Helping Hands News

Feeding Our Neighbors, a vital initiative by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, brought essential relief to over 200 families with a pop-up pantry at St. Helena’s in the Bronx. Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, the Executive Director, attended the event and personally engaged with attendees. “The price of food is astronomical and people who are on limited income, many, many, many of whom are working, just can’t make ends meet at the end of the month,” the Monsignor shared. Supported by Gerstner Philanthropies, this program operates 24 pop-up food pantries annually across the diocese, directly combating hunger and food insecurity by reaching New Yorkers right in their communities.

In a recent OP-ED published by the Wall Street Journal, Gerstner Philanthropies founder and Chairman, Louis. V. Gerstner, Jr., highlights the important role one-time emergency financial assistance can play in preventing homelessness. "Shelter services for a family in New York City cost $191 a day, or nearly $70,000 a year, according to the mayor’s office. That adds up to a total annual cost of $1.2 billion," Gerstner writes. "The best way to help is by preventing homelessness in the first place. Gerstner Philanthropies has spent more than $36 million on a program called Helping Hands. It provides small amounts of money to help otherwise stable people overcome short-term emergencies and stay out of shelters."

Gerstner Philanthropies has made a gift of $166,667 to support the Helping Hands Student Emergency Fund at The City College of New York. Helping Hands provides one-time assistance to students facing one-time emergencies with the goal to help college students continue through to graduation. The grant will assist students for the remainder of 2023. “We are grateful to be able to partner with the Gerstner Philanthropies team, which allows us to expand on the important work of providing emergency support to our students to maintain momentum in their college career. Student retention is a key goal of City College,” said Dee Dee Mozeleski, senior advisor to the president, and vice president and executive director of The Foundation for City College.

As of March 1, 2023, Gerstner Philanthropies has awarded $7.9 million in Helping Hands funds to 24 social service organizations and colleges, a 47% increase from last year’s grantmaking. $7.3 million will expand support to existing emergency grant programs at 19 grantees across the country, with an additional $0.6 million supporting new partnerships with public colleges within the New York City area. Over $0.7 million of the awarded funds will support a new program capacity-building initiative at seven organizations with the goal of improving Helping Hands program efficiency and expanding its reach to serve more people in need.

Gerstner Philanthropies is excited to announce that it has awarded $950,000 to eight organizations across our core funding locations to support hunger prevention in our communities in 2023. These organizations provide food and related assistance to an increasing number of individuals and families struggling from the impacts of inflation and rising housing costs. These funds will be utilized by our grantees to continue to implement critical programs, such as mobile pantries and meal delivery for clients in food deserts, food rescue programs and one of the largest kosher and halal food pantries in the country. This announcement comes on the heels of three Thanksgiving meals grants totaling $43,200 to partners in Palm Beach, Boston, and Greater New York City, providing over 800 families with turkey dinners over the holidays.