to do a project, I can sign up online, complete it, and not worry about it again.

In the past few months, I've completed several different types of projects, from tutoring teens working towards their GEDs in the Bronx to helping with an after school culinary workshop in Harlem to assisting with goalball practices in Brooklyn. That last has become one of the highlights of my week. On Saturdays, I take the 2 all the way down to Newkirk and I help set up the court. If a ball goes out of bounds, I'll pass it back in. Sometimes I keep time. And it's absolutely fantastic. The guys on the team are so much fun to be around and they support each other beautifully.


These are some of the guys on the New York Knights goalball team. In case you were wondering, goalball is a sport developed specifically for blind and low-vision athletes. The court is made up of tactile zones defined by wires taped to the floor. The ball, which is shot back and forth between teams of three, has bells inside. Everyone wears opaque goggles to account for any variations in the players' eyesight. Watching a game can get really intense, which is sometimes difficult, because spectators have to be silent.

After the excitement of the first few weeks of college begins to fade, a lot of people tend to settle into a comfortable niche with a core group of friends and a steady routine. It's really important to remember to keep pushing yourself and trying new things and meeting new people. Working with New York Cares has given me so many opportunities to do just that. I've only just started, but I feel as if this is something I'll continue to do for years.