|
 The group that puts on the city's annual Sidewalk Santa Parade
said its last bell has been jingled.
Volunteers of America-Greater New York said the parade and its
Sidewalk Santa fundraising efforts have been retired and it's using
other ways, such as online giving and money from private donors, to
raise funds for its Hope and Hearth food voucher program.
"It was just not the most effective way to raise money," vice
president Rachel Weinstein said Monday.
The parade traditionally took place the Friday after Thanksgiving,
with the Santa-costumed participants marching up Manhattan's Fifth
Avenue. The program also had Santas staff locations on city streets
to try to get donations from people passing by their locations. The
organization has had a Sidewalk Santa program since the early part
of the 20th century.
But recruiting workers willing to stand outside in the cold for
several hours has become increasingly difficult, Weinstein said, and
the resources used on the program didn't bring enough of a return.
"We know we have to do as much as we can with the money that we
have," she said.
So after discussing it over the past year, the organization decided
it was time to call a halt to the program, Weinstein said.
[to top of second column] |
The group is trying to expand the food voucher program, which gives
homeless and limited-income families food vouchers that can be used
in grocery stores, she said.
"We're going to be able to give more people more food vouchers than
we ever have this year," she said.
___
Online: http://www.hopeandhearth.org/
[Associated
Press; DEEPTI HAJELA]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
