Invisible Hands Deliver
Join Invisible Hands in making sure no one in our community is left alone, unable to access the food and resources they need to survive.
Leader
Liam Elkind
Location
531 West 112th Street New York, NY 10025
About the project
Invisible Hands is a community-based group of organizers and volunteers delivering groceries, prescriptions, and other necessities to those most vulnerable in our communities, including the elderly, immunocompromised, sick, and people with disabilities. We also partner with food pantries, mutual aid groups, and religious institutions to deliver free food to people in need and address the long-term injustice of food insecurity.
Our efforts began in March 2020 as COVID-19 began to descend upon New York City. Recognizing the emergent need among vulnerable communities, three twenty-somethings quickly began recruiting friends to volunteer and deliver groceries and other essential items to the elderly, immunocompromised, sick, people with disabilities, and people experiencing food insecurity. Within 72 hours, we had recruited thousands of volunteers, translated our flyers into 16 languages, and fulfilled hundreds of requests. One year later, we’re a full-fledged 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and a proud leader in the fight against COVID-19 and food insecurity in New York City. We’re the proud recipient of a Webby Award, the award for Most Reliable Grocery Delivery Service from Acquisition International, and have been featured on Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, MSNBC and in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The New Yorker, among others. In addition to our free grocery delivery service, we also partner with food pantries, mutual aid groups, and religious institutions, particularly those that serve underrepresented or marginalized communities, to deliver free food to people in need. We’ve expanded our reach to Long Island, Westchester, Philadelphia, parts of New Jersey, Atlanta, and are actively working to serve the west coast as well. All told, our volunteers have completed more than 15,000 deliveries to folks in our communities.
Invisible Hands is proud to have served our community during this critical and unprecedented time of COVID-19. But once the pandemic abates, the racial and economic disparities unveiled and exacerbated by this disease will still pervade our community. Currently, one in four New Yorkers is facing food insecurity. Many of our neighbors don't know where their next meal is going to come from. That's why we partner with free food providers to deliver to thousands of clients in need. Unfortunately, while food pantries provide a vital lifeline for many in our community, many others who experience food insecurity can not or will not go to food pantries for a variety of reasons: stigma, safety, distance, and time spent in line, to name a few.
Invisible Hands delivers anonymously and efficiently to people experiencing food insecurity, preserving their safety, their dignity, and their valuable time.
The Steps
Your support will allow Invisible Hands to:
- fight the injustice of food insecurity
- deliver food and other essentials to those in need
- recruit new volunteers and decrease delivery response times
- build our partnerships with food pantries to get free food to more people in need
And thanks to a generous match by ioby, donating today ensures your impact will be DOUBLED!
Why we‘re doing it
We believe everyone should have access to safe, reliable, affordable food of their choosing.
We began Invisible Hands last March to help those in our community who were most at risk when the pandemic struck. And when it’s over, we’re still going to be here, along with our outstanding volunteers, fighting to make sure our neighbors have what they need to live happy, healthy lives.
We hope you'll join us!
ioby is matching up to $15,000 in donations for eligible organizations. But hurry, these funds are available on a first come, first served basis. Your timely donation will ensure that Invisible Hands is able to get more of the matched contribution!