Credit Suisse Volunteers at Henry Street
By Chelsea Jupin
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Nearly 200 volunteers from Credit Suisse joined Henry Street staff and clients Friday for a beautiful sunny afternoon of grilling, gardening, painting, scrubbing and sorting. The volunteers worked at nine of our 17 program sites to prepare each location for a busy summer.
At the Boys & Girl’s Republic, 20 volunteers cleaned, organized and decorated many areas of the facility in anticipation of the start of summer programming. Preparations were also made for this year’s Camp Henry at 301 Henry Street, where volunteers readied the activity rooms and camp equipment, with a couple of volunteers tasked with making sure that all soccer and basketballs were perfectly inflated.
At East River Park, 33 Credit Suisse volunteers served a delicious barbecue lunch to more than 200 residents of Henry Street’s transitional shelters. They also engaged the clients’ children with hula-hoops, jump ropes, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, tattoos and more.
Another 35 volunteers gardened at three Henry Street sites. Public outdoor areas at the Abrons Arts Center, the Community Consultation Center (CCC), and Martin Luther King, Jr., Community Park, adjacent to Henry Street’s historic headquarters at 265 Henry Street, were all weeded and watered, and spruced up with new flowers.
Still another 35 volunteers painted facilities at the Workforce Development Center, 265 Henry Street, the Home Planning Workshop, and Youth Employment Services offices. The fresh coats of paint create a more professional and welcoming environment for each program site.
The productive day would not have been such a success without the organization and dedication of both staff from Credit Suisse and the Henry Street Settlement. Henry Street staff members from departments across the Settlement programs lent a hand to help the volunteers with their efforts.
David Garza was on hand to welcome the volunteers and staff at the Abrons Art Center’s amphitheater. “Our multidimensional relationship with Credit Suisse has helped us to serve the Lower East Side throughout the 20-plus year history of our relationship,” Garza told the crowd. “Credit Suisse is one of our strongest corporate partners and we appreciate having you here today to help our program sites across the neighborhood in so many of our program areas to help with the important work that we’ll do this summer.”
