Looking to make a difference this holiday season? There are ways you can make a difference or even donate your time to a wonderful non-profit on Long Island, HELP Suffolk.

HELP Suffolk is a temporary housing facility located in Bellport, NY.  At HELP, we provide housing for 76 homeless families from across Suffolk County.  We have about 300 people living on-site on any given day, most of them children.  While a family is living at HELP we offer services including case management, employment assistance, GED, child care, housing assistance, we have an RN on-site in our medical office and a full recreation program.  We try to offer as much assistance as we can to the families at our shelter, while they are struggling with many of life’s obstacles.  

Many of the kids living at our shelter are going through so much turmoil in their lives.  They are worried about where they are going to live, they worry about the struggles that their parents are going through and this is one of the reasons why the Recreation program is so important to our families. The Recreation program was designed so that the kids have something to look forward to when they get home from school. We offer after school Homework Help, where the kids can come in and get assistance with their homework.  The kids can also earn prizes for good grades and improvements they have made in school.  After Homework Help we offer a variety of activities such as cooking, arts and crafts, games, sports and more.  During the day while the older children are in school we offer Tiny Tots, a recreation program geared toward children ages 2-4.  In the Tiny Tots program kids play play-doh, make crafts, listen to stories, play bubbles and more.  We also offer recreation for adults in effort to help brighten up their day.  We have Bingo Thursdays, which is a big hit and we also have cooking and nutrition classes and arts and crafts.

As the holidays approach, we at HELP try to make the season festive and magical for the families.  For Thanksgiving we try to give each of the 76 families a basket with a turkey and trimmings.   At Christmas, we try to make it special for every family.  Christmas is a very worrisome time of year for many of the parents living at our shelter.  The stress of not being able to provide gifts can be overwhelming.  We do our best to help lift that burden by collecting donations from people and organizations in the community.  We have all the children write letters to Santa.  We collect the letters and put them in our mailbox to the North Pole.  The last day before Christmas break we hand out the gifts we have received to the parents and invite them to wrap them for their children.

HELP is a not-for-profit homeless shelter therefore we count on donations to provide programs and services for our families.  Every donation we receive goes directly to the families living at our shelter.  During the holiday season toys, gift cards and food are always a need.  Throughout the year we are always are in need of food, baby items, diapers, clothing, cleaning supplies and personal hygiene products (soap, shampoo, toilet paper, maxi pads etc..).  Not only do we except donations but we always welcome groups and volunteers for events.  In the past we have had the Girl Scouts come in and do crafts and parties for the children.  We have also had children and teens volunteer here for their community service project for school.  If you have any questions or concerns or who like to help, please do not hesitate to contact me via e-mail jdicristina@helpusa.org or by phone at 631-286-2400 x 518.

Written by:

Jennifer DiCristina

Recreation/Education Coordinator HELP Suffolk