Fifth Avenue Serves, our annual day of service, returns on Saturday, May 6, with opportunities to serve at the church, with three of our local mission partners, or at a new location in Brooklyn. The day is open to all members, friends and family.

“Fifth Avenues Serves is a team sport,” says Christine Boyle, director of outreach and missions. “Each service site will welcome groups as small as four or as large as 15. This is a wonderful opportunity for friends, couples, parents and children to serve side by side as we take our special brand of outreach into the community.”

Registration is open now through Friday, April 21, at 12 pm. Volunteers can sign up individually, in pairs or as a group. All volunteers are asked to rank their top three site preferences. Assignments will be made on a first come/first served basis.

2023 Fifth Avenue Serves Registration

This year’s service sites include:

Meals on Heels
Our Saturday morning ministry, which prepares and delivers home-cooked meals to homebound neighbors, will welcome up to six volunteers for preparation of meals in Bonnell Hall and delivery throughout our service area. This is a walking ministry!

Search and Care
This mission partner on the Upper East Side supports older adults in managing their day-to-day activities and leading independent lives. The organization is looking for up to five volunteers for its Spring Call-a-Thon, a telephone outreach to elderly New Yorkers.

Urban Outreach Center NYC
The Urban Outreach Center provides meals, clothing, services and support to neighbors in need in East Harlem and the Upper East Side. The center is looking for up to 12 volunteers to help with a spring cleaning project in their food pantry, part of an effort to distribute 2 million meals in 2023.

The Farminary
This mission partner, located in Princeton, New Jersey, seeks up to 15 volunteers to help with clearing beds, planting, transplanting, weeding, tending the compost pile and other farm tasks. This is an all-day outdoor activity, rain or shine. This location is ideal for families to serve together!

United Community Centers Youth Farm
United Community Centers promotes local sustainable farming and community-led economic development. The youth farm, located on Schenck Avenue in Brooklyn, welcomes up to 10 volunteers to prepare garden beds, transplant seedlings, beautify the grounds and help compost. Produce goes to the local farmer’s market to support healthy eating options for families and individuals in East New York neighborhoods. This is another family-friendly activity that will take place outdoors, rain or shine.

Fifth Avenue Serves will begin at 8:45 am with breakfast and commissioning in the LaDane Williamson Christian Education Center. At 9:30 am, volunteers will head to their service sites, where they will work for anywhere from 90 minutes to three hours. The one exception is the Farminary, where volunteers are invited to work from 9 am until 5 pm. (Farminary volunteers will not attend the breakfast and commissioning at the church.)

Additional details on each service site (including transportation options to Princeton) and the day’s itinerary can be found on the registration form.

If you live outside of the New York area, or you cannot attend Fifth Avenue Serves in person, you can still participate in Fifth Avenue Serves! We invite individuals and families to send in care packages that we can distribute to our homeless guests and others in need. Packages can include travel-size items such as shampoo, lotion, soap, toothpaste, lip balm, tissue packets and a toothbrushes. Send your packages to the Ecumenical Outreach Partnership, Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, 7 W. 55th St., New York, NY 10019. Thank you!