We (Founder Christian Luna- Labee, General Manager Rebecca Tello, and fellow Danielle Shaw) wish to raise enough funds to have a small office where we can house our volunteer administrators to expand our impact.
Leader
Rebecca Tello
Location
415 Madison Ave. New York, NY 10017
The Help Network (HN) serves the disabled, elderly and seriously ill by arranging for volunteers who commit to spend one hour or more per week assisting them with various needs. HN began as a new project in September 2012 and launched operations in New York City in Fall 2014. HN is a program of the Global Change Project (GCP), an organization that creates social and environmental awareness projects managed by college interns and volunteers. HN is currently launching its inaugural volunteer programs in NYC in partnership with two local non-profit organizations, Lenox Hill Neighborhood House (a senior center – www.lenoxhill.org) and Helping Hands for Disabled NYC (www.hhdnyc.org). Response to our programs has been excellent with a high level of interest and support from local agencies and over 20 community volunteers signing up immediately upon announcement of our programs.
We hope to begin 501c3 fundraising efforts in the near future and establish the Help Network NYC as an independent local organization. In order to support our operations we plan to solicit funds from the general public, corporate sponsors, and grant giving organizations. THN is the primary focus of this application, however, GCP also seeks sponsorship for future programs to be developed in the New York City area. In addition to the Help Network, GCP has plans to initiate several other programs:
Through our relationship with ioby, we wish to raise funds through contacting our volunteer database, reaching out to our email list, and by creating online content that can help us in crowdfunding. This is an ongoing project.
After leg injury in 2011, Help Network founder Christian Luna-Labbee came to empathize much more deeply with the plight of the disabled. He realized the profound challenges they face and the neglect of consumer society for persons who are not “young, healthy, and successful.” Thus was born the idea for an organization that would recruit people to volunteer their time for the disabled. Realizing that internet technology would provide an effective recruitment method for volunteers, work then began on creating an incubator model that would allow for the rapid development of scalable projects. Thus GCP's website was launched in Fall 2012 and we began developing programs providing a combination of client services, internships/education, and internet/social networking technology developed in stages. We have had over 1000 college intern applicants since founding.
Having already started placing our volunteers, it is clear that there is a deep need for this kind of work, as well as a genuine interest in helping. All we have to do is provide a mechanism to connect the two communities! Its very exciting!