Bronx Community

OVERVIEW/DESCRIPTION

The volunteers experience New York City in a unique and exciting way, living right in the midst of Manhattan’s often overlooked but lively borough, the Bronx. Their neighborhood has supplied the volunteers with a new definition of both culture and community, from the constant flow of people stopping by the volunteers’ “stoop” on their way to work, school, or the local barber shop, to the Spanish music that can almost always be heard playing off in the distance. This booming borough has seen waves of people from every immigrant population, from the Italians on Arthur Avenue to the Dominicans on Broadway. The four volunteers have certainly found their place on the streets surrounding their apartment, enjoying time spent chatting with individuals from the community and participating in events alongside the families that make up this diverse neighborhood. Although the girls are just a few blocks away from the local 4 train that takes them straight into the middle of Manhattan, they often have a hard time leaving the richness of their new home and the people that populate not only the Bronx but also their hearts.

FOUNDED

2000

The Bronx site was one of the original sites of the Augustinian Volunteers. The program has had Volunteers serving in some of the service sites since 2000 including Siena House and St. Rita Immigration Center. Over the years, the service sites in the Bronx have included St. Nicholas of Tolentine School, Fordham Bedford Housing, Water for Waslala, and other Tolentine Zeiser programs such as their soup kitchen and Universal Pre-K program. In 2000, the Volunteers moved into an apartment in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx. They lived there until 2003 when they moved into their current residence, an old convent that is located on the third floor of St. Rita Immigration Center.