Preparing meals and sandwiches for Montbrillant

STC and Mater Foundation have been making take-away meals for over a year. We have managed to prepare over 30,000 meals for the homeless, with the help of volunteer chefs, kitchen staff and drivers. The project ends now. The out of work chefs are heading back to their restaurant kitchens, the big kitchens we have been using are no longer available. The Montbrillant soup kitchen by the train station tries to feed over 200 people every week day and would be very happy about help! The homeless are the ones most affected at present.

At the beginning of the pandemic we were submitting at times over 600 sandwiches per week. When we started the meal program, we no longer continued the Sandwich Program but we would like to start it again! Covid restrictions for May only allow take-away meals.

Here is our proposal: If you would like to make 70 sandwiches once a week in May to be delivered to the soup kitchen by 10:30 in the morning on the day of your choosing, we – and the beneficiaries – would be very happy. This would require 4 volunteers each day. Please sign up on the STC website indicating the day you prefer to deliver your contribution, knowing that you can choose to prepare these sandwiches once in a while or every week for a longer period, that’s up to you and your availability. STC contributes to the expenses with 70 CHF for each delivery per month.

Food packages at Palexpo

The Partage Food Packing program continues for AT LEAST the next few months at the PALEXPO Hall 7. STC has been helping out creating over 5,000 food packages per week for those impacted economically by the Covid restrictions. STC has committed to helping Thursday and Friday mornings 9a.m. to noon. When you signup on our website, do list the days you wish to volunteer in the “Comments” section.

Samedi du Partage

Coming up 4 & 5 June – save some time to help collect food for the homeless and less fortunate through the “Samedi du Partage” (the traditional Saturday of sharing happens normally twice a year). Serve the City has committed to staff 6 stores this year with 3 shifts on the Saturday… and the afternoon shift of 3p.m. – 6p.m. on Friday. The stores will be listed later this week. Last year over 70 of the Geneva Stores participated in the food collection and we hope for a big turnout! Then later we will be asking for help to sort the collected goods.

Signups for Samedi (and Vendredi) du Partage start Thursday 6 May.

Crafting for a cause – the renovation projects

We have two demands for renovation projects.

Carrefour Rue headquarters: Some plaster repair, painting, perhaps new flooring, and even gardening, for the Carrefour Rue headquarters near the main train station.

La Maison de Tara (Hospice general): This is a new partner and project. The Hospice general is the social service of the Canton of Geneva. The “Maison de Tara” in Chêne-Bougeries is a house for palliative care for people who cannot live independently any more (https://www.hospicegeneral.ch/fr/fondation-la-maison-de-tara). They had an unexpected visitor. Wait for it… a fox got into their hen house and killed their 4 chickens! They asked if we could do a security renovation to protect their chickens! STC figures somewhere in our 2,500 volunteers we might find someone with such knowledge or interest. Please sign up, we will send you more information.

A project for (future) bookworms

The Maison de Tunisie en Suisse has collected over 300,000 books with the cooperation of Swiss schools to support Tunisian schools with books of all languages. They are looking for help to sort and pack about ½ of the remaining books. The location is Palexpo porte (door) 25 from now up to Saturday 8 May any time from 8h to 18h. Informations: www.facebook.com/groups/ATTSmail/permalink/4192428917487578/

Sign up on the STC website, where you can ask any questions.

Do stay tuned to our website and newsletter as we will hopefully be looking at some outdoor projects at our local game reserves and two local zoos.

Lastly, let us know if you would like to work with STC by being a Project Leader and looking after our volunteers for the May sandwich event or the June Samedi du Partage event.

Many thanks for your continued support!!

The STC Geneva team

Dear volunteers, project managers, partners, friends,

Many thanks to all those who have been helping these last months. There has been a great response and those affected have been grateful.

Our Needs:

Hot meals prepared at the kitchen in “Genève-Plage”

Cooking:

Starting 29 March until the end of April we have many slots open to help the cooks prepare the meals. When you sign up, you will get a list of all the days we can use help. If you have some special free days, please mention them and if someone is needed, we can book you straight in, even on short notice.

