White Plains volunteers from Westrchester’s Furniture Bank, the Furniture Sharehouse, recently served lunch and presented a flat-screen television to residents and staff at the Open Arms Men’s Shelter to honor one of their own.

For more than two years, Sinclair “Huggie” Huggins, 43, a former shelter resident, volunteered at Furniture Sharehouse twice a week, and considered it his part-time job.  Huggins died in October and the March 8  luncheon was held to honor his memory.

“We were all very saddened by Huggins’ passing, and we wanted to do something to honor his memory. We thought that donating a large flat-screen television to Open Arms would be a fitting gift that Huggins would have enjoyed,” said Kathy McGrath, volunteer coordinator for Furniture Sharehouse.

Furniture Sharehouse has partnered with Grace Church Community Center, which runs Open Arms, since 2007.

“The weekly volunteers who have come from Open Arms to work at our warehouse over the years have been a crucial part of our operations,” said Kate Bialo,Furniture Sharehouse executive director.

The organization has partnered with Grace Church Community Center, which runs Open Arms, since 2007.

Located at the Westchester County Airport, Furniture Sharehouse provides free furniture to needy individuals and families. Visit http://www.furnituresharehouse.org/ for more information on the organization.

Junior League Helps Westchester Women's Shelter
Scarsdale Patch, by Junior League of Central Westchester, 1/11/2013

The Junior League of Central Westchester’s (JLCW) Fall 2012 new member class partnered with the Samaritan House Women’s Shelter, which is part of the Grace Church Community Center (GCCC).

This shelter provides transitional and emergency housing for up to 19 homeless women. Comprehensive services include individualized treatment for those who suffer from substance abuse, domestic violence or HIV/AIDs. The partnership of these two non-profit organizations provided a wonderful opportunity to better the lives of women in the community of White Plains by enhancing the living space at the shelter and creating kits to help transition residents into housing.

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Family Serves Thanksgiving Meals To The Needy In White Plains
White Plains Daily Voice, by Brian Donnelly Neighbors 11/22/12

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – Gina Schiliro, 8, has helped to serve Thanksgiving Day meals at the Grace Community Center soup kitchen in White Plains for the past three years, along with her sisters Paulina and Emma.

“Sort of like how my parents care for me, I care for other people,” Gina said of her service.

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Hidden hunger: More neighbors than you think rely on pantries to fill the gaps
LoHud.com, November 5, 2012

They really know how to stretch a meal.

When there’s not enough food, sometimes that’s the only choice. You hear it again and again from people who have experienced hunger.

The stories touch every corner of the region, from the mom down to her last few dollars who adopted her Italian grandmother’s trick of making a meal out of anything in the house, to the families who have lost their jobs and homes and whose children eat their principal meals at school, to the homeless men who turn to soup kitchens to fill empty stomachs.
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Lt. Col. E. Barbara Wiggins, White Plains | U.S. Army, retired
LoHud.com, May 26, 2012

Why she enlisted: Growing up in Brooklyn as the eldest of four children, Wiggins was expected to go to college, but her family couldn’t afford to send her. So in 1956, 20-year-old Wiggins signed up for the Army to take advantage of the GI Bill: “I figured, ‘I’m not sure if this is the right thing to do, but it only requires two years, and I can gamble with two years of my life.’” Yet Wiggins stayed on because every new assignment was “always something interesting or unique.” Plus, she was traveling the world, unlike her friends back home. Wiggins was a bridesmaid six times before heading off to basic training, and she knew she didn’t want to settle down until she’d “gotten the chance to do all of the things I wanted to do.” Besides, she says with a laugh, “I knew a whole lot of happy single women.”
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White Plains Shelters to Expand Homeless Housing
The Daily White Plains, May 16, 2012
by Brian Donnelly
photo credit - mysisiterplaceny.org

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – White Plains' Grace Church Community Center will do an adaptive reuse of its Open Arms Men's Shelter to create more permanent housing units for the homeless, said Kenneth Jenkins, chairman of the Westchester County Board of Legislators.

The project will be funded by a grant from the state Homeless Housing Assistance Program, which awarded five nonprofit housing services a total of $19.6 million to build units for homeless families and individuals. They include two in White Plains: My Sisters' Place received $2,389,619 and Grace Church Community Center received $5,771,101.

"It's essential for places like the Grace Church Community Center, which has been working hard for many years with the Open Arms Shelter, and doing things that help people get in the safety net, back on their feet and moving forward," Jenkins said. "It's a tremendous victory for us here in White Plains."

