I wish to express my gratitude to Helping Hands for the Disabled of NewYork city. This organization has provided me with opportunities I never knew existed.
I now have befriended a few of the volunteers who donate their time to perform community service for this organization. This includes a friendship with AliceaCrespo, the director. Miss Crespo has a wealthof resources and ideas of methods which can help visually impaired persons cope and live in a society where most people really dot understand us, or our methods of dealing with life situations that may arise, and how to ocpe with said situations as disabled persons.
This organization provided me with the chance to participate in many of its programs: For instance, Be a Friend day, wherein, I can work with a volunteer to run errands. This facilitates travelling complicated routes to obscure areas and this also eases tention during travel.
I am given the chance to help run our Movie Night program, and this helps me see movies I wish to see, and be with Alice and some of the volunteers. I do get the cnace too, at Movie Night to have the feeling that I am contributing to Helping Hands at eachmovie night. I am also helping those in th is organization see the movies they wish to see.
Participating in orientations for volunteers, on either Be a Friend day, or interviewing prospective volunteers affords me the experience of helping our society better understand visually impaired, blind andotherwise disabled people, it enables me to help its participants,and my work in Helping Hands assists in informing the public as well as spreading the word that Helping Hands offers unique services that other agencies are sorely lacking.This fact should be conveyed to the public as strongly as is possible.
Helping Hands has also provided me with the opportunity to have study material read on to cassettes for a big promotional test, a service no other agency which purports to serve visually impaired and blind people, can actually offer.
I have also been given the chance to get help if needed, going to a doctor, to undergo procedure where a guide is, in this case, mandatory. Helping Hands offers comfort that no other agency can begin to purport to offer.
Helping Hands has made me feel that I have a valid purpose and can help this organization achieve its goals. This organization offers a support network and offers me a sence of family community cohesiveness, harmony, and camaraderie.
Lucia Marett
I love volunteering for Helping Hands. Whether it's baking cupcakes for bakes sales at church, assisting someone on Be a Friend Day or just enjoying a day out like our last trip to Coney Island, Helping Hands provides services unparalleled city and government agencies. Where other programs fall short Helping Hands comes in to meet the needs of it's clients. With a core group of dedicated volunteers such as myself, we strive to improve the quality of life of orphr cities disabled population. People who are often marginalized or overlooked by society can find a haven among their peers at Helping Hands. There are others who understand their stuggles and grapple with the same issues. It's a pleasure to work with Alice and all of the wonderful people I meet through her organization. Helping Hands is truly a gem not to be overlooked.
I began Helping Hands for the Disabled of NYC with the intention of providing adult recreational activities for persons living with disabilities within the NYC metro area. Having grown up myself blind since birth, I am personally all too familiar with the lack of services for persons living with disabilities. Many of us are unfortunately home bound not by choice, but due to a lack of resources. The sad situation is that many people only get out for necessary doctors appointments and little is left for leisure or recreation. Since it's inception in 1982 Helping Hands has evolved into a network of members and dedicated volunteers who recognize the needs of our clients and meet them with kindness and compassion in ways city and government agencies are unable to do. I am proud to say our focus is on the needs of individual clients and we work hard to get things done on behalf of our members.