Transport:

Drivers, Drivers, Drivers! We make 200+ meals at “Genève-Plage” and need some help getting them to the beneficiaries on every week-day morning (Monday to Friday). You can sign up for one day a week on a regular basis, or once in a while.

If you have a car, the project leader will tell you all you need to know!

Preparing sandwiches:

The Sandwich programme is starting again on Friday mornings. Our project is to prepare a good snack for those who need them: Over 200 people are coming to the distribution! The plan is to find volunteers willing to make 70 sandwiches for Friday morning at home, and to deliver them before 10:30 a.m. The food package will be supplemented with drinks, fruit, yogurt, dessert, etc. and set up for take-away meals. We do hope you can again pitch in for this worthwhile event!

Handymen:

We are searching for renovation workers. One of our outstanding service providers (Carrefour Rue) has offices near the main train station which are sadly in need of freshening up. They really need some wall repairs, fresh paint, a new kitchen floor and perhaps a few other projects. If we can find a project leader, we can then recruit helpers to get the job done. We have financing for the project; just need some various management and skill sets. If you are interested or know someone who is, please sign up on the website.

Food and clothes collection:

Our food and clothes drive is still on through March. No need for sign-up (but have a look on the website for details), just drop off donations at 10, rue de Baulacre, 1202 Genève, near the parks of Montbrillant and Beaulieu. Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Please note that the food should be non-perishable and the clothes for adults and children in a good condition, no holes or stains, all zippers and buttons present!

Many thanks again to all. The Serve the City Geneva team

WE HAVE A NEW KITCHEN PROJECT IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS.

On Monday 15 March to Friday 30 April. Run by STC and the Mater Foundation as we did with the previous Serve the City kitchen projects. This new project will be at Genève Plage (Cologny) with hours being roughly 9h00 to 14h30 Monday to Friday. As there is a bigger kitchen more meals will be provided so we are seeking 3 helpers each week day. We hope to be making up 200 meals a day and even more on Thursdays and Fridays.

We are on the other side of the lake for a change and hope to have enough volunteers for this project.

When you sign up have your dates of availability ready to request.

We will also require 1 driver each week-day to deliver prepared meals. Picking up from Genève Plage (Cologny) currently there are 4 local Geneva drop-off locations.

Again have your dates of availability ready when you signup.

The project coordinator will provide more information on your request.

RE THE PARTAGE FOOD BAG PROJECT. A little change.

Yes we are committed to use the PalExpo hall thru end of April, but may have to change locations thru the end of June.(to be confirmed)

We have just learned that because there is too much advance in the preparation of the bags, Sorry to announce that we have to:

suspend all sessions from 8 to 19 March.

The sessions will restart on Monday 22 March at Palexpo, Hall 7, Gate 719.

STC will continue supporting the Morning schedule: 9:00-12:00

WE WILL CONTINUE TO COLLECT FOOD AND CLOTHING FOR THE LESS FORTUNATE.

All donations will be given to Fondation Carrefour-Rue & Coulou who have various projects in Geneva. Please find more about the organisation here: https://carrefour-rue.ch/la-fondation/

The following items are needed.

Long life food like: Pasta, Rice, Sugar, Chocolate, Cookies, Tinned food, Olive oil, Jams & Vegetables in jars.(non-perishables)

And any Clothes; Jackets, Sweaters, Pants/trousers, Scarves, Beanies, Gloves & Boots are welcome

If the clothes are not new they should be washed and acceptable to wear.

Donations of food and clothing can be dropped off at 10, rue de Baulacre 1202 Genève from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. We will continue our campaign thru 26 March. We would appreciate if you have groups participating, please sign up on the website for appreciation.

We very much appreciate all those who have participated during this COVID period especially, to helping all those who are being so hurt, in so many ways.

STC has had over 200 volunteers, packing food bags, making and distribution meals, collecting food & clothing, working in soup kitchens, leading projects, and looking after those in need. We thank you so very much for all your selfless dedication for serving those who are in need.