Grants were also awarded to Opportunities for Broome in Broome County for $3,482479, Housing Visions Unlimited in Onondaga County for $3,500,000 and Concern for Independent Living in Suffolk County $4,481,621.

In all, the $19.6 million will create 163 housing units with 258 beds. Grace Church Community Center will rehabilitate an existing building to create more than 100 housing units, Jenkins said.

My Sisters' Place will create a new facility that will house 20 people, said Nancy Levin, director of development and external affairs.

"We are very grateful to the state for recognizing our ability to provide assistance and safe temporary emergency housing for victims of domestic violence and human trafficking," Levin said. "Providing emergency residential shelter is a touchstone of our work to provide interventive services for victims of domestic abuse and human trafficking."

Levin estimated that the new facility will be complete in about 18 months. Work on the Grace Church Community Center shelter is expected to begin almost immediately, Jenkins said.

Bloomingdales Volunteers Serve Brunch at Open Arms Shelter
White Plains Patch, April 4, 2012
by Chris Schwartz

As part of their fifteenth annual "Bag Hunger" campaign, employees from the White Plains Bloomingdales store got into the spirit of volunteerism by serving brunch to 90 needy men and women at the Open Arms Men’s Shelter in White Plains on Saturday March 24. 

The hearty meal was prepared by Bloomingdale’s chefs Humberto Villaneuva and Adrian Reyna who were assisted by 14 store employees who pitched in to serve the food.

The Bloomingdales brunch was enjoyed by clients from three programs run by Grace Church Community Center (GCCC)- Open Arms men’s shelter, Samaritan House women’s shelter and the GCCC  Soup Kitchen.

The "Bag Hunger" campaign is supported by Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s stores across the nation. 

Sleep-Out for the Homeless
Students get to experience what it's like to be homeless for one night.
White Plains Patch, March 31, 2012
By Stu Bayer

The sound of duct tape being ripped echoed through the senior courtyard at White Plains High School as several dozen large cardboard boxes were organized into a small shanty town, covered with plastic garbage bags and tarps as holes were patched using the tape to keep out the forecasted rain.

No, this wasn't the latest "occupy" movement but a charitable event getting underway to help two local organizations which provide food and clothing to the homeless.
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WHITE PLAINS – Grace Church Community Center has appointed Charlie Bevier to the position of director of shelter and homeless outreach services. In his new role, Bevier will be responsible for the overall administration, program development and delivery of services to residents and clients of GCCC’s 38-bed Open Arms Men’s Shelter, its 19-bed Samaritan House Women’s Shelter and its homeless outreach services division. Bevier had been deputy director of shelter services at Open Arms. He has more than 25 years of experience in human services, with expertise in substance abuse and mental illness. He was recognized by the National Council on Alcoholism for his work with the homeless population in Westchester County.

Norvell Brandon will replace Bevier at Open Arms. Brandon has more than two decades of experience working in the field of housing and homeless services and started his career at Open Arms in 1988 as a client care supervisor. He has spent the last 20 years working for the Westchester Community Opportunity Program, first as director of the New Rochelle Men’s Shelter and then as the area director of the New Rochelle Community Action Program. He has also been an adjunct professor at the College of New Rochelle.

Stepinac sponsoring “Souper” bowl food drive
Lohud.com, January 26, 2012

Students at Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains are trying to fight hunger and get a day off of school by collecting 50,000 cans of food to be donated to charity.

If they can come up with the cans by Feb. 1, they’ll be rewarded with a day off of school on Feb. 6 – the day after the Super Bowl.

The effort is part of the “Souper Bowl of Caring,” an annual event when youth across the nation join together to fight hunger in their communities. Food collected by the Stepinac students will be donated to the Grace Church Community Center in White Plains and the Don Bosco Community Center in Port Chester.

Each of the 625 students has a goal of collecting 100 cans and boxes of food. To help reach the goal, some students will be at the White Plains Stop & Shop, 154 Westchester Ave.,  between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday (Jan. 28) and at the ShopRight at the White Plains City Center between noon and 4 p.m.,  asking shoppers to join the effort by purchasing and donating food.

White Plains Soup Kitchen Receives 25,000 Cans of Food

White Plains, NY The Grace Church Community Center (GCCC) Soup Kitchen received a donation of 25,000 cans of food courtesy of Stepinac High School and their Souper Bowl food drive.

