Volunteering at the Pleasantville Cottage Campus

Volunteers on JCCA’s Pleasantville Cottage Campus offer friendly, individualized attention to children who have been abused, neglected and traumatized in their young lives. This interaction with our young residents makes a meaningful difference in their lives and, we have learned, in the lives of our volunteers.

JCCA’s four residential programs on the Pleasantville Cottage Campus provide a highly protected and supervised environment for 300 inner-city children who have serious emotional and family problems and cannot live at home. They include: Pleasantville Cottage School, Edenwald Center, and Pleasantville START. Individual volunteers can serve as:

Two Together

Two Together matches tutors with students on campus to provide academic support.

Mentors

Mentors can change a child’s life. They engage in a one-to-one relationship with campus residents, meeting with them at least two hours every other week. Contact Sandi Rosenthal at 914-741-4569.
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Special interest activities sponsors

Share your talents with our residents. Teach them chess, gardening, art, photography, exercise, yoga, etc.

Lunch Bunch

Monthly visits to the same cottage with the same group of volunteers, who provide lunch, fun activities and birthday celebrations.

School-age volunteers

• Volunteer with friends in the same cottage once a month, with a parent in attendance
• Provide a meal, fun activities and companionship
• Weekends only
  

Fundraising committee

Join a committee to help raise much-needed funds for campus programs and services.
Other volunteer opportunities:

• Provide holidays or special event parties
• Donate school supplies, sports equipment, tickets to events (sporting events, plays, concerts, etc.)
• Provide sponsorship for annual fundraisers and events:
  1. A Tree Grows in Pleasantville
  2. Arts in Action
  3. Movies, holidays, off-campus outings
     

Requirements and skills

• Deep interest and ability to relate to inner-city young people
• Interest in helping others
• Must go through orientation and registration process
• Volunteers 18 and older can volunteer alone
• Volunteers under 18 must come with parent supervision