Cunning NYC

It’s not all that often that I have the opportunity to work on something other than, well… work; especially when we have a project going live at Cunning.  But after the extensive planning that went into producing the Yotel Festival I wanted to find a way to fill my time away from work to fill the void of not working 20 hour days (that was a little more productive than, say… socializing).  I know it sounds weird but I really missed all the planning!

I’ve always been a fan of volunteering wherever I’ve lived.  In the past I’ve volunteered for organizations like Opportunity Impact in San Francisco and Head Start in Colorado Springs that focus on providing safe and educational after school programs for underprivileged children.  Based on my enlightening + valuable experience at those organizations, I naturally sought after a program in New York City that fosters growth in at-risk communities.  I set out to look for a program with similar goals to close the educational gap AND one that supports food system change.  Luckily, since this is New York and you can find just about anything you want here, I found that organization in Just Food. 

Just Food is a non-profit organization that connects local farms to NYC communities, supports Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) initiatives and addresses the decline of family farms through building diverse partnerships to advance dialogue and action on farming, hunger and nutrition.  Just Food’s programs include City Farms, Community Food Education, Food Justice, Fresh Food for All, and the ever popular CSA’s.  I won’t get in depth into the inner-workings of all these programs but on a very basic level they support bringing local, sustainable and fresh food to ALL NYC communities regardless of socio-economic status.  

So, as I was saying, dire hole in my heart from lack of community involvement brought me to this stellar organization.  Based on my experience producing events, I gravitated towards the Events + Marketing page and found a job posting for an Events + Marketing internship.  Now, I realize that there was no chance I’d be able to actually INTERN at Just Food while holding down a full-time job at Cunning but I e-mailed the Events Manager anyways.  I immediately got a response back and the team was thrilled to have me help out with an upcoming tasting fundraiser they were planning.  

I was tasked with building their online auction and I would, of course, volunteer on the night of the event.  It may not sound like much, but the online auction ended up taking up over 20 hours of my time and when work started getting busy again, I got nervous that I wouldn’t finish the job.  The deadline for the auction happened to fall on a day when I had to drive to Hartford, CT for a client meeting and back (with a wake-up call at 5AM no-less) and I found myself drowning in straggler auction items after work and posting until 1AM. 

Over 60 posts to their online auction (still live until 9/23 (!!!)) and a couple of months later, I had the pleasure of volunteering at their fundraiser Let Us Eat Local last night.  Over 20 chefs from NYC restaurants with a focus on locally sourced food convened in the Altman Building for a four hour tasting event that included the likes of April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig and Dan Kluger from ABC Kitchen.  Being able to walk around a room with fresh and locally-sourced food prepared by best-in-class chefs is basically my idea of heaven.  Having all of the proceeds go to supporting Just Food programs + farms affected by Hurricane Irene = double bonus.  

Now, I realize that our blog is usually dedicated to innovation in advertising but in an industry that’s usually focused on making money for the giants, I think it’s only reasonable to consider (and maybe even convince you to find) other outlets where your creativity or production skills can be used for making the world a little brighter, a bit more educated and accessible for everyone.  

In closing + a few steps to volunteering in the city::

1) Find an organization that you feel truly passionate about, research their programs and see where you can best help out. 

2) E-mail or call whoever is listed in the contact form - it’s the best way to introduce yourself + get immediately involved. 

3) Pace yourself with what you can take on.  Volunteers are the life-blood of non-profit organizations, they will gladly give you things to do (because there are always things to do) but recognize + decide early-on how many hours per week you can dedicate yourself to the organization because you can quickly start to feel overwhelmed.  

4) Get involved in something that directly impacts your neighborhood, you’ll feel more closely connected to your surroundings and make friends with your neighbors. 

5) Bring your creative chops to the table + use your own specific expertise to your chosen program to improve + create new standards of best practice within the organization - they will thank you for it in the long run. 

:: ABC Kitchen’s Table ::

:: Fresh Vegetables @ Back Forty’s Table ::

:: Volunteer Swag ::