Our Food packing project with Partage will now continue thru JUNE.. if you would join us twice a month, that would be fantastic.

Next week however (15 to 19 February) PalExpo will be closed.. For the clean up & consolidation.. but STC will be there 11,12, 25 & 26 in Feb. to continue this great work. Do come along.

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We are collecting food and clothing for the less fortunate. All donations will be given to Fondation Carrefour-Rue & Coulou who have various projects in Geneva. Please find more about the organisation here: https://carrefour-rue.ch/la-fondation/

The following items are needed.

Long life food like: Pasta, Rice, Sugar, Chocolate, Cookies, Tinned food, Olive oil, Jams & Vegetables in jars.

Winter Clothes; Jackets, Sweaters, Pants/trousers, Scarves, Beanies, Gloves & Boots

If the clothes are not new they should be washed and acceptable to wear.

Donations of food and clothing can be dropped off at 10, rue de Baulacre 1202 Genève from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

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New volunteer opportunity at the Caravane sans Frontières emergency night shelter

Who: We are recruiting volunteers to help at Caravane’s emergency night shelter in the Servette from 8.00 pm to 10.00 pm, in particular individuals who have a medical/social work background, 20 year old minimum. Working knowledge of French. Request a commitment of 1 night per week until 20 March.

Mandatory information session on Tuesday, 16 February, from 6.00-7.00 pm in FRENCH.

Where: Protestant Church of Servette-Vieusseux, Avenue Wendt 55, 1203 Geneva

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Many thanks for all your contributions.

Do keep your eye on the website and emails for other projects as we find opportunities to serve.

Best regards and stay safe! The STC team.

We are so proud of YOU, our volunteers, for this past year. It has been an amazing run during a very difficult time. First of I want to say of our 2,701 that have registered, slightly over half have been able to participate in our events. But for those have not yet been able to participate and have remained on our mailing list, we are sure that have a heart for what we do and like to keep in touch , and perhaps even share our activities with others.

The rest of this text is statistics of what we have been doing which could be boring to some. But for some it is quite revealing. i.e.

We have 2,701 signed up volunteers.

566 new signups in the year 2020, and 21 since January.

of that group we have :

882 English only speakers,
28 French only speakers
1433 prefer English
358 prefer French

top 7 “How did you find us?”

197 Friends
110 Internet the Internet has help us a lot.
80 Google
48 Facebook
42 School
31 Family
57 Misc. including: Office(17), Partage(11), Know-it-all (10),radio(5),church(3)

Interesting sub note: We have 4 known signups who have come from other STC locations;

(Brussels (2), Portugal and Maastricht)

IN 2020 we calculate over 4,000 volunteer hours over the following events.

Project	signups
Partage Sorting	71
Partage Food packets	411	Actually many more as many people came with out signing up. The city of Geneva has funded this project at least thru April. (Do signup to help on our website, bring your friends)
Partage Food collection	31	Samedi du Partage
Zoo Projects	122
Meals for the Homeless	122	kitchen helpers and sandwich makers (over 10,000 meals and 4,000 sandwiches for the homeless)
Misc. Projects	197
Admin.Projects	30
Total	984	Over 4,000 volunteer hours !!!

This was from about 35 separate projects ..

A special thanks to all those Project Managers, Project Leaders, and the STC team. who have stepped out and made a big difference in looking after all of our events.

We are especially proud of the volunteer at JdM Soup Kitchen in the year 2020. First half of the year we were asked for fewer volunteers due to social distancing and later on we were requested for 5 volunteers max. each day.

Total Jan-Jun	816 hours
Total Jul-Dec	1812 hours
TOTAL	2628 hours

Overall number of volunteers – 14 –  signing up – off and on.Of those we have 8 volunteers have been constant and regular in 2020.Kubashini, Rudolph, Anthony, Jonathan, Andrée, Winnie, Louis, & Ridwan. A special thanks to all!    

May 2021 be a safe and good year for everyone. And appreciate you all standing up to help where needed.