Roxanne Calvello, teacher and science chair at the school organized the drive and challenged the school’s 650 students to collect a total of 50,000 food cans, almost 80 cans per student. Students rose to the challenge and were rewarded with a day off school on the Monday following the Super Bowl.

Donated cans were split between the GCCC Soup Kitchen, the largest soup kitchen in White Plains, and the Don Bosco Community Center in Port Chester which operates a soup kitchen and food pantry.

GCCC Scholarship Recipients Meet Donors

White Plains NY-  Grace Church Community Center (GCCC) scholarship recipients had an opportunity to meet some of the key donors that made their scholarships possible at a lunch held in their honor at the Black Bear Saloon on January 13th. 
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Con Ed awards Green Grant to Grace
Lohud.com, January 19, 2012

In its second year of funding, Consolidated Edison has awarded a $7,500 grant to Grace Church Community Center to continue its successful “Kids Going Green” program, which introduces homeless and at-risk youth to “green” topics such as global warming, dependence on fossil fuels, sustainable farming, water quality, endangered species and habitat preservation through a series of field trips.

Seventy-five children from the agency’s After-School Mentoring Program will participate in five field trips which will include a sleepover at the New York Hall of Science and a voyage on the Clearwater sloop, a sailing classroom designed to teach passengers about the impact humans have had on the animals and ecology of the Hudson River.

Anyone wishing to donate to the Scholarship Fund or to find out more about GCCC’s Mentoring Program should contact Chris Schwartz at 914-949-3098, Ext. 135, or CSchwartz@gcccares.org.

Young Professionals Celebrate Mentoring Month
PRLog (Press Release) - Jan 17, 2012

A Scarsdale Christmas Carol: The Lasagna That Turned Into Thermal Underwear
The Scarsdale Friends recently sponsored a dinner to raise money for the homeless.
Scarsdale Patch, January 3, 2012
By Susan Weisfeld

As in previous years, it started with a need -- warm socks and underwear for men and women who depend upon others for their basic necessities.  How Greek salad, lasagna and turkey turned into 116 gift bags filled with warm necessities and lovely toiletries for residents of several homeless shelter programs is a tale reminiscent of stories many of us have heard since childhood, and makes one believe in the magic that is part of the holiday season.
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Holiday Shoe Drive
White Plains Patch, December 22, 2011
Posted by Chris Schwartz

Following four years of tradition, Dr. Bruce Pinker, owner of Progressive Foot Care in White Plains, joined ranks with the Westchester/Putnam Central Labor Body AFLCIO and its affiliates in a “Holiday Shoe Drive” to collect shoes for the homeless.

Footwear in all shapes and sizeswas collected over a two month period and donated to Grace Church Community Center (GCCC) for distribution at the agency’s Open Arms Men’s Shelter, Samaritan House Women’s Shelter and Soup Kitchen.  Over 1,000 pairs of shoes were collected. 

This is the second year that Entergy has provided grant support for the program, which serves 75 at-risk students by providing tutoring, college prep, field trips and sports activities designed to help children remain in school.

Lori Sheldon, Communication Specialist from Entergy presents grant check to Paul Anderson-Winchell GCCC Executive Director.

As winter begins, hundreds of people in the area are in need of coats to protect them from the cold. The Osborn Retirement Community, Rye City Lions Club and Rye Rotary Club are partnering again this year to ensure these people have the most basic of necessities.
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For most of us the holiday season conjures feelings of warmth and comfort, but amidst the glow of Christmas trees in homes, some in Westchester face below freezing temperatures and nowhere to sleep.
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With thousands of children, families and individuals struggling to make ends meet in Westchester—White Plains' Grace Church Community Center (GCCC) fights poverty all year round, and especially during the holidays.
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Various organizations serve the needy by providing them family-style meals during the holidays. Yet, only a few feed the hungry all year round.

Grace Church Community Center offers hungry Westcheseter residents a place to sit and enjoy a warm free meal—at the Grace Episcopal Church? soup kitchen— five days a week . This vital service is offered to area residents who struggle on a daily basis with a task most don't think twice about: finding a plate of food to fight hunger pains.
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Volunteer Marty Kantor, 88, of Boca Raton, Fl., serves pumpkin pie during Thanksgiving dinner at Grace Church Community Center Soup Kitchen, Nov. 25, 2010 in White Plains. Kantor came out to volunteer for his second year with his family that he is visiting in Armonk. Volunteers prepared and served about 150 dinners and about 400 homebound meals were available to take out.
( Tania Savayan / The Journal News )